The 'Netflix effect' promotes Barcelona as a film set: from car commercials to filming 'The Crown' and 'Smiley'

The Paris of the nineties, an LGTBIQ+ romantic comedy or the adventures of a quinqui band.

In 2022, Barcelona has hosted various outstanding filming from production companies such as Netflix, Disney+ or TV3, which indicate a growing commitment to feature films and series.

Although the Barcelona Film Commission (BFC) does not yet have the data for 2022, "the trend of filming is increasing: production companies have Barcelona on the agenda," says David Ciurana, producer at FoscaFilms and vice president of Productors Audiovisuals at Catalonia.

In 2021, only 29 of the 2,947 productions that were made generated an investment of almost 45 million euros in the city, according to the BFC, in areas such as personnel contracts, accommodation and technical equipment.

This trend follows the path of mega-productions such as the film

, recorded in 2021 and which has raised more than 400 million euros worldwide this year.

Vintage cars, French license plates and Parisian show posters.

The streets of Barcelona came to a standstill this year to host the filming of the sixth season of

(Netflix), one of the 43 fiction productions that the BFC has provisionally registered in 2022. "Many people came to watch, record or even applaud while we were shooting," explains Guillem Navarro, assistant director of the series in Barcelona.

The scene they recorded dealt with the accident and death of Lady Di, the first wife of the current Carlos III, in Paris in 1997, in the middle of the street between Plaza Francesc Macià and Avinguda Pau Casals.

For Navarro, filming in Barcelona means taking many factors into account: “You have to block streets so that nobody passes by and explain to passers-by that you are filming and their passage is restricted.

You meet people of all kinds.

In

, being a scene from the nineties, we put old cars, and I couldn't park a Just Eat motorcycle”, adds the professional.

Netflix has also shot at least seven other titles in the Catalan capital in 2022, such as

, another British series;

the recently released

, the LGTBIQ+ series starring Miki Esparbé and Carlos Cuevas, or the second season of

, a youth thriller with performers such as Begoña Vargas, Amaia Salamanca or Berta Vázquez.

Since 2015, the investment of the large

both in Barcelona and in other Spanish cities, is known as the “Netflix effect” according to Eugeni Osácar, a professor at the University Center for Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy.

Specifically, "Madrid takes the lead in fiction productions" and Barcelona "in

commercials and video clips”, especially automobile advertisements, indicates Osácar.

He also points out that the production companies seek "a powerful audiovisual fabric in the area" through the creative and technical teams, as well as "good tax incentives."

The range of scenarios that Barcelona offers is one of its main attractions: "It has many types of very different locations in a small space, such as the sea, mountains, hotels or restaurants," points out Jordi Herreros, production director of

, ​​a series produced by

and Amazon Prime, which has filmed its third season this year.

In eight and a half weeks they have filmed in five districts throughout areas such as Poblesec, El Raval, Sarrià or the WU hotel.

Parks, public markets such as La Boqueria, the Montjüic cemetery, the Estació de França or the Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta are some of the spaces most in demand by the production companies.

Among them, the La Modelo prison stands out, closed in 2017 and now a regular place for recordings: it represents 67% of the permits that the BFC has granted to record in municipal spaces.

How to obtain permits to record in Barcelona?

Raúl Arranz, director of locations in titles like

, explains that to get permission to film you have to go through the BFC.

"You have to send a location report five days before shooting at least."

This document notes the needs of the different departments, such as "illuminating a street from a specific balcony or cutting down the leaves of a tree", and the necessary parking spaces for filming vehicles.

"Normally, they let you do everything and if something is not possible they offer you an alternative."

Recreating Paris in Barcelona as

has done is a fairly common option for Arranz.

“Many productions find it more convenient to come here and make the set fictional than to film in their country: the stay is cheaper, you can be there in five days and there is a lot of industry of rental houses for material”.

For example, he indicates that he filmed an advertisement for Las Vegas at the Casino de Barcelona.

Some municipalities around the city have also hosted the shooting of

, the first feature film by Mario Casas, also co-produced by Netflix.

The new director has filmed various scenes in Sant Adrià del Besòs, l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Terrassa and Gavà.

His brother, Óscar Casas, stars in the story of a group of young people who commit crimes on the outskirts of the Catalan capital, inspired by the quinqui cinema.

Boom!

First images of My loneliness has wings, Mario Casas' debut as a director and screenwriter.

This drama filmed in Barcelona stars his brother Oscar Casas pic.twitter.com/zipfqhzcBU

— Mariló García (@Yonomeaburro) November 3, 2022

Since the strictest confinements were lifted, in June 2020, the activity of Arranz and his colleagues in the audiovisual sector has only been increasing: “We do not stop working.

The platforms have realized that audiovisual consumption is very high after the pandemic ”.

This year he has directed the locations of "You would do it too", the first Disney+ project in Spain, and highlights the change in trend in recent years: "Madrid used to monopolize cinema and Barcelona advertising, now the paradigm is changing and fiction is growing a lot in the city”.

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