WEBVTT - Storytelling for Today's Climate 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.160 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:08.080 Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, our next 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:12.360 guest is a climate activist a communication strategist and combines 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:14.640 the two to work with the content industry when it 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.479 comes to climate change and how it's portrayed on the 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.800 big screen, on the little screen, really on streaming, everywhere 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:24.640 there is content. So delighted to bring in Anna Jane Joyner. 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.280 She is the founder of the nonprofit Good Energy. She's 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.720 released a playbook for screenwriting The Age of Climate Change, 0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:33.080 And we do want to point out Bloomberg Philanthropy is 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.440 the philanthropy of philanthropy arm of Bloomberg Alpy, which of 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.120 course is owned by Michael R. Bloomberg, provides support for 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:42.640 Good Energy initiatives. And Anna Jane joins us via zoom 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.239 from Alabama. Anna Jade's so great to have you here 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.839 with Tim and myself. Um, how are you and tell 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:51.440 us a little bit about what you all are doing. 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.040 So great to be here. Thank you for having me. Um. Yeah. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.840 Good Energy was created to support TV, film writers and 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:05.759 other content creators to portray climate in television and film, 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.280 particularly scripted television and film, and that is because there 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.600 is almost none, no climate portrayal, very little currently happening, 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.520 and we want to dramatically change that. What what is 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.199 climate portrayal when you look up in terms of mainstream media, 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.080 when you look up at the screen and you see 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.440 the way that that stories are being told. What story 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:31.480 is missing right there when it comes to the climate. Yeah, well, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.600 first of all, pretty much any story. We worked with 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.679 us the s Media Impact Project to do an analysis 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:42.640 of how often climate is being portrayed in in scripted 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:45.760 television and film and it is two point eight percent 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:53.000 um between and that includes thirty six adjacent keywords like 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:55.600 solar panels and C level right, so it really looks 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.160 at not only the terms associated with climate change, but 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.840 all these adjacent conversations. It could indicate that climate is 0:02:01.880 --> 0:02:04.800 being portrayed and that is far too low for the 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.600 fact that we are overwhelmingly experiencing it and feeling it 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.560 in our real lives, and if characters were alive in 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:13.960 our real world would be as well, and that should 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.240 be reflected in our stories. But we talked about it 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.799 really across the spectrum, everything from just casually and kind 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:25.240 of authentically coming up in uh conversation for shows that 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:28.480 are already on air two more kind of full on 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:32.120 in depth films or shows where climate is a major 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.400 part of the character driver apply. But in gen I 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.839 want to understand how how these stories are are, how 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.440 you'd like to see these stories and these narratives woven 0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:45.400 into what's existing and what's coming, because I think I 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:47.079 think it's fair to say it would be a misconception 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.640 to think that it would be your hope for these 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.680 stories to be about climate change. What you're saying is 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.000 you just need to see representation of the issues in 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:03.280 some way or in some accurate portrayal in what's out 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:05.640 there in what's coming. So it doesn't necessarily have to 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:09.200 be a story about sea level rise or a story 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:14.960 about alternative energy. Right. Absolutely, of course we do want 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.200 to see more climate focus stories, but really what we're 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:21.320 talking about is just an honest reflection of the world 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.760 that we're living in on screen. And that one of 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.080 the screenwriters that has been an advisor to us, and 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.360 it's one of the few who has actually written climate 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:34.040 stories and the Handmads Tale and Scott ze Burns new 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.480 Apple Plus show Exacolations, which will be coming out next year. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.840 Her name is Dorothy fort Berry, and she has this 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:43.240 great line that if your story doesn't have climate in it, 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.560 its science fiction. And what we're seeing is this very 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:50.200 strange divorce between the films and the shows that we 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.520 love in the worlds of those stories and the world 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:55.480 that we actually live in. Um. And you know, all 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.560 you know of Americans, according to Washington Post, live in 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:05.280 accounty that experienced a climate disaster last year. And you know, 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:09.200 we're all physically feeling the differences, were emotionally and psychologically 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.600 feeling the differences, and we need to see those experiences 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:16.040 reflected to us on screen. UM. That's what a lot 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.680 of historians think that that's why human being started telling 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:24.120 stories was to process kind of, uh, the hard, difficult, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:28.120 you know, tragedies and and realities of being alive. And 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:32.640 yet we don't have uh, that way of processing emotion 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:36.520 but also helping us to envision a better future in 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.000 our stories. And that's a really big problem, I mean, 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.080 and it's so important when we you know, we talk 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:44.560 about right this conflict that we are right now. In 0:04:44.640 --> 0:04:46.760 terms of social media, so many people are getting their 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:51.160 news from social media. There's so much misinformation out there. 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:55.080 Uh and you know, so we think about all the 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.600 content that's out there, and while it may be you know, entertainment, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.560 it is very influential in terms of shaping the public narrative. 