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Nov 01, 2024

Greenpeace Unveils Comedy Climate Change Series 'My Pet Footprint'

By Jamie Lang Greenpeace will use humor to change the way people discuss climate change with its new animated series, “My Pet Footprint.” An animated comedy aimed at Gen Z but meant to be enjoyed by

By Jamie Lang

Greenpeace will use humor to change the way people discuss climate change with its new animated series, “My Pet Footprint.”

An animated comedy aimed at Gen Z but meant to be enjoyed by audiences of all ages, “My Pet Footprint” follows 15-year-old Bella and her sentient carbon footprint, Betty, imbued with the collective guilt of all the world’s worst polluters. The duo embarks on a surreal adventure through time and space, experiencing firsthand the most significant climate change impacts created by Big Oil.

Blending dystopian drama with science fiction language and a strong sense of humor, the series takes place in a world where executives have figured out a way to remove their consciences, making them the ultimate bottom-line businesspeople and creating an almost inhuman hurdle for the show’s main characters.

Watch the series’ first trailer below.

“With ‘My Pet Footprint,’ we’re not just creating a TV show – we’re igniting a movement,” said Mikyoung Kim, Project Manager at Greenpeace East Asia. “By harnessing the power of animation and comedy, we’re crafting a new language to discuss climate change, one that resonates across generations and cultures. This series represents our commitment to exploring innovative ways to engage and empower people in the fight for our planet’s future.”

The series is being produced by Prague-based animation studio Wit & Wisdom, which has a strong background in socially conscious filmmaking and has worked with organizations such as Greenpeace, Unicef, the Worth Wildlife Fund and others. The series is being helmed by accomplished filmmaker Daniel Bird, who trained under legendary Czech surrealist filmmaker and stop-motion legend Jan Švankmajer.

With “My Pet Footprint,” Greenpeace hopes to bridge a gap in climate communication by using humor to approach complex environmental concepts and make them more engaging to a broader audience.

Bird says at the show’s “absolutely fundamental core is the idea that if we can laugh at climate change, then we can start talking about it seriously and get it into the public consciousness as something that isn’t so terrifying that people turn off as soon as the topic comes up. Many people don’t want to hear about it, but if they’re engaging with it already, we can turn around and talk about it more seriously.”

He explains that the series’ goal is to entertain first and then educate, “but not in a documentary sense. We want to teach people in a more emotional way.” He referenced Netflix’s “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” as a model, explaining that “journalists have been reporting on that for ages, but when audiences saw it presented dramatically, they got genuinely angry.”

According to the director, Wit & Wisdom has already put together a seven-episode bible, and the script for the show’s pilot is written. After the pilot is produced, the team will use the episode to court further investors to finish Season 1 and could bring it to festivals and markets around the world to do so.

As for distribution, “The aim is to get the full series on streaming. The minimum expectation is a YouTube series, but we’d like to take our pilot around to festivals and bring the scripts, and if someone wants to pick us up, get a streaming partner on board that we can work with to finish the season.”

“I’ve not pitched anything to a Netflix or other big streamer before, so the codes to the door are currently unavailable to me, so the idea is to make this as good as it can possibly be and then let people come to us.”

If a big global streamer doesn’t get on board, Bird says his team hasn’t ruled out adapting their seven episodes into a feature film that would surely get a full festival run before looking for a broader means of distribution. In any case, the long-term goal isn’t to create a commercial product but rather to make something that is fun, funny and can positively impact the fight against climate change.