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John: Welcome to another edition of the Impact Podcast. I’m John Shegerian, and I’m so excited to have with us today Heather Fipps and Allison Begalman. They’re the co-founders and executive producers of the Hollywood Climate Summit. Welcome, Allison and Heather, to the Impact Podcast.

Heather Fipps: Thank you for having us.

John: Hey, this is a true honor and this is going to be fun. It’s your first time on the podcast, but you’re talking about really important stuff today. But before we get talking about that, I love you both to share a little bit about who you are, how you got on this fascinating journey that you are, and then we’ll get into all the great things you’re doing with the Hollywood Climate Summit, which is coming up on June 2nd to 4th at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Allison, why don’t we start with you?

Allison Begalman: Great, thanks, John. So my background is interesting. I sort of was on the track to be a television writer and from Jersey originally. Heard about this school-

John: Which part?

Allison: Scotch Plains. It’s in northern central Jersey. Someone can confirm. And so I heard about this school called USC, did not really know anything about it. Ended up getting in for screenwriting and good financial aid package. So I ended up going there, started community organizing during college as well. I was there and then translated that over to organizing within the film school at USC because we were just seeing that women weren’t getting as many opportunities as men were. So that turned into me realizing, okay, cool, this is a skill that I have as well as obviously writing. As I moved into the Hollywood industry, I was working as an assistant. I also was organizing people behind the scenes, bringing folks together, women, queer folks to help them build relationships so they could get opportunities. Because when you have more relationships and stronger networks, you get more opportunities in that business. And sort of started to make that connection that, oh, okay, I really am good at bringing people together, at strategizing, at that impact work. And I kind of wanted that to be more of what I was doing. I ended up co-founding a coalition called Young Entertainment Activists that sort of spurred a lot of organizing within young entertainment professionals in Hollywood. And that is actually how I met Heather as well, because we had a junior board and Heather was on that. And part of that is young entertainment activists was incubating all these different ideas. And one of them was the Hollywood Climate Summit. And so then, once we had done the first one and it was very successful and we can get more into the background of that. Yeah, and then Heather joined the board and just showed us that. She was going to take it and go for it. So that’s sort of my background. Now I’m doing impact strategy work, working at the Hollywood Climate Summit and still writing. But, you know, this is the fun, exciting life I have.

John: Well, it’s always great to have another wonderful USC alumni on the show. My wife is a USC graduate, so is my daughter-in-law. So USC is all around me and my family. It’s wonderful to have you on. And then how about you, Heather? What’s your background? Where did you grow up and how did you get on this journey?

Heather: Yeah, thank you. I grew up in Big Bear Lake, California, so the little ski resort town about two hours out of Los Angeles. Grew up steeped in nature and really, I mean, firsthand sort of experiencing environmental changes throughout my lifetime. Everything from snowfall becoming more heavy in my childhood to now hardly seeing any snow that can make the ski resorts open in the seasons that they used to, massive drought that took place. And so I always just say I grew up in a very environmentally valued community. And so that was always very heart centered for me in my journey. And when I was deciding what I wanted to pursue, I think, faced a choice of I either wanted to go into like policy work or media. And at that time, I had an instinct that I felt that media was perhaps more influential in what people were more regularly interacting with and engaging with. So I pursued media, I went to film school in Los Angeles. I went down a pathway, I worked about 10 years in the film industry in a number of different departments, camera, art department, got to travel to so many cool places and live a very wonderful creative life. But what I started to feel a shift from was my value system. I really felt like a lot of the stories that I was telling and participating in and in so many different creative ways were really just kind of ignoring what was the backdrop of my personal life, which was the degradation of a natural place that was my home and really seeing drought influence how many wildfires per year there were getting to a regular pattern of nearly having to evacuate my parents and my family home almost every year from wildfires. Even 10 years ago, this was a problem. And so I just felt a real disconnect between entertainment and the messaging that we were all sharing out and what was really happening in the real world. And so my next steps after being in the film industry were to pursue really intersecting the impact of environmental activism and media. I worked for an artist, I worked for Mark Bradford, who really just was such an incredible person to learn firsthand how he integrated his art into community impact work and would never really divorce the two, he would always show up as an artist and as a social impact leader in any community that he was installing with and working with. And I really took that and internalized that and learned so much from him. I then pursued being a professor at Cal State LA. I built out an impact media curriculum there where I got to partner filmmakers with global initiatives for different causes, a lot of environmental causes, but also the foster care system, the healthcare system, environmental justice, prison reformation, and restorative justice, and got to really test film as a tool for community and local community impact. And then from there, I had a wonderful opportunity to become the program director at the Redford Center, which is one of the only environmental filmmaking nonprofits that funds and supports environmental documentaries and impact campaign under the banner of the Redford family legacy. It was founded by James Redford and Robert Redford and all the while have been working alongside Allison to grow and scale the Hollywood Climate Summit community. And that has been just my greatest source of joy is to really think about coalition building community and really what it takes for change to take root and to build courage in our media ecosystem for how we are shifting from silence to engaging in this issue and shifting our values and our cultural values around what our media says about our concern and our present moment experiencing climate change in real time.

