The Power of TV: Representing Climate Change On Screen April 18, 2023

The Power of TV: Representing Climate Change On Screen

A recent USC-Good Energy study on Climate Silence reported that only 0.6% of all scripted film and television released between 2016 and 2020 mention the term “climate change” and only 2.8% of all scripts included any climate-related terms. The massive reach of film and television offers storytellers an incredible opportunity to break the silence. Join us for a conversation exploring ways in which content creators can shed light on the topic and promote positive social change by incorporating more storylines on these issues in their programs.

8:00 AM – 8:45 AM PDT Complimentary Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM PDT Panel

Participants:

• Scott Z. Burns, Award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and playwright
• Anna Jane Joyner, Founder & CEO, Good Energy
• Meredith Milton, Creative Director, NRDC’s Rewrite the Future
• Peter Saji, Writer/Director

Moderated by:

• Rosanna Xia, Environmental Reporter for the Los Angeles Times

RSVP here

Special Thanks to:
The Walt Disney Company

This is a public event of Television Academy Foundation. Television Academy Members and the public are invited to attend. Each individual may reserve up to two tickets

Can’t make the event? No problem! This event will be recorded, and you can watch it on TelevisionAcademy.com the week following the event.

Seating is subject to availability; first come, first served. Admittance is not guaranteed.

Moderator

Rosanna Xia, Environmental Reporter for the Los Angeles Times

Rosanna Xia is an environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting, and her work has been anthologized in the  Best American Science and Nature Writing series. Her first book,  California Against the Sea, comes out this fall.

Panelists

Scott Z. Burns, Award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and playwright

Scott Z. Burns is the writer, director, executive producer and creator of the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations starring Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton and Marion Cotillard, which premiered on March 17. The scripted series features eight interconnected stories exploring how the upcoming changes to our planet will affect love, faith, work and family. In film, Burns’ writing credits include THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM as well as THE INFORMANT!, CONTAGION, SIDE EFFECTS and THE LAUNDROMAT for director Steven Soderbergh. As a director, Burns’ credits include PU-239 starring Oscar Isaac and Paddy Considine and THE REPORT starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening and Jon Hamm, which tells the story of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Burns served as a producer for the Academy Award-winning documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, as well as an executive producer for AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL and SEA OF SHADOWS. On stage, Burns’ play THE LIBRARY, which deals with a high school shooting, was produced at The Public Theater and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for best new American play.

Burns is a frequent advisor at the Sundance Institute and a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Leadership Committee. He attended the University of Minnesota where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in English Literature. Burns began his career in advertising. Before leaving the industry, he was part of the team that created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign.

Anna Jane Joyner, Founder & CEO, Good Energy

Anna Jane Joyner is the founder and CEO of Good Energy, a nonprofit dedicated to unlocking the power of TV and film to inspire courage in the face of climate change. With over fifteen years in climate communications, Anna Jane has worked to establish bridges between the climate movement and screenwriters, creative executives, musicians, faith communities, Southerners, young audiences, and more. Her prior experience spans state, national, and international climate campaigns for “Beyond Coal”, federal climate policy, voting rights, COP21, the 2015 papal encyclical on climate, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Her work has been featured by The NYTimes, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, Fast Company, The LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Glamour, Rolling Stone, CNN, and The Associated Press, among others.

Meredith Milton, Creative Director, NRDC’s Rewrite the Future

Meredith is the Creative Director of NRDC’s Rewrite the Future. She is also a producer and long-time studio executive. Most recently, she is an Executive Producer on THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE (D: Michael Showalter, C: Jessica Chastain, Andrew Garfield) for Searchlight, which won the Academy Awards for Best Actress and Best Hair & Make-Up. She was previously Senior Vice President of Production at Searchlight, where she oversaw production on THE FAVOURITE (D: Yorgos Lanthimos, C: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz), for which Olivia Colman won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Prior to joining Fox Searchlight, Meredith was an executive at Lionsgate and Summit. During her twelve-year tenure at the two companies, she oversaw a diverse slate of films, including all five films in the STEP UP franchise, and its TV series adaptation.

Meredith is a member of the Executives Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. She was selected by Daily Variety as one of Hollywood’s New Leaders in 2011.

Peter Saji, Writer/Director

Hailing from the Washington, DC area, Peter Saji is the co-creator of ABC’s mixed-ish where he has his very own parking space and assistant. Previously, Saji spent five seasons on black-ish where he shook Laurence Fishburne’s hand on several occasions.

Even more previously, Saji was a staff writer for the critically acclaimed hit, Cavemen on ABC. There, he contributed what showrunner Mike Schiff described as, “The defining joke of the pilot,” and “formidable body odor.”

Even-even more previously, Saji founded what eventually became the largest HipHop battle on the East Coast. Genesis 2:002 was judged by the Neptunes and featured on NPR. This led Saji to tour with the Mobile Skatepark Series where he not only coordinated events all over the country but also hosted and produced the HipHop/Lifestyle Sports segments that aired weekly on Fox Sportsnet. Sixteen paternity suits are still pending.

When Saji isn’t writing, he enjoys performing spoken word poetry, snowboarding, and amateur MMA cage fighting. Ask to see his bruises.