Flavoured condoms, 120 turkeys and a Free Marlon Dingle poster: the weird and wonderful work making the film industry green

"It's two days before Thanksgiving and Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu are trying to figure out how they're going to cook 120 turkeys with limited oven space in their food warehouse in downtown LA. We're going to have to do a bit of spatchcocking. It's not very showbiz, Cohen says. It's the busiest time of year for Cohen and Luu, assistant directors who founded not-for-profit organisation Every Day Action during the Covid pandemic."

"Designed to help unhoused people and those facing food insecurity across the city, the idea was born when Cohen noticed the amount of food waste on film and TV sets, and looked into redistributing it to those in need. I remember asking, Why can't we donate this food?' I kept being told it was illegal and that people could sue us if they got sick."

"In the US, there's the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act that's been around since 1996, she says. It protects food donors from liability issues. They're not the only women trying to turn the big screen green. In 2009, trailblazer Shannon Bart founded EcoSet, an environmental production resource based in Hollywood that introduced recycling and composting to sets and began donating creative materials to nearby artists, theatres and schools."

Hillary Cohen and Samantha Luu coordinate large-scale food redistribution from film set catering, cooking hundreds of turkeys in limited warehouse space for unhoused and food-insecure people. Every Day Action was founded during the Covid pandemic to rescue surplus food and redirect it across Los Angeles. Legal protections such as the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act reduce donor liability and enable donations. EcoSet introduced recycling, composting, and creative-material donations to support community organizations. Bafta's Albert initiative targets industry emissions by phasing out fuel generators and discouraging private jet use. Production-level services and nonprofits collaborate to make film and TV production greener.

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