John: That is so wonderful. Obviously Big Bear is a very beautiful part of the state of California. Well, most people, since I grew up in New York and New Jersey as well, Allison, most people don’t understand. They think of New Jersey. They think of the opening credits of Sopranos. It’s really called the Garden State and it’s also one of the most beautiful states in the nation. So you both grew up in very beautiful, environmentally gorgeous and abundant places, but it really doesn’t take someone with the most acute eye to understand, as you called it, Heather, the environmental degradation that’s happening right in front of us. Obviously we all just lived through the LA fires and so many other tragedies that are going on and catastrophes that are going on in and around the planet right now as we speak. It’s it just seems to be growing every year. So I’m so, thankful what you’re doing for our listeners and viewers to find the Hollywood Climate Summit. It will be in our show notes, but I’m to give it out here. But you don’t have to stop your car or whatever you’re doing if you’re working out in a gym or going for a nice walk. It’s HollywoodClimateSummit.com it’s that simple. HollywoodClimateSummit.com again, June 2nd through 4th at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will give a link to how you buy tickets and to how you could get involved in our show notes. But let’s talk a little bit about when you first met, both of you, how you became friends and colleagues, and when you had your aha, let’s do this moment about the Hollywood Climate Summit.

Allison: I mean, Heather, you’re going to have to help me with this, because I feel like it’s an interesting sort of evolution. I’ve been doing this for six years since this first started and Heather joined in the second year, I believe, of us doing it. And look, you know, when you start something, most people know you start off like you just figure things out. And obviously, you know, I’d had experience personally at that point, building an entity, as had Heather. And so for me, when I started my consulting business, for me it was about, what does the landscape look like? What’s the whole, how can what I have to offer and what this community has to offer fill that hole, right? And I think, and obviously other factors as well, but like starting with the listening store, making sure that you know all the people that are already connected to that work and have been in it for a long time and honoring their work. So for me in starting this whole thing, I was always looking to who else is doing something connected and how can I learn from them? How can I amplify what they’re doing and how can this support their work? And I think, know, Heather saw, I’m assuming you saw that with what you were already doing with, you know, at the UCS and sort of the impact film work and that what we were doing sort of was very connected to that. And there could be a lot of generative tissue. So I don’t know. mean, Heather, if you have your perspective, I guess.

Heather: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think it’s also worth saying, like, we are a part of such a big community of supporters that has grown the summit to what it is today. And we also have a third co-founder, Allie Weinstein, who’s an essential part of the equation. And I met Allie and Allison at the same time through the Young Entertainment Activist Board. And I would say that I’ve just gone on a journey of needing to constantly scale the impact that I am working on and be strategic in how that impact is accomplished. And one of the things I deeply valued of Allison’s leadership and her approach to things was how quickly she can make people feel welcome in any issue, make it feel accessible. She is a builder. And I would say like prior to that moment, I hadn’t met other builders. I felt like a builder. I’m the person that says, Yeah, that’s a great idea. And by tomorrow, it’s already happening. And Allison is that person. She picks up the phone, she calls everyone in, she is truly committed to impact, but also to who’s on that journey with her. And I think that is why we work so well together because neither of us took on this pursuit saying, how do we build our platform? What is our creative voice? What is the project we’re working on? We were like, we’re going to rally as many people as possible, as many writers, as many directors, as many studios, as many independent creators. Everyone needs to be in this conversation because all voices are going to be the only thing that makes the narrative an ocean shift that we need on this issue. And I think that bigger vision is ultimately why we work so well together because we’re community centered, not individual centered.

Allison: Yeah, we see this as a movement.

John: That’s great idea. I mean, that’s such a healthy way to approach things. Instead of worrying about whose idea was it, it’s finding the best idea. Come on, everyone, and that’s how great things happen. That’s how change happens. That’s how disruption happens. So this was about six years ago that you launched this originally?

