About this episode

Mari Jo Winkler discusses her role in making HBO's True Detective: Night Country one of the most sustainable productions in TV history.

Mari Jo Winkler has been greening film productions since 2003. As executive producer of HBO's True Detective: Night Country, she made a decision that cut the show's carbon footprint by 2–3x: shoot in Iceland instead of Alaska — not just for the landscape, but for the geothermal grid. In this excerpt from the NAB Excellence in Sustainability Awards, Mari Jo walks through exactly how she did it: scouting at -22° in Kotzebue, choosing Iceland for its 100% clean energy infrastructure, deploying 40+ EVs, and piloting a battery-powered generator that now lives permanently in Iceland. She also breaks down how the show's environmental themes — toxic mining, indigenous communities, climate justice — made it onto screen, not just into the production protocols. What you'll learn: — Why Iceland beat Alaska and Canada on both carbon and cost — How a single conversation got a facility manager to purchase an EV battery generator for the production — Why the carbon footprint in Iceland was 2–3x lower than a comparable US or Canadian shoot — How HBO extended sustainability protocols all the way through marketing and the premiere — What Mari Jo is calling for from the supply chain right now…

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