State-of-the-art studio facilities in Spain are at the heart of the country’s superlative offering to international film and TV producers.
Located on the country’s east coast, Ciudad de La Luz studio has hosted shoots of many international productions since reopening in 2023. Among them are Xavier Gens’ shark thriller Under Paris (Sous La Seine) for Netflix, Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance starring Tom Hardy, season three of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, as well as homegrown productions including Alejandro Amenabar’s The Captive and Alberto Rodriguez’s Los Tigres.
The studio is located seven kilometres outside the centre of Alicante and comprises six soundstages totalling 11,000 square metres, interior water tanks and an exterior water tank of 100 metres-by-80 metres equipped with a 120-metre-long chroma screen. It was used by JA Bayona in 2012 for The Impossible, starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The filmmaker returned recently to shoot a car commercial.
Ciudad de la Luz is owned by Generalitat Valenciana, the regional Valencian government, and forms a vital part of its remit to support the local audiovisual industry, including the training of local film crews.
On Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria Studios boasts 6,000 square metres of facilities, consisting of two soundstages — one of 1,800 square metres, the other a virtual XR stage of 1,200 square metres. The studio opened in 2023 and has been busy with several international productions, including UK series Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue, produced by Eleventh Hour Films, and Renny Harlin’s US survival thriller Deep Water, produced by Simmons/Hamilton Productions and starring Aaron Eckhart and Ben Kingsley. It tells the story of a plane that makes an emergency landing in shark-infested waters. Gran Canaria Studios hosted the build of the plane cockpit that has crashed into the ocean. Harlin is back at the studios shooting The Beast, starring Samuel L Jackson.
Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya in Terrassa, near Barcelona, is a 50,000-square-metre site that is capable of accommodating multiple shoots at the same time. There are four soundstages, with the two biggest clocking in at 1,200 square metres and 1,260 square metres. Plans are underway to expand, with the construction of two additional soundstages of 2,500 square metres and 1,200 square metres by the end of 2026.
The most recent international productions to have shot in Terrassa are Lasse Hallström’s romantic drama The Map That Leads To You for Amazon MGM Studios, and the Netflix adaptation of Emily Henry’s novel People We Meet On Vacation. Previously, Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya also hosted shows including Netflix’s UK limited series Who Is Erin Carter? and series five of The Crown, among others.
Furthermore, Coruna Estudio Inmersivo will soon open in Galicia, and will host immersive productions.
The government investment in Spain’s studio facilities is crucial to the country’s appeal as a world-class production hub. Productions come for the attractive incentive policy, the diversity of locations, highly skilled crews and creative talent.
Elisa Garcia Grande, executive director of ICEX-Invest in Spain, explains that the audiovisual industry is “a strategic sector” within the country’s economy.
“Fiscal incentives play a decisive role in making Spain an extremely competitive destination,” says Garcia Grande, pointing to the advantages of shooting in Spain. “There’s a fast-track service for work visas for professionals, which is part of a wider package of initiatives approved by public administrations to support the industry. We also have a high-quality filmmaking infrastructure, highly qualified crews, a mature film industry, cutting-edge technology, European legal standards and great quality of life.”
Some $1.4bn (€1.3bn) was spent by 165 international productions in Spain between 2019 and 2022, according to a report by Olsberg SPI. The research, commissioned by Spain Film Commission and service producers association Profilm, also revealed Spain was the second-biggest European destination for US streamer investment in original content after only the UK.
Substantial incentives
The tax incentives offer film and TV productions a 30% rebate on eligible costs for the first $1.05m (€1m) of expenditure and 25% thereafter with a $21m (€20m) cap for feature films. For TV series, the limit is $10.5m (€10m) per episode. Regions within Spain offer even higher incentives: the Canary Islands has a 54% rebate for the first €1m of eligible expenditure and 45% after, and higher caps of $38m (€36m) for features and $19m (€18m) per episode. Navarre and Basque Country both offer very attractive incentives with up to 50% and the 60% tax rebate respectively.
“This explains why big audiovisual conglomerates in Europe and the US streamers choose Spain to shoot and invest,” notes Garcia Grande.
Contact: Susana de la Rosa, communication officer, ICEX-Invest in Spain
Find out more: investinspain.org/content/icex-invest/en/index.html
