Green Film: what it is and how it works

What Green Film is

According to its official website (opens in a new tab), Green Film is designed to guide production companies towards a more sustainable way of working and to certify the productions that achieve it. It is used by production companies that want to reduce their projects' impact, and it is also adopted by film commissions and funding bodies as a way to encourage the productions they work with.

How it works, in general terms

1. 1

   Review the rating system

   The production downloads and reviews the Rating System, the document that sets out the sustainability criteria.

2. 2

   Choose the criteria

   It completes the Rating System checklist, indicating which criteria it commits to meeting.

3. 3

   Apply them during the shoot

   The chosen criteria are met during production. An independent verification body checks compliance.

4. 4

   Certification

   At the end of the project, if the assessment is positive, the production receives Green Film certification.

How it is structured

The system starts from a mandatory planning requirement and organises the remaining criteria into sections:

• Mandatory requirement: plan sustainability before starting.
• Section A: energy saving.
• Section B: transport and accommodation.
• Section C: catering.
• Section D: choice of materials.
• Section E: other initiatives.
• Section F: social sustainability.
• Section G: communication.

The specific criteria in each section, how they are scored and what is required for certification are detailed in the current Rating System, which is the document to consult.

Why measures should be planned before the shoot

Planning is a mandatory requirement of the system itself. It also makes practical sense: many criteria depend on pre-production decisions, such as grid access at locations, how transport is organised or which caterer is hired. Left until the shoot, some of them can no longer be met.

That is why the chosen criteria should be built into the production's sustainability plan, with owners and planned evidence for each one.

Monitoring, evidence and verification

During the shoot you need to check that the committed criteria are being met and keep the documentation that proves it: invoices, supplier contracts, photos or consumption records, depending on what each criterion requires.

Verification is carried out by an independent verification body. Green Film describes these as environmental certification companies or public bodies with environmental expertise, qualified to check compliance with the criteria.

Working with Green Film during a production

What makes the process easiest is organising from the outset which criteria have been chosen, who is responsible for each and what evidence will be kept. That way, at wrap the documentation is already gathered and organised instead of having to be chased across departments.

At La Tribu Verde we support productions working with Green Film on planning and monitoring (explained on our services page) and use MERA, our in-house tool, to organise measures and evidence. MERA is not an official Green Film tool.