Spain Slowly Becoming Hollywood’s Favourite Backdrop Once More
There was a time when Almería was the background for many US Westerns. Now it looks like Spain is becoming featured across many different genres.
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| Many of Hollywood's elite are visiting Spain |
The 60s saw the Spaghetti Western – movies that appeared to
be set in the dry and arid deserts of the American west. In reality these
scenes were usually filmed in an arid desert, it’s just they were filmed in
south-east Spain in Almería.
While the wagons aren’t in town anymore (though a theme park
dedicated to western cinema still is) it looks like Hollywood and TV are coming
back to Spain for filming.
One very famous example is Game of Thrones, the crown jewel
of HBO. Some scenes from the show were filmed in Seville in Andalucía. Scenes
recorded for season six were flimed in the Bardenas Reales nature reserve found
in Navarra.
Major BBC show Doctor Who has even been filmed in Spain in
Fuerteventura. One of the newest offerings of the BBC, Penny Dreadful, is to
bring back the western heritage of Almería as many scenes were filmed in the
desert there.
Spain offers filmmakers a large number of landscapes and
envionments for their movies and shows. Spain has arid deserts, beaches,
mountains and woodland packed into one country. The country also offers
financial incentives to bring in film crews by making it cheaper for them
through taxes (or lack thereof).
While these tax breaks might be better in other countries
(France and Germany provide 30% and 40% tax breaks while Spain only offers
15%), Spain is cheaper in general to shoot in. This is according to the
President of the Spain Film Comission (SFC) Carlos Rosado.
Mr Rosado said that the people of Spain are trained well and
have a deep cultural heritage. The country itself is also easier to get around
and better to spend time in. You can find yourself in snow on a mountain in the
morning and be back on a tropical beach by the afternoon. Spain is a small
country but offers a wide array of contrasting climates.
As the film industry continues to evolve it becomes easier
and cheaper for film crews to travel as they don’t need to lug around tons of
equipment and staff anymore. Spain itself also has plenty of equipment and is
well supplied and able to give the film crews anything they need. They are able
to provide more than just extras for scenes. Spain is also able to offer
electricians to fully qualified actors.
Spain is getting a lot of benefits from this too of course.
They have seen a rise in tourism and information thanks to tourist trails where fans travel to
the locations scenes from their favourite shows were filmed. They have also
experienced an economic boost thanks to the services, hotels, and local work
being done by filmmakers.
To provide an example; around €800,000 was spent in Spain
during the production for the film Exodus starring Christian Bale. Spain is
also building a solid reputation among filmmakers. If they continue to please
HBO then this makes Spain even more popular and brings in even more work for
the local industry.
