An excellent response from the audiovisual industry is the main characteristic of this first edition of Shooting Locations Marketplace, a work market for the filming locations industry. The show has been held at Feria de Valladolid (Valladolid trade Fair Centre) October 21st and 22nd.

Film shooting scouters specialized in finding locations for film and television shootings, coming from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Romania, Italy and Spain have joined Shooting Locations Marketplace in Valladolid (Spain), a pioneering event addressed to locations and the audio-visual industry,

The marketplace has gathered in this first edition more than 30 destinations from Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Great Britain and Greece, strategic companies from the industry and around 40 locators from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Romania and Spain will meet there. British and American professionals have made up 58 percent of the participants.

“The heart of the event has been more than 700 work interviews previously scheduled, a number that has been increasing during the show, through multiple networking options available during two days, fulfilling this way the target that we had pointed to ourselves: making Shooting Locations Marketplace a great business centre for the industry”, highlighted the managing director of Feria de Valladolid, Alberto Alonso.

The first edition of Shooting Locations Marketplace has been attended by professionals who work in the most important international productions, projects from studios such as Marvel, HBO, Amazon, Apple, Universal, Paramount, Warner… in their catalogue, options for shooting anywhere in the world can be found, from Lapland to New Zealand.

“The list of films and series in which they have taken part, as well as the directors they have worked with is a cascade of stars. Some of them have professional careers of more than 40 years and they know perfectly what a destination should offer in order to be interesting. This is a valuable information for those who want to host shootings at a future time”, explained the managing director of Feria de Valladolid, Alberto Alonso.

 

SUMMIT | Transfer of Knowledge

Shooting Locations Marketplace has also been a forum for knowledge in which experts of different profiles have talked about the general situation of the industry, what the demands of productions are, what can the shooting destinations offer, regulations, collaboration, success stories, etc.

The sessions began with a lecture by Dow Griffith, a scouter who began his career in 1975 with “Carrie”, by Bryan de Palma. Since then, he has travelled to 90 countries and among his most recent works, “Mulan”, for Disney took him to China and New Zealand.

Adrien Wooton, CEO of the British Film Commission, has emphasized the important work of the Film Offices as a contact organisation with Public Administrations, in order to spread the advantages of hosting film shootings and filming in their territories.

During the conference, the general director of the specialized consultancy firm Olsberg.SPI, Leon Forde, gave us a snapshot on the best practices in the development of the audio-visual industry, recently published by AECI, Asociación Internacional de Comisiones de Cine, (International Association of Film Commissions). One of the most striking conclusions is the positive economic impact of film shootings in the territories they take place. For example, a production with a budget of $ 220 million reports a profit of $ 10 million per week for 16 weeks to surroundings of the filming location. Another interesting conclusion is that 67% of the money spent on an audiovisual production has influence on other industries (clothing, lighting, sound, construction, transportation, healthcare).

Natacha Mora, from Canary Islands Films, has recognized that political and institutional support is essential to carry out the work of Film Offices. In the Canary Islands, the audiovisual industry is considered a strategic development axis since 2009. Venia Vergou, director of Greek Film Commission, assured that in Greece

the creation of Film Offices in each region of the country is now being promoted, taking Spain as a reference, where most regions and cities have it.