Sustainable Production: Being a 'Change-Maker' with Hannah Lane
Hannah Lane has worked in advertising production for over 10 years on both the agency and production side. She joined Chrome in 2022. Hannah has worked on 360 campaigns, focusing mainly on video with a track record of creating award-winning content. Her deep experience across commercials, online branded content, and stills has allowed her to manage seamless and cohesive campaigns for industry-leading clients including Levi’s, Facebook, UEFA, Kia, Standard Chartered, and Team GB.
She excels at work globally, whether with small, agile teams or full-scale productions and manages productions from inception through to final delivery and distribution. Hannah is committed to raising the profile of women on set by championing the vision and voices of underrepresented talent and loves knowing the right person for the job.
LBB> Can you tell us about your own personal journey when it comes to getting involved in sustainable production – how did you get started and where has that journey taken you?
Hannah> It’s been quite natural. I think everyone is more aware of what is going on in the world, so that has definitely bled into work. It’s also come from hearing about AdGreen and signing myself up for their course years ago. It’s only at Chrome that I’ve been able to prioritise sustainability more because I have the autonomy to do so.
We’re a perfectly-sized company to implement some processes, especially into pre-production (my forte). It’s also a longer-term goal for us to become B Corp certified. I think in general it can be hard to focus on sustainability, because you need a lot of buy-in; however, I definitely feel that we have that buy-in at Chrome.
LBB> What are the conversations that clients are having with you about their desire to reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of their content production? (i.e., does it feel like there’s a high demand, or does it vary from client to client?)
Hannah> It varies from client to client, but I don’t think we are having the conversations as much as we need to be. That said, I think it can be an individual conversation – we can choose to operate greener and if it aligns with any agencies or clients we work with then that’s a win win!
The ultimate goal would be to ensure it’s a priority across the board and partner with clients who are aligned.
LBB> Do you think there’s a way to get clients more engaged?
Hannah> I think if we just make it more part of our bread and butter, clients will buy in. We’re not doing it for brownie points; this is something we should be doing. It can be more economical too if you can repurpose things and can benefit everyone’s budgets.
It’s all learning, and I think if we can challenge ourselves and those we partner with just to think about sustainability a little more, it can only get better.
LBB> Speaking generally, how do you tend to approach assessing and minimising the footprint of the productions you are involved in – and is this something that is built into your process?
Hannah> There’s a bit of common sense, but the biggest thing for me has been the AdGreen training. As a production team, we’re signing up to Albert too. Albert is the TV equivalent of AdGreen, both of which provide very in-depth training promoting sustainable production processes. There’s also some great apps now available which help you reuse, recycle, and rehome.
The thing I love about production is that there is always a list of set steps you need to follow. The details change, but the broad strokes are the same. I think that helps, as we’re just building our existing processes. Some things we’ve implemented recently that have been easy wins: our crew used to love printouts, but we now send those digitally.
We also provide veggie options on set to cut back on our meat intake. We also donate any leftover food from shoots to nearby food banks. So, these little things we are just baking into our existing processes more. We have also switched our energy supplier to a more sustainable provider.
LBB> To what extent do you think the advertising and production world will retain and build on the lessons learned during the pandemic?
Hannah> I think the adaptability and agility shown during the pandemic will long continue, for example that we all used to be in the office every day and would commute to every client meeting – no more!
A huge amount of our creative and pre-production is now done solely online. Don’t get me wrong – I am so glad we’re all back to being on set. But I think with brands and agencies seeing how successful remote shoots and streaming work is pretty impressive and a huge step forward.
I hope that carries on and keeps developing. It’s also been a huge business development for us carving a name into live work, with Christie’s for example.
I also think our work life balance has benefitted massively from the introduction to working from home. I think the focus on individuals’ scales tipped to focusing on ourselves and our loved ones during the pandemic. Personally, I work much better when my own cup is full.
LBB> What have you been finding are the most useful tools, resources, and partners for reducing environmental impact/carbon footprint of productions?
Hannah> AdGreen!
LBB> How is sustainability being built into your training and development for members of the production team?
Hannah> We’re quite a tight-knit team, and I think that allows for space for any member of the team to chip in with ideas and improvements. We also have a bit of a checklist that we go through during pre-production, which our head of production and I built.
More formally, we are trying to get everyone from our production and creative teams to take some of the courses I mentioned (AdGreen & Albert), so hopefully we are always thinking about it. I think our next step will be thinking about our office set-up as much as on set.
