Rewrite the Future
NRDC partners with Hollywood to take on the climate crisis.
Rewrite the Future leverages NRDC’s deep environmental expertise to support creators in telling entertaining stories that reflect our climate-altered world and the path toward a better future.
WHAT WE DO:
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Consult on film and TV projects, bringing the insight of NRDC’s hundreds of environmental experts to content across genres
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Host workshops and presentations about representing climate and environmental topics onscreen
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Encourage new voices through NRDC’s Climate Storytelling Fellowship, in collaboration with the Black List, CAA Foundation, NBCUniversal, and the Redford Center
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Lead public discussions about climate representation at the Sundance Film Festival, the Hollywood Climate Summit, the Television Academy Foundation, and elsewhere
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Advise entertainment companies on integrating climate content into their sustainability strategies
Watch NRDC at Sundance
The Last Laugh: Comedy in the Age of Climate Change
In 2024, “The Last Laugh: Comedy in the Age of Climate Change," featuring Quinta Brunson and Mike Schur, explored how to tackle tough topics through comedy, why laughter is the best medicine, and how climate change can unlock creative opportunities.
The Big Picture
“The Big Picture: Representing Our Climate-Altered World On-Screen” brought together a panel of Hollywood professionals to discuss creative strategies for representing climate in film and on TV. Watch the video of NRDC’s virtual panel at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
More Than a Feeling
“More Than a Feeling: Climate Emotions in Film & TV” brought together a panel of Hollywood storytellers and mental health experts to discuss how to represent climate emotions in entertainment to better reflect our lived responses to the crisis. Watch the video of NRDC’s virtual panel at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.
Beyond Apocalypse
“Beyond Apocalypse: Alternative Climate Futures in Film and TV” gathered filmmakers and climate leaders to discuss how entertainment stories can help us see, feel, and build the climate future we want. Watch the video of NRDC’s virtual panel at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.
Climate change represents a tremendous creative opportunity for storytellers. NRDC’s website has information about a wide array of climate and environmental topics.
Rewrite the Future works closely with the Entertainment Partnerships team at NRDC, which uses pop culture, entertainment, art, and storytelling to shift the cultural narrative around our environmental crisis.
“It’s really exciting when storytelling can resonate with the greatest issue of our time. There can be no greater focus than saving our home.”
Laura Dern, actor, in Variety, "Is Hollywood Doing Enough to Fight the Climate Crisis?"
Submit Your Screenplay to the NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship
NRDC’s Rewrite the Future, in partnership with the Black List, CAA Foundation, NBCUniversal, and the Redford Center, invites writers to apply for the NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship, now open for submissions.
The annual fellowship encourages climate storytelling by supporting the revision of screenplays or pilots that engage with climate change in a meaningful way, through events, actions, character, emotions, plot, and/or setting.
The fellowship awards three recipients with $20,000 each and six months of mentorship with industry professionals and climate storytelling experts to provide creative support for their original script. At the conclusion of the fellowship, revised scripts will be hosted on the Black List website and may be reviewed for development by prominent studios, agencies, and/or production companies. Writers will retain all rights to their scripts.
The 2025 fellowship cycle is now open for submissions through December 5, 2024. Reach out to rewritethefuture@nrdc.org with any questions.
Meet the Rewrite the Future Team
