Lauren Selman

Everyone who goes to Hollywood is trying to make it big. Lauren Selman is no different; only she is trying to make “it” –the big screen that is –more sustainable.  For this role there are no Oscars, no Palme d’or. For Selman, founder of Real Green Media, the reward is seeing business pick up and carbon emissions go down, so she says.

Reel Green Media provides consultation to Hollywood production companies and studios including Warner Bros. (NYSE: WBX) and Fox (Nasdaq: NWS) in an attempt to ease the environmental impact caused by big production films.

“Most companies are doing an amazing job greening their actual studio spaces,” Selman says. Motion-sensor activated lights, indoor gardens, more efficient food service, solar panels and other changes have put a few of the studios on the path toward certification by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for existing buildings. 

But getting the studios to change the way they shoot movies—diesel and fuel used for traveling, going through hundreds of disposable water bottles each day, building and discarding entire sets—more work needs to be done, according to Selman. “We need to increase awareness of the on-location realm.” 

In several industries this sort of thinking has taken a back seat as the economic crunch forces companies to cut corners. Not in Hollywood, according to Selman. “It’s kind of funny. You’d think they would stop hiring in their sustainability fields, but it’s such a priority that they’re still hiring. Efforts have not stopped.”

And, as with Oscars and Golden Globes, the competition is fierce. “They all want to one-up each other,” Selman told Sustainable Industries in late 2008. Real Green Media, which has been active for two years, generates revenue on a project-by-project basis relative to the services provided, according to Selman.