LBB> At a recent Ad Net Zero event, Mark Read at WPP said that in total, just 3% of the footage shot ends up on screen. Does this signify huge wastage and the need for greater efficiencies in the production and craft or do you have other thoughts on this stat?
Hannah> I’ve had to think about this one a little…it strikes me as quite a sad stat. I would assume it’s more a case of overshooting and the wastage metaphorically being the footage on the cutting room floor (or maybe that’s the hope).
I’m not sure if this stat applies to Chrome; as we are a full-service production company, we are thinking about all aspects of the entire production from creative to pre-production through to the edit.
As creatives, we are always looking to grow and improve. Maybe this is the stat to shake things up and show that we do need to be more resourceful and clearer with our intentions, so that we end up with nearly everything shot on screen.
If every element and resource on set was considered and used, imagine how much this would bring down our environmental impact.
LBB> Because of remote production and the impact of transporting people and kit, I guess most sustainable production conversations are limited to live action, but what are the challenges and opportunities on the VFX and animation front?
Hannah> Yes, this is true. I think clients in particular have seen the benefits of remote production. I’ve been lucky enough to produce a couple of virtual production projects now, which – in broad strokes – is more sustainable.
A recent project we did with Standard Chartered, for instance, massively lowered our environmental impact.
The creative featured 12 countries and I think over 100 cast members; rather than flying those people and racking up air miles, we based the shoot in one VP studio in London. Just one return journey by air to Cape Town or Singapore would have exceeded the carbon footprint of the entire shoot, not to mention the necessary accommodation, baggage, and catering.
The actual carbon emissions that we generated on this project was approximately 3.5 Co2e, a fraction of what we would have generated had we flown people to the various locations (Cape Town, New Delhi, Dubai, and Shanghai, just to name a few).
The next step will be to reduce the energy that virtual production screens use, as well as in more traditional post-production processes.
LBB> In some ways, it seems that when it comes to reducing carbon footprint, the advertising and marketing industry is focused almost exclusively on production (for good reason – there are obvious areas on production where clear, substantial, and measurable progress can be made). What are your thoughts on this? Is it a positive that production is able to take the lead or is there a risk that the industry will take the win and fail to look elsewhere (e.g., media)?
Hannah> I don’t think it will fail to look elsewhere. It’s a great thing that we are being pushed; as a producer, you’re often the boots on the ground and you’re involved from creative to the end, so it’s more natural for production to weave through the whole process.
At Chrome we manage projects from creative through to final delivery, so it’s easy for us to challenge a creative idea during conception and say, “Have you thought about doing it this way?” I think there is something quite cool about being a ‘change-maker’ and you have to start somewhere!
LBB> Looking more broadly than carbon footprint, what are the other ways that production can be more sustainable?
Hannah> Again, similar to how you would in your life: think about buying second-hand, reusing wardrobe, retaining kit, and cutting down on single-use plastics. Just being a bit more mindful is huge. I think we should also be thinking about sustainability in broader people terms: Are we caring for our people and collaborators in the right way?
LBB> To what extent is the social or community impact of a production an important part of the sustainability conversation?
Hannah> I don’t think there is a huge impact yet. As long as you’re bring truthful it’s ok. I think there is a lot of good press for companies who are living and breathing sustainability.
LBB> Can you share some examples of projects you’ve worked on where you feel that the carbon footprint and sustainability were tackled in interesting or effective ways?
Hannah> Standard Chartered has been an amazing partner for us as we pursue our sustainability goals. With Standard Chartered’s motto of ‘doing good in the world,’ the projects we’ve done with them have been excellent opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint and a great PR piece for them as well, as not only are they ‘doing good,’ but the method in which the content was made is also ‘doing good’ from a sustainable POV.
Another good example is the reveal we did with Ford for the F-150 Lightning: As with Standard Chartered, we featured a variety of far-flung locations – in this case, spanning the US from coast to coast – by using virtual production. Had we actually travelled to the various states in the film, it would have been a huge undertaking and certainly not as environmentally friendly as shooting the whole thing in a VP studio.
LBB> What advice would you give to anyone working in production, whether for a production company, agency, or brand who is struggling to get buy-in from their clients and colleagues on sustainable production?
Hannah> Just start doing it. If you are involved in that process of setting things up, it’s absolutely in your power to start making changes. No one is going to complain that you brought a water cooler on set and you’ve asked people to bring reusable cups or water bottles. You are only going to be doing good things, so just start doing them and then the buy-in will come. Oh, and track the changes!