Allison: Yeah, so we originally started, we were supposed to do it in person at one of the big agencies in May of 2020. But then obviously COVID happened and so we ended up pivoting. And I do want to shout out NYU Los Angeles and Nina Sadowski, who was our first supporter in helping give us a grant to make the initial summit happen. And that was fully digital, obviously. And we just had so much. engagement from there that each year we would sort of elevate it in a different way. So add an in-person element, obviously COVID safe and then growing it into in 2023 was sort of like a level up moment because we were able to do it fully in person with a live stream that was also allowed for like networking and stuff for anyone who was virtual. But we did it at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and they were our partner in sort of helping us take it to the next level. And so I think for us, we acknowledge that being shift and take a long time to grow and you have to try different things out and all of that is good and it’s okay to watch it grow. But it wasn’t a full-time thing for us until the past year.

John: Well, basically you’re running a startup. Which is that’s the nature of it. You put down the business plan and then you make adjustments as you go when you realize the realities that are the externalities and realities that you’re faced with on regular basis. So talk a little bit about 23 to where we are today, how it’s grown and what was the original mission when you had a mission statement and like you said, you had a level up moment. What was the mission statement and how does that continue to evolve here in 25 and what can people expect coming up on June 2nd through 4th?

Heather: Yeah, well, I would say the mission has always been to coordinate a network and really be a field catalyst to grow the enthusiasm and level up the communication skill set of the communication community, the media community. And that’s everything from yes, film and television where all of us started, but it’s also journalism, music, fashion, video games, social media creators, the media landscape is so much more than traditional entertainment. And in fact, independent creators in many ways are massively shifting the landscape as we speak. And so I think our goal was to convene a multi disciplinary coalition of people who are going to be able to express, care about climate and with my unique skill set that I have, whether I’m a prop designer, an editor, a marketing person, a writer, a producer, a decision maker, I have an ability to make an impact on the climate issue. And I don’t need to change to a sustainability career. I don’t need to retrain myself. I’m in a position right now where I’m reaching people every single day in different ways and what informs their values. And how do we have an informed community level conversation about what are we saying, why are we saying it, and who are we talking to? And so we’ve just grown and grown. mean, we started, as Allison said, as a virtual effort. That year, we re-engaged a very international community. So because of that, even when we’ve shifted into a mostly in-person event, we still live stream out to a global community. We have about 65 countries that tune into the summit every year. And to date, we do our annual conference, but we also do annual events and Collider experiences where we bring together the creative community, but also the climate community, the policy maker community, the corporate sustainability community. And we’re working towards a strategy at scale where all of these people are in conversation with one another. And to date, we’re really proud to say that we’ve engaged over 30,000 people in our work and over 7,000 companies. that have participated in our event experiences. And I think another part of our mission that’s super important to understand is that we didn’t want this to feel like any other climate conversation or gathering. We’re the creative community. It has to feel joyful. It has to feel fresh. It has to feel like you have a fear of missing out if you’re not a part of the climate conversation and the community that we’re building. So we are joy forward. We are celebratory of innovation and what is happening. We are grounding, absolutely, and we’re talking about real issues. But when you come into our community, we are leading by trend setting and making climate a movement that you feel like if you’re not a part of it, you’re actually missing out on a massive cultural movement that’s really exciting to be a part of.

John: I don’t want to be captain obvious here, but I mean, literally, I’m a boomer. I’m 62 years old and Hollywood in my lifetime has always set the table and been the tastemaker for trends, cultural trends, social mores and all sorts of other things. So isn’t this almost like an overlooked obvious thing that should have been created years ago to lead on this issue? I mean, instead of letting government or policymakers or some savant-like entrepreneurs have to lead on this, isn’t this really where the rubber hits the road and so much impact and the needle can really be moved as Hollywood continues to get the message out more?

Allison: Definitely. I also think, you know, it’s been done on other issues for a long time. And look, people have been doing it in entertainment, I mean, for climate specifically. you know, climate is extremely politicized, as are many issues right now. And it has many issues-

John: And weaponized.

Allison: Exactly. So, you know, for us, we feel like we’ve been able to learn from some of the incredible culture change, which is what they’re calling it, work that’s been done. across film, documentary, television. I mean, there’s so many examples from all types of issues that things were things that they’ve been able to push policy, make changes on the community level, on the national global level. So I think for us, we learn from that. Also, we see now as an opportunity to bring new people into this conversation because we’re seeing public lands under threat. We’re seeing all these are clean air, clean water, things that are just basic human rights that, they’re public health issues, essentially. They’re not even, you I wouldn’t even identify them as climate. So for me, it’s like this is we can broaden the tent, we can bring people in, we can tell stories about it. And everyone cares about that. Everyone cares about their utility bill being high. That’s connected to the climate. You know, I think I think it’s yeah. So it’s opening up.

