Bringing Sustainability to the Entertainment Industry: Earth Angel is leading the way in sustainable production services in film and television

By Marion Cassidy, CAS ‘23, and Madhura Shembekar, SFS ‘26

When people think of movie theaters, their minds often go to the glorious wonder of a new film, Hollywood glamor, and the comfort of a large bucket of popcorn. Rarely does the planet come to mind.

That is a mistake, according to Emellie O’Brien, founder of Earth Angel, a sustainability agency working to reduce the entertainment industry’s environmental impact. The film industry is highly polluting, with an average tentpole production — a project that financially “holds up” a studio or network — producing 2,840 tons of carbon dioxide, according to the British Film Institute. This isn’t a new issue. A landmark study from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2006 found that California’s entertainment industry had emitted 8.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. This places the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions higher than hotel and retail industries. According to O’Brien, this is largely due to emissions from fuel used for transport and electricity, particularly from idling trucks and generators. 

From the time she graduated from NYU Tisch’s film program, O’Brien knew sustainability on set could go further. She quickly earned the nickname “Earth Angel” from fellow crew members at Big Beach Films, where she worked immediately after graduation. In 2013, she founded a company of the same name.

Earth Angel is dedicated to a highly specialized, integrated bottom-up approach to transform the sustainability of production. “When productions sign Earth Angel on to a project, they’ll have up to seven specialists that will be working on the project throughout the process, including experts in analytics, material recovery, waste and energy strategy, education, industry relations, as well as a project supervisor and on-set eco-coordinator,” O’Brien told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re a sustainability department. We are working every single day on-set along with our fellow departments.”

Earth Angel consults on both long and short-form projects, from Oscar-winning The Whale to Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. No matter how big or small the project, Earth Angel works meticulously to ensure each aspect of the set is as sustainable as possible. On the set of The Whale, for example, Earth Angel eco-coordinator Tamsin Hollo spent her days gathering compostable scraps from food tables, ensuring plant-plastic compostable tableware was properly recycled, and educating crew members on the importance of proper waste management. This grueling work was not for nothing; Earth Angel reported that they diverted “5.4 tons of material — more than the weight of two SUVs — from landfills and repurposed 2.1 tons of materials as donations.” They also diverted over 1,800 excess meals to food banks and community organizations.

Earth Angel also donates excess raw materials like leftover wood, PVC pipes and metal pipes to local communities. “It was special to see that second life and the positive impact it made on people, as well as how excited the crew got about it,” explained Quinn Yawger, an Earth Angel eco-supervisor.

According to Earth Angel, since 2023, they’ve avoided 16,026 metric tons of carbon dioxide, diverted over 19 million tons of waste and donated over 241,000 meals to the local community. And they have no plans of stopping anytime soon.

“What is unique to film is its ability to influence,” Earth Angel Business Development Director Jennifer Sandoval said. “Normalizing sustainable behavior on-screen can actually have a massive influence on the general public.”

To learn more about Earth Angel, visit https://www.earthangelsets.com/. To become a part of the Earth Angel team, visit https://www.earthangelsets.com/become-an-eco-rep.