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After six months of strike-related stoppages, global production will resume en masse, as producers, executives and day-to-day facilitators anticipate a production surge in early 2024 that could well last the entire calendar year. Only (revealingly)—despite such obvious and abundant relief—all of these facilitators are also quite measured in their optimism.
“I keep telling (my members) not to expect the same post-COVID madness,” says International Location Managers Guild president John Rakich. “I don’t think we’re going to see that crazy (post-lockdown) period of two years in a row of consecutive work. That might be the case for a few months (as we deal with the bottleneck of film-ready productions), but ultimately this business is cyclical and I want our members to plan accordingly.”
Given that cyclical nature, and given an expected contraction in full-season streaming commissions, Rakich anticipates an eventual return to a more seasonal production cycle driven by more features than in previous years, and once again influenced by job uncertainty, especially after the agreement with IATSE. opens to negotiations next spring.
In fact, with two strikes already resolved, the prospect of a third has already galvanized the main institutional actors. “Many of the year-long projects are already looking elsewhere,” explains Rakich. “Right now, many studio productions are already looking (at industries not affected by IATSE) in Canada, the United Kingdom or Europe by 2024, looking to move their productions just in case. “They can’t last another year without working.”
Driven largely by investment from local hedge funds, media production hubs continue to flourish across Canada (“That’s always a good sign, because hedge funds don’t go places without a long-term play.” ”says Rakich), while production industries on the other side of the pond continue to consolidate their recent advances. According to a November 2023 report published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, the United Kingdom and Spain have become dominant points, with each hosting 39 streaming fiction titles in 2022.
Spain, in particular, will benefit from the nascent increase in production, adding features, incorporating Spain’s recently strengthened AVS Hub program and maintaining the scenic landscapes of the Iberian land in the face of a geopolitical climate that becomes even more challenging.
In addition to a globally competitive tax break, offering up to €20 million ($21.4 million) per film and $10.7 million per television episode, Spain has also launched an international location showcase, promoting its beaches, mountaintops, arid plains and Old World architecture around the world. world stage. What’s more, local authorities believe that the promise of chameleonic places combined with stability (and high quality of life) will be a compelling argument to attract productions.
“I think our main objective now is our ability to be in almost the entire world, all in one country,” says Teresa Azcona, outgoing director general of the Spain Film Commission.
Netflix”The crown” has been a regular visitor, using Spanish locations to replace Australia, Italy and Greece, and commissioning Barcelona to play Paris in Princess Diana’s fateful trip to France this upcoming season, while “The Snow Society ” by JA Bayona recreates the peaks of the Andean mountains in the director’s native Spain.
But given the recent heartbreaking (and shocking to risk advisors) events in the Middle East, the Spanish desert will be the next beneficiary. Last year, the dunes on the outskirts of Alicante and Zaragoza played the role of Afghanistan “ritchie boy‘s The Covenant,” while next year similar landscapes will play last-minute hosts to another unnamed US-backed series that initially attempted to film in Morocco before later opting for Europe.
“Modern geopolitics currently guide certain productions,” says John Rakich. “And that has made Spain very popular.”