John: Let’s just start with the basics. Everyone who’s a human being cares about drinking cleaner water and having their family and family and friends drink cleaner water, breathe cleaner air and live in a good environment. And hopefully leave the world a little bit better of a place than they found it.

Allison: Yeah.

John: That’s not an independent, that’s not a red or a blue issue. That’s just a human condition that we all agree upon. So I think, as you said, Heather, leading with joy and being joyful instead of creating fear and fearmongering and creating all this unnecessary politics and finger-pointing. It’s just such a constructive way to go about what you’re both doing here. I think it’s so important.

Heather: Thank you. I really feel that the care for this issue is there. What’s not there is the attention. And we work in the industry that our sole purpose is to get and keep people’s attention. And so I think the real opportunity here is the reshaping the way we’re approaching this conversation, not just in Hollywood and in media, but also in the spaces that can use creative thinking for how this is being related to the public. Part of our dream is to have collaborations between the health department and the creative community, the policymakers and creative thinkers. You know, I think that there’s just these disconnects are really setting us back. And I think that this mental shift of how we’re engaging in this conversation, we need to get people’s attention on this issue. Their care and concern is really there and people are paying attention to their favorite TV shows, to the influencers, to the things that bring them joy. So when we meet them at where they are paying attention and engaging in joy, those are the spaces we really need to be activating because the shame culture, the information overload, the mistrust in institutions, those are really setting back this issue a ton. And so we have to be thinking so much differently about collaboration.

John: I think that’s a great way to go about it and a healthy way to go about it. I love the clarity and your sense of purpose and mission. Talk a little bit about, let’s give some hard examples of wins that you’ve achieved over the years. It could be last year, it could be four years ago or five years ago, and things that you’re looking forward to coming up and what you want to achieve June 2nd to 4th at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at your next Hollywood Climate Summit.

Heather: Sure. Yeah, I would say, let’s see some wins. I would say some wins are, I think we’ve been able to facilitate some really important public facing moments for the progress that’s happening in our industry. I know that this is not our sole accomplishment. This is the work standing on the shoulders of movements that are happening. But things like last year, we had the first public facing conversation where all of the guilds sustainability teams came together and talked about how each guild and each discipline is engaging on sustainability and sustainable on screen and off screen in their work. We have had the opportunity to amplify and build support systems for storytellers who are experimenting with climate. So we’ve hosted a pitch fest and a marketplace, both of which were designed to bring scripts that are developed that have incredible climate themes or messages imbued inside of them, we put them in partnership with development executives on the NBC Universal lot, who was our partner in hosting that. And they were able to pitch those stories directly to development executives. And we had some really wonderful wins that came out of that and those connections that were made in our Hollywood Climate Summit marketplace takes films that are ready for distribution but are not yet being picked up by a distributor. And we equally we partnered with American Film Market, and we paired them to screen and have meetings with distribution executives. And that led to some wonderful collaborations that some of those films got placement on different publication platforms and moved to the flag down the field, so to speak. And so I think making breakthroughs like that and subverting expectations of what we mean when we say climate storytelling and suddenly people are experiencing that it’s Sci-fi, it’s rom-coms, it’s all kinds of things that we’re putting in front of people and we’re breaking the expectation of what we’re advocating for when we’re saying we want more climate themes in storytelling.

Allison: And I’ll add two more things if that’s okay. One is really about jobs because Hollywood is in a weird time right now where there aren’t as many jobs. And what’s been cool about the summit is it’s showing a new career path and maybe multiple for a lot of different types of professionals. People come into entertainment, maybe wanting to be a producer or a cinematographer or a line producer or whatever. And they end up figuring out, I can do sustainability producing. I can be an eco PA. I can help build out strategies for how we can be more efficient with energy, reduce waste, all these things. And a lot of people learn about it from the summit and then go and try to get these studio jobs. And a lot of them get them and they say they learned about it at the Hollywood Climate Summit. And I think that’s really impactful, especially now where we’re really trying to make this transition in the business to clean energy. Like there’s new types of technologies. So, like professionals need to learn them. And there’s a big effort right now that a lot of the studios are helming in production companies. But all I’ll say is like, we get to be a place, a watering hole where everyone can come and learn about these things and then go and figure out, okay, cool. Like maybe I’m going to try this and get that opportunity. And the last thing I’ll say is, you know, with events and again, like this is a bigger event than just, you know, half a day thing. But we, we always try to think about what happens after, right? Because for us, the amount of stories and testimonials we’ve gotten in from people who have met people at the summit, even like five years ago, and now are doing X project or got this job or like have all these new relationships or a new business. Like it all, that’s every day I’m hearing stories like that. And so it. It’s difficult to track, especially when you’re a smaller entity. And so that’s something that we really hope this year we can keep learning all those great impact stories.

