Grimm Doesn’t Just Look Green Because Of The Weather….

We could not have been happier when NBC Universal contacted us to collaborate on their greening efforts for the series, Grimm.  We immediately recognized this particular show as a good match and unique opportunity to put the foundation of our previous work in identifying green vendors and services to good use.

NBCUniversal’s Green Is Universal initiative has an admirable, on-going, corporate-wide environmental initiative that attempts to lessen their shows’ environmental impact by working with local resources and finding innovative ways to improve on their overall footprint.

By us actively helping Grimm identify Oregon resources as well as a supportive collaboration with Business Oregon, the Governor’s Office, the City of Portland and Metro, the show has been able to utilize an impressive group of services and vendors that enabled the greening process to get up and running fairly quickly.

Currently Grimm is:

sorting food for compost and providing compostable utensils on location and reusable flatware and silverware

not purchasing plastic water bottles , most of the crew are using their Grimm stainless bottles

recycling on set

using biodiesel-blended fuel in trucks

using recycled latex paint where possible

using biodegradable cleaning supplies

Additionally, Grimm is tracking it’s environmental footprint in order to find solutions to reduce energy consumption in the future, as well as exploring ways to reduce energy consumption with electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions.  The Film Office has been researching potential solar applications for possible use on set with some exciting potential (more on this in later posts).

In collaboration with NBC Universal and Grimm, we also were interested in exploring some other ideas beyond the first line in greening of namely; reducing, recycling and reusing.  Shannon Schaefer Bart (Sustainable Production Manager at NBCUniversal)  alerted us to the Springfield, Oregon company, PlyVeneer Products who we learned have for the past two years been developing a green and sustainable plywood panel specifically for use in set construction.  Their product is called ScenicPly now FSC Certified and is poised to make a big impact on production.  PlyVeneer and their LA partner, EcoScenic set out to create a green and sustainable product they could use as an alternative to luan (that has been commonly used on sets for the last 30 years to the tune of over 20million square feet every year).  Luan is made of various tropical hardwoods and is imported from forests in SE Asia, many of which are endangered.

 

 

ScenicPly is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Chain Of Custody certified and is American-made in three Oregon plants and a product of woods harvested from well-managed forests. With prior job losses evident at some of these plants, Jerry Gabrio from PlyVeneer Products, reports that, “The volume we have run so far (of ScenicPly) is not enough to put these plants back to normal schedules, but with some sales growth, we anticipate that we can be a significant contributor to getting them back on track.  We are still in the early stages, but there is tremendous interest and the FSC certification and is a key step in getting some the large players in the entertainment industry on board.”

Grimm has been pilot testing ScenicPly with positive results we hear.

We are excited that the collaboration between NBCUniversal, Grimm, the Film Office and Oregon resources has been such a positive and productive experience and we intend to continue to look for ways to grow our green production support in Oregon.