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:05.720 Tell me how that kind of has come into your 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.120 thinking with all of this? Oh, how different percentage someone 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:11.960 I've been working in the climate space since I It's 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:14.800 the only thing I've ever done is an adult. Um, 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.120 I'm coming up on fifteen years and there's you know, 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.640 of course creatively and as a human, I really want 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.640 to see more of these stories. I live on the 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.520 Gulf Coast where you know it's very harrowing and increasingly 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.960 harry because of climate. So I I want to see 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:32.400 more of those stories just because I'm a human being. 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.760 It needs to see my experience reflective and on screen. 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:39.520 But also from a strategy perspective, you know, we know 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:43.080 that stories are way way more effective at moving people 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.320 emotionally than data and facts. And you know, if science 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.040 and and and facts we're going to help us win 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.400 on climate change, that would have happened a long time ago. 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.280 But what we've really been missing our our stories that 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.159 can really move us emotionally across a lot of different emotions. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.480 You know what you need stories that help give us courage, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.240 stories that help process grief and anxiety, and we really 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.160 just don't have any right now. We're gonna do a 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:10.719 little bit of news, but we'll come back and continue 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.200 and I want to get We want to kind of 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.240 pick your brain on like who's doing it well maybe 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:18.400 who hasn't in terms of climate change and weaving it 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.920 into you know, a genre or a storyline. I'm really 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:24.200 really curious about that. And I've thought about this with masks, 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:27.080 you know, seeing TV and movies with masks like that 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:28.960 has been kind of important. It's weird for me to 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.280 see them without masks. Like I'm watching you know, new 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:33.880 episodes of things and there's no masks there. I'm like, Okay, 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.360 where is everybody right now? I want to get back 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:39.760 to our guest still with us is Anna Jane Joyner. 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.680 She's found a director of Good Energy, UH, and we've 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.800 been talking about the playbook for screenwriting in the Age 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.279 of Climate Change. She's still with us on zoom from Alabama. 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:52.000 We mentioned. Bloomberg Philanthropy is the philanthropic arm of Bloomberg 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:54.760 gl P, owned by Michael Bloomberg, provides support for good 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.240 energy initiatives. So Anna Jane, So you see a lot 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.599 of content, you work with a lot of provide who's 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:06.599 done it really well? Yeah, I would say, um, there's 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.720 we are actually about to release data this summer that shows, 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:15.320 um which which different streamers and cable and networks have 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:20.000 the highest percentages of climate mentions and portrayals. They're all 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.360 very low, but we'll be able to see through that. 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.080 But I mean some of the stories that come to 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.280 mind that I really loved Madam's Secretary UM, which did 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:33.160 a whole episode, three episode arc on climate and just 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.800 had a really beautiful story about a family kind of 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.560 a father daughter relationship that was very emotional UM and 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.040 then also a climate migration story that was very powerful. 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:45.840 So they I think they did an exceptionally good job 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:48.240 on that show. And then probably one of my other 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.040 favorites UM, where it was a more in depth storyline, 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.880 is Big Lotalized did a kind of a b story 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.000 on climate anxiety um A the We're All Hats suffers 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:03.120 from climate anxiety, and it was just done in a 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.000 way that was one funny, like it took, you know, 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:09.880 a comedic approach, but also I was following the Twitter 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.320 conversation when that was happening, and so many people were 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.040 responding like, oh my god, I didn't know that that 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:20.960 other people were experiencing this anxiety. You know, this little 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.960 girl represents how I'm feeling, and that is like the 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.080 great power of film is it validates our emotions and 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.920 that allows us to be h have more agency and 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.560 courage and knowing that we're not alone. Um. And then 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:36.200 I love it when it just kind of comes up 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.199 in passing conversation and we know from working with climate psychologists, UM, 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:44.080 that that's really important to validating the audiences. All Right, 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:47.120 So talk to me about don't look up like, uh, 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:49.719 did they do it well? How did you think that? 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:54.160 I mean, it was kind of dark, to say the least. Um, 0:08:54.360 --> 0:08:56.760 I feel like it was just an interesting take on it. Um, 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.000 it's a movie actually I like, but it was disturbing. 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.480 How did you feel about that? I? I mean I 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.640 personally loved the movie. I think that one. It's just 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:08.520 so well written. I think did you work with them? 