John: If you’ve just joined us, we’ve got Heather Fipps and Allison Begalman with us today. They’re the co-founders and executive producers of the Hollywood Climate Summit. You can find them at www.hollywoodclimatesummit.com. There are big events coming up June 2nd through 4th at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. You’ll be able to buy tickets online on the link in our show notes. What am I missing here? You know, when people care, they like to fantasize and think about if they were the president, if they were the pope, if they were the governor, the mayor, this is what they would do. What am I missing here with Governor Newsom? I mean, every time I go to Vancouver, Georgia, I’m going to next week and other parts around the world, they seem to be bleeding out and taking all of our productions out of California. Why is it? I mean, and this is an apolitical conversation, but why it just seems so simple. Hollywood is what helped make this state, the Sunshine State, and so great and put it on a platform for the world to see. I mean, I remember 20 years ago going to Brazil and the taxi driver asked me if the United States is mostly like Baywatch because that’s what they were watching. Then at another time, the zeitgeist was all about Sopranos. Another person in another country said, “Is that what New Jersey’s like? Is that what United States is like?” I mean, why isn’t Governor Newsom or whoever the leadership is in California keeping more of Hollywood production, giving incentives to keep Hollywood production than jobs here in Hollywood that created all this amazing content from time immemorial? What’s going on?

Heather: Well, I will happily say that, you know, labor organizing and respect for human well-being and right to work and own their creative IP and all of that is, you labor organizing is an important part of climate organizing. It’s the backbone of it as well. It’s I think ultimately like we are all working towards the betterment of human well-being. That should be a goal of every issue. And I think the LA Exodus is no different. There are people here that are the best at what they do. They’re living in the highest cost of living that we’ve ever seen. We are also seeing productions leave because of financial incentives. It’s the bottom line of, you know, there are financial incentives to get tax returns for filming in other locations. It’s something we can easily mirror. It’s something we’re certainly advocating for. And I think that as we’re talking about this whole thing, there is so much value that can’t be bottom-lined from leading culture and leading the societal conversation for what people are tuning into and to lose that platform that Hollywood in Los Angeles has built. That is so much more of a loss and the diversity of Los Angeles and the voices that are here and the people that have come here to share their unique perspective, to lose that in the midst of what has been created in the art space, in what has shaped us, the biggest stories that we can all reference and see ourselves in the characters of, that is a loss greater than any monetary value could be measured against. And I think it would be an absolute shame to not move every needle we can towards reinvigorating Los Angeles and especially recovering as a community of Los Angeles that’s just faced the devastating fires and looking at this as an opportunity to rebuild our city in a number of different ways and in community with all of Los Angeles.

John: Well said. On a complicated issue that’s so well said, what could people look forward to? What are the top two or three topics that you’re going to cover and try to get the most out of and create the most heat around at your upcoming Hollywood Climate Summit, June 2nd through 4th?

Allison: Well, that’s a great question. Well, our release will be coming out tomorrow. So we will really get to see sort of what we have in store. But I’ll say we have a couple different issues. I mean, we are bringing in more cross-sector conversations this year, which I’m really excited about. So we have a music conversation sorted about you know, the history of music as a movement building tool and sort of how that helps now artists and their values driven brands, sort of what we’re all talking about here, you know, and why that actually helps their brands. We’re going to be talking about gaming. Heather is leading that one and speak more about it, which is really exciting. But there’s a lot of storytelling going on in the gaming world and it has been for a long time.

John: Online gaming or just gaming in general? Online game-

Heather: There’s been some really exciting ways that they’ve that we’ve seen some real environmental leadership happening in the gaming space. Everything from main storylines of AAA games. So we’ll be having a couple of speakers to have contributed to that, like Horizon Zero Dawn. And then there’s also things even to mobile games and online networks. mean, I think Pokemon Go is a great example of that is a mobile game that got people outside and in community and having a joyful experience. So I think that kind of thinking is really interesting when we’re thinking about how to engage people in an interactive way.

