Film Green Office Hours: Sustainable Set Design & Construction
Channel: NYC Mayor's Office
Date: 2024-02-28

Film and television productions create sets that bring the script to life, often requiring countless materials for multiple sets across the production schedule. Once deconstructed, whole sets are frequently sent to landfill, resulting in a great environmental impact. From design to deconstruction, how can we design and build sets in more sustainable ways that promote reuse?

SPEAKERS
Moderator:
Shira Gans, Senior Executive Director, Policy + Programs, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment

Panelists:

Anu Schwartz, Production Designer and IATSE Local United Scenic Artists 829 Sustainability Committee Chair   
Trained as a fine artist with a love for film, Anu merged passions into a career as an art director and production designer.  Film making is inherently at odds with environmental sustainability. The sets created on any given production are akin to single-use products, they are created and destined for the dumpster.  As a production designer and chair of the Sustainability Committee at USA829, Anu is dedicated to moving the industry toward circularity and a more sustainable future.

Credits include, the upcoming series, Your Friends and neighbors for Apple TV+ starring John Hamm.  The Apple TV+ adaptation of the NYT best selling novel Dear Edward.  The Endgame pilot for NBC Universal, Bridge and Tunnel S1 for Epix Studios and The Politician S2 for Netflix.  Anu was nominated for an Emmy for his role as Supervising Art Director for Fosse Verdon on FX as well as receiving Art Directors Guild Award nominations for Fosse Verdon, Netflix’s Maniac and Warner Brothers’ Gotham. 
 
Denise Flynch, Volunteer Coordinator, Materials for the Arts
Denise Flynch is the Volunteer Coordinator at Materials for the Arts who works to discover individuals and companies who may want to give back to the community by volunteering with MFTA. Denise prides herself in helping people, being true to herself, as well as creating beautiful, meaningful and usable art. What better place to do all that than Materials for the Arts? In her first year Denise has helped to increase corporate volunteering at MFTA as well as financial donations to Friends of Materials for the Arts. Denise holds a BA in Studio Art from Queens College.

Matt Dienstag, Co-President and an owner of LeNoble Lumber
Matt Dienstag is Co-President and an owner of LeNoble Lumber, a family business that has been the primary supplier of set construction material to the New York Film and Television Industries since 1965. Matt has been with the company for 30 years and has focused on forging partnerships with organizations dedicated to combating deforestation, providing sustainable materials and implementing eco-friendly practices. LeNoble Lumber is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and is a listed vendor in the PGA’s Green Production Guide. 

Prior to joining LeNoble Lumber, Matt was a litigator at Rosenman & Colin (now Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP) in New York City and an Assistant Deputy Attorney General with the New York State Organized Crime Task Force.

Philippa Culpepper, Set Decorator 
Philippa Culpepper is a Set Decorator who has been creating sets for Film, TV and other media for nearly 20 years. Starting out in London, UK as an installation artist and props maker for Shakespeare’s Globe, Pip’s first film project was to make a series of animations out of paper, building each miniature set by hand. Pippa now decorates major motion pictures and television in the US. 
 
Having worked on award winning projects for major studios, streamers, and independents Pippa is well-versed in sourcing across all budget levels and developing both period and contemporary interior styles. 
 
Behind the scenes, her work is informed by a career of experiencing environmental policy at all levels and in multiple countries, including designing events for environmental campaign groups. These life experiences influence her current methods of sourcing and disposing set dressing while trying to work within the restrictions of a production and within budget.
 
Pippa has had the privilege to live and work around the world, but for the last 10 years has lived in Brooklyn, NY with her young family. She is a member of IATSE Local 52, Bectu, and the Set Decorators Society of America. 

About NYC Film Green
NYC Film Green is an initiative of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment that promotes sustainable film production by offering a blueprint for decarbonization, waste management, and sourcing, as well as free resources such as the Film Green Office Hours series.

Resources:
Carbon Literacy training by The Carbon Literacy Project: https://carbonliteracy.com
The Theatre Green Book Framework: https://theatregreenbook.com
Directors Guild of Canada: https://dgcgreen.ca/
Use of Cardboard in sustainable set design and construction: https://www.vectarproject.co.uk/studio-facilities/vectar-sets/
https://emagispace.com/build/
https://cama.co.uk