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.240 I didn't. I helped support a little bit here, but 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:17.839 not not in depth with that movie. No. Um. Oh, 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:19.520 I was just gonna say I thought it did I 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.599 thought just from a writing perspective, it clearly showed that 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:24.400 you can do this in a way that it's very 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:27.280 entertaining and comedic, and that's a big hurdle. We spoke 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.480 to over a hundred TV and film writers to inform 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:32.680 the playbook, and that was one of the big hurdles 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:34.360 is feeling like you can't write about it in a 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.680 way that isn't preachy and didactic. Um, So I'm really 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.760 glad that they opened that door. It also proved that 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:41.720 you can make a lot of money off of climate 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.200 and focused stories, which helps open the doors to other 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.559 to more content. And then, of course, like we need, 0:09:49.000 --> 0:09:51.400 another big hurdle we encountered in our research is that 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.559 writers were associating climate stories with apocalypse stories, so in 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.000 their mind there wasn't a difference. And that's the major 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.199 purpose of the playbook is to really open up the 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.280 menu of possibilities. And of course, Don't Look Up is 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.719 an apocly up story, and we want we want a 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:07.920 poplyp stories in this since they show us where we 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.280 don't want to go, but that can't be the only 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.000 story we're seeing on screen. We also need stories of 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.760 where we do want to go and how we're experiencing 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:19.400 it now and a much bigger variety of the kinds 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:21.680 of stories. It's interesting that you that you talk about 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:25.160 it with that framing, uh Anna Jane, because Carol and 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:26.920 I were talking to the break and I mentioned to her, 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:30.360 you know, I think with with entertainment, we want to escape. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.920 And you know, one challenge I see with presenting storylines 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.800 like this is this is a very depressing thing for 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:38.920 a lot of people to talk about, and it does, 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.719 I think, evoke a lot of anxiety and people. So 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.480 how do you do this in a way that doesn't 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:50.320 leave people thinking to themselves, Well, this wasn't escapism for me. Yeah, 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:52.240 I mean, I think there are lots of ways. That's 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.760 another hurdle we definitely came up against. I think, for one, 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:58.520 that's not true for all audiences. Like we've saw, we 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.360 see from Handmad's tale from Squid Game that there's a 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:04.640 lot of really content that does really, really well that 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.719 it isn't just you know, kind of positive comedic escapism. Um, 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.079 so we pushed back against the idea that that's the 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.520 only kind of entertainment that does well. But on the 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:18.040 flip side, you can we've climate into stories that are 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.120 that are super you know, kind of fun and escapesm 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.920 you know, it's happening. It's happening in our real lives. 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:29.880 And there's still comedy and drama and absurdity and romance 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.839 um in in our actual lives. And so I think 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.640 that any storied, regardless of whether or not it's a 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:38.880 comedy or a dramedy or a horror show or um 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.360 any number of genres, should be able to weave this 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:46.120 into the fabric of the story that reflects our our 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.960 actual world and our actual experience. And there are lots 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.400 of ways to do that commedically and kind of more lighthearted. 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.960 Um it's always Donny in Philadelphia did a hilarious episode 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.920 on climate change. The Politician on Netflix had a whole 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.160 season where climent it was a major driver, and it 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:05.360 was super funny and very well received by audiences. So 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:08.520 there's good examples. There's not enough of them, but there 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.319 there are some good examples of it coming up in 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.760 a more lighthearted way in addition to the more kind 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.439 of serious and somber, sort of psychologically driven ways. And 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.400 I'm curious to how busy are you? How often are 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.560 people reaching out to to say, like you know, here's 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:25.240 what we're thinking of doing, Like, how can you advise us? 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:27.640 And I'm just curious about that because I just kind 0:12:27.679 --> 0:12:29.959 of speaks to the uptick and people saying, wait, we've 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.880 got to incorporate this and somehow. Yeah, it's We've had 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:38.040 a really positive reception for sure. We started piloting this 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:43.679 project in two thousand nineteen, which unfortunately was the year 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.320 where the fires were really really bad. A lot of people, 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:48.520 a lot of the writers that we we've spoken to 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:51.720 and work with, have had to evacuate their experience in climate. 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:53.800 They have a lot of anxiety about climates. So I 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:57.160 think that there's a much bigger appetite and openness in 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:01.880 the industry itself, which is, you know, not great for climate, 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:06.080 but it's good for telling more stories about it. And um, yeah, 0:13:06.160 --> 0:13:08.679 we are very busy. There's a lot of and you know, 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.640 this isn't like a kind of other big social issues 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.360 like war or you know, like women's rights, so that 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.000 have you have you know, hundreds of different films or 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.760 shows that have tackled those issues. So there's some precedent 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.720 and there's some something to go, you know, to inspire, 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.760 give you guidance and telling your own stories. And because 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.520 climate is just so new and there's so little of it, 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:32.679 there is a lot of an interest in support on 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.640 how our hope is that we work ourselves out of 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:39.079 business and people this takes off and then there's no 0:13:39.240 --> 0:13:42.719 need for distracudens, but right now there is. Well, we 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:44.880 came back from milking and everybody's talking a S G 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:48.280 and you know, certainly talking about the environment. Uh, and 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:52.000 just didn't rain at all because it never rains. It 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.680 never rains in California. Anna, Jane, thank you so much. 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.520 Really Uh, enlightening to talk with you. And Jane Joyner 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.720 found of the nonprofit Good Energy, a playboo for screenwriting 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.280 in the age of climate change. Bloomberg Philanthropy is the 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.719 philanthropic arm of Bloomberg ALP. He does provide support for 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:07.319 good energies initiatives.