John: That’s so cool. Allison, I interrupt you. Keep going.

Allison: It’s all good. I love going deep. Another example, obviously we’ll be speaking to the LA fires. Everyone keeps asking us, of course, absolutely. I we all lived through it and have friends who have lost homes and are seeing the rebuilding efforts and the potential connection to what’s happening with the ocean. It’s all really scary. I think so for us, we’re trying to ground it in more action oriented subjects. So for example, we’re going to be doing a program with the. National Domestic Workers Alliance and Carrying Across Generations and Solutions Project about interdependence and storylines and sort of talking about, the lone hero narrative sort of doesn’t really fit what we saw happened, especially in LA after the wildfires. Everyone just came together. They didn’t care who you were. what your political ideologies were. People were just supporting each other, starting their donation hubs. And so for us, it’s like, okay, well, how do we translate that into the way we’re communicating about communities and knowing the people next door and just supporting? And so we’re going to do a conversation about community, about care, about storytelling. So yeah, mean, those are just a couple examples. Obviously, we have a bunch of programming. And again, we’ll come out tomorrow. And we’re really excited.

John: Tell me about some of your, and this is not to diminish, I know you’re both super inclusive and collaborative, but not to diminish anyone’s efforts, but give a little shout out for some of your overachieving superstars that have been supportive of your efforts over the years and are really continuing to help you drive this movement forward.

Allison: Oh God, there’s so many.

John: Go ahead. I’m not cutting you off on time here. I mean, it could be a person, it could be an influencer, it could be a major corporation or organization. I just want to hear who’s really leading and who’s really caring by spending the time and resources to push this voice forward.

Allison: My gosh. Okay, well, we could just start naming some folks. I mean, first of all, when we first started doing this work, we were doing listening tours with a lot of the studio sustainability departments. And now they actually have, I they had before this alliance called the Sustainable Production Alliance, but now it’s called the Sustainable Entertainment Alliance because they’re also doing storytelling work. So all of the leaders of the sustainability departments across entertainment have been so invaluable and they’ve been doing this work for a long time. So, for sure, all of them. And I’ll also say, a lot of the influencers that we work with, they’ve been coming to the summit since 2020, some of them met at the summit. like Christie, Leah, Isaiah, Kevin, know, so many incredible folks who are doing this climate communication on social media and have been for many years. Heather, who else do you think?

Heather: Yeah, well, I really think I would love to acknowledge and recognize the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, because let me tell you something about leadership, sometimes leadership looks like supporting someone financially. Sometimes leadership looks like opening up space and sharing resources and that’s what the Academy has done for us. They host us in their theater. We work closely with their team to produce the event. They engage all Academy members in the invitation and participation of the summit and I mean I think that that partnership has been truly profound in terms of what an institution can really offer a grassroots effort like ours. And then many of our studio partners have supported us for multiple years now and have really guided our strategy. And I know our long-standing partners, again, there would be such a long list of really hundreds if we were able to name everyone, but I really want to thank the team at Netflix, NBC Universal, Paramount, our partners.

Allison: Climate Power.

Heather: Climate Power, NRDC, Rewrite the Future. I think that, you know, those that is a short list, and I apologize to everyone that we aren’t able to name, but those are those are transformative relations.

John: That’s a great list, by the way. That’s a lot of great brands and people that are that are jumping feet first in with you here. So that’s awesome. You know, also your entrepreneurs, you know, know, know, obviously impact entrepreneurs, but your entrepreneurs nonetheless. What’s one? great thing that you didn’t expect to happen. Like an old shit thing that happened like, wow, we’ve got to deal with this. then flip side, give me a happy accident that happened that’s been the wind at your back. So give me something that’s been the wind in your face that you have to overcome as an entrepreneur. Because people don’t understand, you can write up the coolest business plan you want at the kitchen table. But once reality hits, you know, we all know what Mike Tyson’s famous quote is, everyone has a plan until they get in the ring and get hit in the head. And being an entrepreneur is certainly about getting hit in the head, but keeping on moving forward. What have you had to overcome that you didn’t expect, but then what’s also a happy accident that got, became some wind at your back?

