Foreign shoots in Spain: opportunities for local actors

Spain has established itself as one of the most attractive destinations in the world for shooting international audiovisual productions. From Hollywood blockbusters to high-budget European series, every year dozens of foreign projects are filmed on Spanish soil, generating thousands of jobs for local professionals, actors included. Knowing how this sector works can open doors that many Spanish actors are unaware of.

Why Spain attracts so many international shoots

The reasons why international productions choose Spain to film are many and reinforce one another:

• Tax incentives: Spain offers highly competitive tax deductions for international productions that film in the country. Some autonomous communities such as the Canary Islands have even more generous incentives.
• Diversity of landscapes: Within a relatively small territory, Spain offers deserts, snow-capped mountains, Mediterranean beaches, historic cities, Arab and European architecture… a variety of locations that few latitudes can match.
• Technical infrastructure: Spain has top-tier shooting studios, well-established production services, specialised technical crews and a growing visual effects industry.
• Climate: The number of sunny days per year across most of Spanish territory is one of the most practical factors for directors: more days of outdoor shooting without interruptions.
• Cost: Although costs have risen in recent years, Spain remains cheaper than the United Kingdom, France or Germany to film in.

Recent international productions filmed in Spain

The list of international productions that have chosen Spain as a shooting location is impressive. The Juego de Tronos saga shot some of its most memorable scenes in Seville, Osuna and other Andalusian locations. Indiana Jones y el dial del destino used Cádiz and other Spanish locations. Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon series have shot entire episodes in Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia and the Canary Islands.

This track record creates a multiplier effect: when a production has a good experience at a Spanish location, it recommends it internally and attracts new projects. Spain has a solid reputation as an easy country to film in.

How local castings work for foreign productions

When a foreign production decides to film in Spain, the local casting process works as follows:

1. The production hires a Spanish service company (a local production services firm) that manages all the logistical aspects of the shoot in Spain.
2. The service company in turn hires a local casting director who knows the Spanish actor market and can manage the talent search for the local roles.
3. The casting director works in coordination with the production's main casting director, who is generally based in the project's country of origin.
4. Castings for roles with text in English or in the production's language require actors who are fluent in that language. Roles in Spanish or without text can be covered by actors who do not speak English.

Background work and small roles in international productions

Large-scale international productions are big consumers of background work. A blockbuster may need hundreds or even thousands of extras for its battle scenes, crowds or historical settings. This work, although it involves no text or deep characterisation, has several appealing aspects for actors:

• It provides direct income through day-rate hiring.
• It lets you become familiar with how high-budget shoots operate.
• It can lead to small roles if the director takes notice of you during the shoot.
• The atmosphere of an international shoot is in itself an invaluable hands-on training experience.

The importance of English for these shoots

English is the working language of most international productions, including those that are not of Anglo-Saxon origin. If you want to take part in foreign productions with speaking roles, your level of English cannot be basic: you need to be able to work comfortably in English, understand the director's instructions and the script supervisor's notes, and interact with the technical crew in that language.

An advanced level of English not only gives you access to more roles: it also makes you more visible to international casting directors looking for Spanish actors with potential for bigger projects.

The Film Commissions of each region

Film Commissions are public or semi-public bodies that promote each territory as a shooting destination and ease the logistics for productions that choose to film there. Spain has Film Commissions in almost every autonomous community and in many large cities.

For actors, Film Commissions are a very valuable source of information: they publish the projects being filmed in their territory, they have databases of local professionals that they share with interested productions and they organise networking events with international production crews. Registering with the Film Commission in your region is a concrete and free action that can generate real opportunities.

Agencies specialising in extras and actors for international productions

In Madrid and Barcelona there are agencies that specialise in managing background work and small roles for international productions. These agencies have databases of actors and extras that they offer to the productions that contact them. Registering with these agencies, with up-to-date photographs and correct contact details, is a concrete step towards accessing this kind of work.

Some of these agencies also manage actors for speaking roles in international productions, especially when productions are looking for Spanish actors with specific skills (languages, physical abilities, particular looks). Keeping an up-to-date and complete profile in these databases is essential to appear in their searches.