Reel Green at Prime Time Ottawa 2019

For the 2019 Prime Time in Ottawa hosted by the Canadian Media Producers’ Association, Reel Green and sustainable production for Canadian Production was part of the conversation. Zena Harris, President of Green Spark Group, presented to a group of motion picture industry stakeholders about the immediate need to shift to sustainable practices and what Reel Green is doing to support this.

The CMPA’s Prime Time conference is a national networking event for some 600 of Canada’s most prominent business leaders from the feature film, television, interactive media, broadcasting and telecommunications industries. And Reel Green was a part of it with sustainable talks and networking.

The theme of the sustainable talks at Prime Time was Collective Action. This translates to the need for all stakeholders in Canadian Media to unify and commit to sustainable production practices. Without Collective Action, achieving a greener Canada and mitigating the risks of climate change will not be possible.

Julie Bernard from Creative BC was in attendance at Prime Time and had this to say about the experience:

“Along with our Reel Green Partners, I was very proud to help bring the mission of sustainability to the Prime Time Conference. BC continues to show great leadership in this area and we’re looking forward to collaborating with other provinces in implementing sustainable production practices across the country.”

Reel Green representatives were connecting with national media stakeholders to spread the message and notion on Collective Action. The Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, shared a video on her Twitter about Reel Green and featuring sustainability at Prime Time Ottawa and Green Spark Group’s Zena Harris. Minister McKenna shared her thoughts on how she believes sustainable production is “a huge competitive advantage for Canada” also adding that “the environment and economy go together – in film!”

Reel Green was also highlighted as an example to follow for the rest of Canada. Connecting with many other governmental organizations and film commissions, the Reel Green model was discussed and consider how it could be applied to other provinces and jurisdictions outside of British Columbia.

Finally, in the theme of Collective Action, an idea for a pact amongst the Canadian Media industry was presented in order to unify the industry nationwide on sustainable goals around media and content production.

This was the first year Reel Green was presented at Prime Time Ottawa and it garnered a lot of momentum! Here’s to collective action for 2019 and beyond.