There was an excellent response to the first edition of the Shooting Locations Marketplace last week at the Feria de Valladolid Exhibition Centre on 21 and 22 October. Professionals specialising in the search for shooting locations for film and television from the US, UK, Germany, Canada, Rumania, Italy and Spain took part in this pioneering project, bringing together more than 30 locations in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the UK and Greece, strategic businesses in the sector, and almost 40 location finders in the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, Italy, Rumania and Spain. Around 58 percent of participants were British or American.

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“At the heart of the event were the more than 700 interviews scheduled before the start of the exhibition, a figure that continued to grow over the two days it was taking place through all the different working options, meeting the project’s objective: making Shooting Locations Marketplace a fabulous business hub for the sector,” said the Director General of Feria de Valladolid, Alberto Alonso.

Shooting Locations Marketplace has also served as a knowledge forum where a wide range of experts spoke about the overall situation in the sector: what productions need, what destinations have to offer, regulations, collaboration, success stories, etc. The event started with a talk by Dow Griffith, who started his career in 1975 with the horror movie Carrie, by Brian de Palma: since then he has worked in 90 different countries; his more recent jobs include Mulan, for Disney, which took him to China and New Zealand. Adrian Wootton, CEO of the British Film Commission, praised the important work of Film Offices as they liaise with Public Authorities, highlighting the many advantages of hosting filming in their countries.

During the event, the Director General of specialist consultants Olsberg SPI, Leon Forde, gave an insight into the best practices in the development of the audiovisual sector, recently published by the Association of Film Commissions International (AFCI). One of the most surprising conclusions is the positive effect that film shooting on the economy of the places where they take place: for example, a production with a budget of USD 220 million will benefit the local area by about USD 10 million per week for 16 weeks. Another interesting observation is that 67% of the money spent on an audiovisual production benefits other production sectors: costumes, lighting, sound, construction, transport, healthcare...

Natacha Mora from Canary Islands Film, acknowledged that political and institutional support is fundamental for Film Offices to be able to do their work. In the Canary Islands, the audiovisual sector has been considered a strategic pillar of for development of the Islands since 2009. Finally, Venia Vergou, Director of the Hellenic Film Commission, explained that in Greece there is a drive to create Film Offices in every region of the country, using Spain as an example, where most regions and major towns have one.