Shooting Locations Marketplace doubles the participation of international destinations

The event, organised by Feria de Valladolid and Spain Film Commission, will bring together location scouts, producers and shooting destinations on 15 and 16 October

Shooting Locations Marketplace, the filming event for the audiovisual industry, will be attended this year by more than 50 filming destinations, 19 of which are international. Also in attendance will be service production companies from Spain, Estonia, Portugal and Jordan; hotel chains open to shoots; and national, UK, European and global professional associations.

Shooting Locations Marketplace will celebrate its fourth edition on 15 and 16 October in Valladolid. It is organised by Feria de Valladolid and Spain Film Commission and is sponsored by the Junta de Castilla y León and Valladolid City Council.

The growing trend registered in 2023 will be consolidated this year, especially in the international sphere, with the incorporation of countries such as Austria, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Portugal.

During these two days, professionals from more than 20 countries will meet at Feria de Valladolid to talk about filming locations, tax incentives, sustainability, industry development, etc.

Destinations, film commissions and service Production companies will be able to meet with 68 location scouts, producers and creative directors from 13 countries. Most of them, 49, will be attending Shooting Locations Marketplace for the first time. One of the new features this year is the incorporation of a new professional profile, that of the creative director, a figure who provides context and complements the information provided by the location scout.

The participation of these professionals is the result of a collaboration agreement signed with the British Film Designers Guild. This will broaden the range of professional decision-makers with whom destinations will be able to meet and present their proposals to host shoot: location scouts, executive producers and creative directors. Seventy percent of the ‘buyers’ come from the United States and Great Britain, the two main markets for the Western audiovisual industry.

The list of countries of origin also includes South Africa, Belgium, Serbia, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Spain.

The biographies of these visitors include names such as HBO/MAX, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, Apple TV, Amanzon, Sony, Babelsberg, Steven Spielberg, Terrence Malick, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Emmy Awards, Michael Keaton, Patrick Dempsey, Alessandro Borghi, Rosario Dawson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Taron Egerton, Mark Wahlberg, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Bride, The Bride and Mrs. Smith, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride, The Bride. and Mrs. Smith, The Bride, American Horror Stories, Kaos, Ferrari, The Matrix, 4, Top Gun: Maverick or The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

The general manager of Feria de Valladolid, Alberto Alonso, referred to ‘the good prospects for Shooting Locations Marketplace. The good results of the three previous editions make this growth possible. It is a new project created at Feria de Valladolid, which is a reality thanks to the support of essential partners such as the Spain Film Commission and institutions such as the Junta de Castilla y León and the Valladolid City Council. This event helps to position our territory as a filming destination and places us on the international agenda of the sector’s professionals’.

Alonso noted that Shooting Locations Marketplace ‘was born with a global vocation, with the aim of bringing together audiovisual industry professionals from all over the world and I believe that we are on the right way. Having representatives from more than 20 countries is a success and an asset for the future’.

Juan Manuel Guimeráns, acting secretary general of the Spain Film Commission, referred to the Shooting Locations Marketplace as ‘the most important event of its kind in Europe, as reflected by the level and volume of international attendees and the support of the vast majority of the Film Commissions’. He also expressed the gratitude of the Spain Film Commission both to the local institutions and to the Feria de Valladolid, for ‘their involvement in an event that, for us, is one of the most important that we organise every year as an asociation’.

The Director General of Cultural Policies of the Junta de Castilla y León, Inmaculada Martínez, highlighted ‘the good moment that Castilla y León is experiencing in terms of film shoots, both in cities and in rural areas, and how the Junta is conscious of the importance of promoting our region in order to continue attracting production companies and film shootings’. In this regards, she has valued ‘very positively the participation in specialised events such as the Shooting Locations Marketplace which, with only three editions held, is consolidating itself as one of the most important professional meetings of the audiovisual sector at an international level’.

The Councillor for Tourism, Events and City Brand of Valladolid City Council, Blanca Jiménez, pointed that ‘Valladolid is consolidating its position in the audiovisual industry as a filming destination, but above all as a city that is a friend of the audiovisual industry. This type of event positions us at a very high level because they are exclusive to a very powerful industry at an international level, but also adds to the great concept of the city brand as a city of cinema’, the councillor also stressed the importance of exclusive and special events, “it has nothing to do with the size of the event, in this case it is its uniqueness and differentiation, there is no event like this in Spain”.

In terms of business presence, this year two hotel groups, THB and Blau, will be back, with a total of 23 establishments in different parts of Spain. In addition, there are nine companies providing services for filming, six of them Spanish and four from Jordan, Estonia and Portugal.

Shooting Locations Marketplace also has collaboration agreements with the main professional associations and specialised media: the Association of Film Commissioners International, the European Film Commission Network (EUFCN), the aforementioned British Film Designers Guild, Location Manager and Location Scout and Profilm.

Seventy percent of the ‘buyers’ come from the United States and Great Britain, the two main markets for the Western audiovisual industry.

The list of countries of origin also includes South Africa, Belgium, Serbia, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Spain.

Trips to explore Spain

The interviews held at Feria de Valladolid on the 15th and 16th will be continued on the following days with visits by the producers and location managers to different territories to find out about the scenarios for their future projects.

Castilla y León, Bilbao, Ibiza, Andalusia, Valencia and the Canary Islands are the destinations for these fam trips, where they will discover cities, natural spaces and studios that could host their next productions.