Companies must evolve their businesses to integrate sustainable development. During a workshop led by Walter France at the Produrable show, the founders of the company ARI Pictures gave their testimony and explained how it is possible, whatever his activity, to adapt to be more sustainable while remaining efficient.
More and more companies are understanding that they have a fundamental role to play in preserving the planet.. But between awareness and concrete achievements, several years may pass. According to Yveline Pouillot, in charge of CSR within Walter France, it is illusory to want to make a revolution within its structure. Better to transform gradually, by disseminating good practices by capillary action. Drawing on the example of ARI Pictures’ journey, it is possible to identify the different stages of a virtuous process. When they created their short film audiovisual production company, Arthur Choupin and Sébastien Baudier were both more in the “geek and tech” sphere. They carried out numerous promotions of connected objects, most of the time produced at the ends of the world, whose interest could be entirely relative, like this little device which signaled to children, thanks to a change of color, the time they had to go to bed… Sébastien explains the start of their thinking : “In my private life, I was hired at Alternatiba, citizen movement for climate and social justice, and I was vegetarian. At some point, I questioned myself, because I was experiencing a real cognitive contradiction between my values and the production of society. » As for Arthur, he was a real technophile and a big consumerist : “I gradually became aware that we lived in a somewhat crazy world in which we thought that objects were going to make our lives better.. Today, I became a minimalist, I have considerably reduced my consumption at all levels. It was necessary that at some point, our professional commitment reflects our personal values. »
Environmental impact
Arthur and Sébastien reflected on this at all stages of their short films. It starts when writing the script, with ideas that no longer involve distant travel, or disproportionate decorations. Ensuite, for the filming itself, when it takes place in the region, local specialists are hired. Meals are taken in local restaurants offering vegetarian dishes. The lighting is now systematically LED. The management offers as much bulk as possible for snacks taken on the film set, etc. In post-production, 3D technology enabling special effects requires powerful computer stations using scarce and energy-intensive resources. When they become obsolete, spare parts are revalued and used to manufacture new computers. For all these actions, managers largely rely on local waste treatment and resource networks..
Working under constraints makes you creative
Asking yourself the question at each stage : how to do better, or as well, with less, is a source of new ideas, sometimes completely offbeat, which generate a virtuous circle towards the sustainability of the solutions imagined ? By standing out and explaining to their clients their “responsible” working methods, the managers of ARI pictures gradually made them aware of the need to take into account the environmental impact of their audiovisual projects. While at the start of their entrepreneurial adventure, they tended to accept any type of project, today, their large clients understand the issues that affect them and, quite naturally, entrust them with more and more projects linked to their own ethical concerns. Arthur and Sébastien can now authorize themselves to refuse missions whose request does not correspond to their way of working. As for their customers, they are involved in the process at all levels. And they are, for example, informed when signing the contract that the storage of their film will be limited to two years., to reduce data storage, as part of a more responsible digital world.
Create an imagination that makes you want
The important, for all companies that engage in this approach, is, at their level, to inspire desire. For Arthur, the key value is kindness : no need to criticize and judge, it is much more effective to show the way. This is how in the scenarios they create for their clients, all members of the team try to invent stories that present a positive collective imagination by showing a desirable future. For Yveline Pouillot, “All companies must absolutely make their contribution. We can only advise them, following the implementation of their approach, to be labeled, for example with the Lucie label, which allows them to better formalize, to have it evaluated by an external third party, to structure and promote their CSR actions and commitments to all their stakeholders. »
A virtuous capillarity towards customers and suppliers
ARI Production is part of the 1% for the planet network, whose member companies undertake to donate 1% of their turnover (and not their profits) for the benefit of approved environmental associations. Making it known, little by little customers and suppliers are also joining. By capillarity, it is an entire sphere revolving around society which is made aware and which puts into practice concrete actions.