Heather: I would love to say like, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this too, Allison, so I’ll go quickly, but I really think. that the biggest oh shit moment that also turned into wind at our back was just the scale at which this was embraced with enthusiasm and the spaces at which we had to level ourselves up so quickly. I mean, we went from being very grassroots, all volunteers to in some of the biggest, most visible spaces with the biggest visible partners. And there’s expectations that come with that. And we had to just absolutely like double down, embrace it. Thank our community members who went on that journey with us of what rapid scaling looks like. But I think that just spoke to the gap, the need, the enthusiasm. And we’ve just had to ride. We’ve had to meet the moment of what people were looking for. And I think that’s a great sign. But it also was a lot really quickly and, you know, no resourcing behind us to meet that scale.

Allison: Yeah, I would honestly say, and this is I’m sure something, John, that a lot of people who listen or who have on the show have spoken about. it again, like I said before, it takes a long time to build something. And especially when you’re working in climate and this intersection, first of all, half of your work is educating people who would maybe support you to on what you’re doing and why it’s important. You know, like people are not seeing this connection because they’re not seeing this connection and it’s not mainstream yet. So for us, like That’s half the work that we do is, you know, having to, which we love doing it. It’s, love telling people about what we do. It’s just that, again, it’s like a lot of people can just go and like get support. And for us, it’s really about bringing, building a coalition and building a coalition is incredible. And it’s my like life’s joy and what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. But it’s also really hard because you are managing, you’re building trust, you’re managing people’s feelings. And like you want everyone you work with to be able to be seen in what you’re doing and to have them feel like this is theirs. And I do feel like that is how it is, but again, that’s messy. And actually, you know, that connects to something, one of the programs we’re going to do at the summit, it’s called Movements on Screen. And it’s talking about how the nuances of movement building, you know, aren’t really shown in film and television in the way that it actually is. It’s friendships, you know, getting messed up or and best friends coming together and then breaking apart because something crazy happened. You know, like it really is just like these nuanced grounded experiences that I don’t think people really they think of like we’re going to protest on them all, you know, and it’s a yes, it’s that and go out and do that. But also it’s these small moments coming together in a living room, at school in your workplace. So anyway, all to say is like, I think it’s like a beauty. It’s like the it’s amazing. And it’s also really challenging and making sure that, know, you are You are being as authentic as possible and being as transparent as possible with everything you do.

John: Well, the brands that you mentioned are major brands. But as both of you know, getting everybody aligned with all the right intentions is no easy trick because they’re all their own organizations, which their own living and breathing organizations have their own cultures and history and legacy. And just like people. They bring their own baggage to the table and all their great things to the table as well. So aligning them is no easy feat, I would imagine. Number one. Number two, where do you find your funding from? How do you raise the capital to keep doing this great and important and impactful work that you’re doing?

Heather: Yeah, well, I mean, I think that to speak to the messiness, I think that’s also part of the strategy, right? Like we said. This is a global issue. We need to engage so many different people in so many different ways. And so to have multiple perspectives is actually really healthy. And to have different takes on how this looks and who is a leader and we’re passing that mic around is extremely important. And I think it also like it breeds healthy excitement and competition of like, oh, let’s show up next year and showcase this that we did. then, I think that’s like all really part of the magic of community building is bringing in those different perspectives and priorities and amplifying them all in balance when you can. And then in terms of our funding, We generally have three different streams that we operate under as a business. So we’re a nonprofit entity. So we do get philanthropic support from some wonderful funders. We are also raising corporate sponsorships for our events. And so a lot of our work is through that. And then we also offer consultancy services for the impact work that we pursue. And so our Collider experiences impact strategy and campaigns. We are advisors on a number of different initiatives to bring both education forward, but also strategic campaign work forward. And so we also offer our services out to help build out this strategy in other spaces and other sectors too.

John: Understood. Who do you want to be buying tickets? Who should be attending June 2nd through 4th, the next Hollywood Climates Summit?

Allison: Truly anyone that is communicating in some way, working in the communication space. Again, we mentioned some of the sectors, traditional entertainment, music, gaming, even sports, being an actor and actress, as well as social media and marketing. Those are definitely like the buckets, but also anyone because our programming is really made to be intergenerational and intersectional and really speak to what’s going on in the world and give you tips to be able to communicate about climate and many other issues in a way that is like nuanced and maybe even fun or silly. So anyway, I really think those are those are the buckets for sure.

John: Are the agencies involved as well?

Allison: Yes. So we work with CA Foundation has been along. I was going to say them about a partnership, but. Adam and the CA Foundation has been a partner and is on our board of directors and they’ve been a sponsor for many years. They’re going to be sponsoring one of our really fun keynotes, which again, come out tomorrow. And yes, UTA is also a sponsor we worked with them. They actually have hosted events for us before. So yeah, we love working with them.

