Cyle Zezo, who was previously Head of Alternative and Digital Programming at The CW, founded Reality of Change in 2023 to promote sustainability in unscripted television.

The company has now debuted some new guidelines as to how reality producers can help the climate.

Reality of Change has launched Create the Conditions, which is designed for unscripted producers to introduce ways of bringing climate concerns and conditions for sustainability into reality shows.

Zezo wants producers to remember the “ABCs of climate storytelling”. A-stories are explicitly or implicitly about climate changes such as science and nature shows, docuseries about sustainability innovators; exposés of climate-related scandals and competitions shows that center upcycling and sustainability. B-stories are explicit climate storylines within non-climate narratives such as an upcycling challenge in a fashion or home design show. Finally, C-stories are casual mentions such as somebody using a compost bin or an induction stove on a cooking show.

He also suggests that producers look for casting connections such as putting firefighters, climate scientists, chefs, park rangers and farmers in unscripted shows.

This comes after Reality of Change launched its creative consulting pilot program last year, which has resulted in working with 11 series. It has been developed with the support of global environmental non-profit Rare’s Entertainment Lab.

“On many of the series we’re working with, sustainability themes are already present beneath the surface,” said Zezo. “For instance, through the talent and casting lens, audiences are deeply affected by the cost of living, personal health concerns, increasing disasters, and a plethora of issues intrinsically linked to the environment, and so are the people appearing in our shows. A lot of credit for the success of this initiative goes to the dedicated work of expert partners including Havva Eisenbaum and Sydney Clover, who have helped producers connect the dots across this vast subject area, meeting the audience demand in ways that are clearly in sync with the shows producers are already making and the entertainment viewers expect.”