Have you seen Abbott Elementary, Hacks, or other shows that bring the plastic pollution crisis to our screens? In our work to shift the narrative in popular culture, we’ve been focused on film and television tackling the plastic pollution crisis from three angles: on set, on screen, and in the script. As our work continues to move forward, we’re seeing the changes roll in in that order, with directors, producers, and showrunners starting on set, moving to on screen, and now, adding plastic reduction into the storyline.
The on-set standard was the first and easiest for Hollywood creators to implement, by enforcing a no single-use plastic bottled water rule and providing reusable alternatives during production. Showrunners like Quinta Brunson—who created, runs, and stars in the smash hit Abbott Elementary—have openly talked about how this first step sets a mindful practice that honors everyone working on the show.
I know who probably uses plastic bottles the most and it’s our below-the-line crew members. These are the people who are carrying things, doing the hard jobs. And I was like, ‘How do you guys feel if we switch to like these really f–ing fancy water bottles, you can refill them, I’ll buy them,’ and then that was a change that got to happen from our below-the-line up. And I think that just really makes a huge difference.
— Quinta Brunson, in The Hollywood Reporter
Other showrunners, such as Lucia Aniello—one half of the creative team behind HBO’s hit Hacks—have discussed similar practices on panels and interviews, with Lucia saying at the 2024 Hollywood Climate Summit:
We work with the studio and the network to make sure we’re a sustainable set, and that just means implementing things like getting rid of plastic water bottles and eliminating as much waste as possible. […] Sometimes when you’re a showrunner, people want to give you a million choices because they want to make sure you have your options. But it’s like, please don’t go buy a bunch of plastic crap to show me or whatever.
— Lucia Aniello (Hacks)
These conscious on-set choices set the stage for mindfulness as to what is shown on screen. Gloria Calderón Kellett (One Day at a Time, The Horrors of Dolores Roach) has discussed the importance of climate conscious storytelling on screen and how it is often a no-brainer when you consider the characters in your story. Gloria notes how her approach includes centering stories on poor people and communities of color: “We were green when it was called being poor. If it was a pickle jar before, it was 500 other things after it was a pickle jar in my house,” she told Variety. And she has carried this reality into shows like One Day at a Time, where she works with the set decorators to make sure her character’s fridges are full of jars with worn-down labels versus new plastic containers, because that’s simply more accurate to the lived experience.
Reusables and Plastic Pollution Take Center Stage
When at Plastic Pollution Coalition we first launched Flip the Script on Plastics in 2021, our study with the Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project found that every episode of TV studied had, on average, 28 pieces of single-use plastic, and at least one “mass plastic event” —a scene with so much single-use plastic, it was impossible to count the individual items on screen. But thanks to showrunners like Brunson, Kellett, and Aniello, among many others, we’re seeing reusables take the place of single-use items on screen more and more.
The even better news is, reusables aren’t just showing up in the background to replace their single-use counterparts, they’re becoming plot points to the larger story. Like in AppleTV+’s Shrinking, where Jessica Williams’ reusable water bottle becomes not only her sidekick, but a way to build a new bond with her boss, played by Harrison Ford.
Now, showrunners like Lucia Aniello are working climate change and plastic pollution into the script. In Hacks first season, Jean Smart’s character Debrah Vance made a conscious decision, after some prodding, to switch to a reusable cup for her insatiable soda thirst. And in the newest season, the creative team has taken it even farther after conversations with Hollywood, Health and Society, Plastic Pollution Coalition, and NCRD’s Rewrite the Future: they dedicated an entire episode to addressing the climate crisis, including plastic use, in a way that felt natural to the characters.
As more shows get the message that plastic isn’t cool, and climate change is real, we’re confident that we’ll see the amount of reusables on screen skyrocket, and more episodes dedicated to tackling the issue of plastic pollution in creative ways that flip the script on plastics. And while we may not want to take Debrah Vance’s advice on a lot of things, we can all agree with her when she says, “You shouldn’t use plastic.”
Learn More and Get Involved
Learn more about Flip the Script on Plastics initiative helping the entertainment industry model real solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, both on set and in storylines. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact Amelia@plasticpollutioncoalition.org.
