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Green Film Shooting: The Green Quiz Champion

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- German TV show proves that entertainment television can also be produced sustainably

Green Film Shooting: The Green Quiz Champion

With the TV show Der Quiz-Champion, Studio Hamburg subsidiary Riverside Entertainment is introducing sustainable production to entertainment television. Presented by Johannes B. Kerner, the program, which is produced at studio G in Berlin Adlershof, is the first German TV show to be awarded the Green Shooting Card by the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein.

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“It’s the only way to go. We have to deal with the issue of resource-efficiency in production in the entertainment sector”, says Rolf Hellgardt, CEO Riverside Entertainment. “So, we started doing this.” Since the show is not by nature a green production due to the high consumption of energy and materials, this approach suggests making changes to the extent possible. “We want to show that entertainment television can also be produced sustainably.” The goal is not only to sensitize the show’s crew, but the other teams at ZDF, as well, to this issue. The producer’s motto is: “We make it happen.”

For Michael Lehmann, Studio Hamburg’s Head of Production, this is proof that his sustainability strategy is working out. The green production concept for fiction formats at Letterbox Filmproduktion is also attracting more attention in-house. “Thanks to this communications loop, we are reaching producers in other departments, so we don’t have to give them a boost”, emphasizes Michael Lehmann. “Especially in a studio production, multifaceted measures can be taken to save resources.”

The implementation of green measures is supervised by Antje Campmann, Executive Producer at Riverside Entertainment, who is working closely with production teams from Studio Berlin. During the four-to-five-day production of this ZDF prime time show, about 200 crew members are involved. They carpool; the travel team walks to the nearby hotel.

In the catering department, porcelain has replaced plastic cups; food is supplied locally, as is water. The 800 members of the studio audience who follow the three-and-a-half hour shoot are served regional water in returnable bottles. Waste management has been optimized. In order to avoid creating trash, the production furnished its offices with rented, as well as second-hand, furniture. The set decorations are stored near Adlershof. “No trash is produced here because our sets consists of solid, reusable components.” Rented LED displays are returned to the rental house after the show.

In order to reduce the carbon footprint, LEDs are being introduced step by step. Renewable energy is being used, and the solar panels on the roof of studio G in Adlershof generate power that is absorbed into Berlin‘s power grid. In fact, throughout Studio Berlin, the energy supply is going green. The heat supply comes from the municipality, 90% of which is generated by low-emission power-heat coupling, i.e., the simultaneous production of electricity and the utilization of “waste” heat for home/business environments. The show has been perspicaciously powered by clean energy. And the entire lighting system in the studio yard in Berlin is also going to be upgraded to energy-efficient lamps. “We are trying to be as sustainable as possible”, says Campmann, drawing her conclusion. “The show must go on, but climate-friendly, please!”

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