John: Both of you have had this in your heart and on your mind for a long time and now working on it together the last six and then five years together. Where are we? If this journey to decarbonize the planet create cleaner air, cleaner water, better living conditions for all, not only here in the United States, but as you said, we want to democratize all this, all these benefits for everyone’s benefit. That’s a global issue. But if we were to put it in just baseball terms, are we at the top of the first inning, bottom of the second, beginning of the fifth, or where are we in this whole journey according to both of you?

Heather: Gosh, that’s such a profound question and it’s so challenging to answer. I feel like we’re somewhere in the middle of the game and I feel there’s been so much work to date. There’re so many environmental wins. There are so many stories that we really need to ground ourselves in of environmental challenges that we have overcome and social justice issues that we have seen us reach the more positive and generative and generous side of. That being said, I would definitely think it feels like a lot of our star players are facing an injury right now, which is making me feel very concerned. You know, we see rollbacks of funding. We see a lot of barriers to the work that has been growing and scaling. And I think with the shifts that we’re experiencing politically right now, it’s undeniable that we’re facing setbacks in this work. And I call it an injury because they’re still star players, but we’ve got to get them the resources that they need. They’ve got to have the healing and the capacity to get back up and finish this game. And I think that that is a big part of what we’re facing collectively as a community working on this issue. I think we just have to start going out every single other window, tunnel, underground, overhead way of talking about this issue. We know where the barriers are and where things are not going to move forward culturally. We can move forward. We have to engage differently. We have to get that attention and the buy-in of the public, of our friends, our family, even those we disagree with. If we can align on this and make it a priority, we still have a chance to win this thing. So I think we got to rally the crowd and we got to get our star players healed and then we can do this.

Allison: This is the most Heather’s ever talking about sports to me.

John: I’m impressed.

Allison: I loved it.

John: But you know what? I totally agree with what you just said. But first of all, when we talk about setbacks, maybe we should say challenges. Second of all, if we say setback, it’s okay. It’s a set up for a better future because every great whatever Whether it’s Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, or any great athlete or entertainer we’ve ever heard about or studied, they’ve all and I’m by the way, entrepreneurs have all had major setbacks along the way and challenges, but the great ones just keep on coming and keep moving forward. And we love we love them. See them get in the big trophy or being in the winner’s circle or whatever sport they’re in, get in the big ring because it makes the win even that much more enjoyable and I think is a big future. Let’s talk about media for a second. Give me one each of you give me a piece of what’s one of the most favorite, what is your most what is the piece of media that’s moved you the most in recent times each of you?

Allison: Well, I actually wanted to, this is connected by Aaron Brockovich, the film.

John: Wow!

Allison: So it’s its 25th anniversary year this year.

John: Great movie.

Allison: And it has never been more applicable than it is now.

John: Amen. Amen to that. Amen. to call that one out. You’re exactly right. What say you, Heather? What piece of media has moved you in recent times that you want to give a shout out to?

Heather: My gosh. That is-

Allison: Yellowstone.

Heather: Yeah, you know what? Sure. I’ll say I really do feel, you know, a lot of my focus of my work right now is really centered around bridge building. I don’t think that the environment needs to be a partisan issue. I think that there is an American identity that has existed in the past and is still a cultural undercurrent of all of us caring deeply about our public lands.

John: True.

Heather: Right to clean water and health, our future generations, access to resources, like those are common values. And so I will say Yellowstone, I think, has a very nuanced take on a number of different perspectives of how development is challenging family tradition and values. I think it’s pointing to the tension between constant industrial development and also the need to preserve our value system and our resources and think about that family legacy. So, yeah, I see so many environmental themes in that one. And I love that it’s reaching a gigantic audience constituency that probably doesn’t feel like that’s in any way preaching to them any kind of environmental narrative.

John: I love it. For all listeners and viewers, To find Heather and Allison, go to www.hollywoodclimatesummit.com. We’re going to have a link in the show notes on how to buy tickets for the great June 2nd to 4th event at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hey, and I didn’t want to thank you both for the last hour that you just spent with us here on the Impact Podcast, but most importantly, thank you for the continued commitment that you’ve both made to making the world a better place. It truly is remarkable and something that has really inspired me. And I’m so grateful for the work you’re both doing.

Allison: Thank you so much, John. Thank you for having us. We really appreciate it.

Heather: Yes. And thank you for creating a platform for people to talk about impact. I think that that is like I said, it can’t be valued necessarily in the same ways. But thank you so much for bringing the value to that conversation.

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