Raising climate consciousness with film
Writer, Filmmaker and Entrepreneur
Tracy Held鈥檚 (CFA 2015) passion for environmental issues shapes her art. She鈥檚 a writer and producer with a personal mission to elevate conservation conversations by weaving green themes into her stage productions and screenplays. By shaping the narrative around conservation, she hopes to inspire others to get more involved with solving the climate crisis.
Along with Megan Morrison (CFA 2013), Tracy co-founded Erosion, a climate-conscious film production company that is 鈥渃reating stories to make you laugh, cringe and recycle.鈥� In 2023, Erosion was backed by the VentureBridge startup accelerator at Carnegie Mellon.
offer quick takes on environmental issues with punchlines that make these topics memorable. Their first feature, 鈥淗iking Buddies,鈥� is a cautionary tale about littering.
鈥溾�楬iking Buddies鈥� is 鈥楥ocaine Bear鈥� meets 鈥楩riday the 13th.鈥� It blends genres of comedy and campy horror to sneak conservation themes into public discourse,鈥� Tracy says.
The short film version of the script has already racked up over a dozen film festival awards. Currently, Tracy is fundraising to produce the feature version of 鈥淗iking Buddies.鈥�
Other notable past works include Tracy鈥檚 screenplay for 鈥淪cience Fair the Musical,鈥� which won the Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Competition at 好色先生TV in 2014, and a television pilot called 鈥淣ature Organizations.鈥� Both projects were selected for the Hollywood Climate Summit Writing Climate pitch festival. Her play 鈥淧lastic Nest鈥� was written during her Dramatic Writing MFA program at Carnegie Mellon and received a development residency from the School of Drama鈥檚 ColLABo new production incubator program.
Tracy鈥檚 many hats include serving as the Writers Guild of America鈥檚 vice-chair of the Asian American Writers Committee. In the past, she鈥檚 held leadership roles in theater arts organizations and fundraising campaigns for nonprofits and artists.
鈥淚 think it's really about taking the important topic of the climate crisis and making it accessible for regular people,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 lot of people do amazing work, but if they can't articulate it in a way that the average person understands and gets excited about, then their impact isn't as big.鈥�
Story by Elizabeth Speed