2023 was not an easy year to film. The strike of screenwriters, actors and actresses in the United States last spring became a threat to launching international audiovisual projects. Even so, Spain managed to overcome the difficulties by attracting projects from Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the Nordic countries. In summary, the investment in the international filming economy was 197 million euros. These are the data that has just been published by the Association of International Audiovisual Production Companies (PROFILM), which since 2018 brings together more than 90% of the production companies in the sector throughout the country, and which has presented its annual report in collaboration with Mallorca Film Commission. Fernando Victoria de Lecea, president of PROFILM, highlighted during the presentation of the report that “after the pandemic, the arrival of international projects to Spain has stabilized.”
By Autonomous Communities, the Canary Islands continue to lead the number of foreign filming. Madrid occupies second position and is where most of the post-production industry is located. By volume of spending, the Canary Islands is also the first autonomous region with 71.5 million euros of direct investment. It is followed at a distance by the Balearic Islands with 26 million euros of investment with two projects from the Balearic partner of PROFILM, Palma Pictures. In third place is Andalusia, where international filming earned 22.3 million euros in 2023.
Last year, PROFILM partners signed 10,000 work contracts, both for technical and artistic teams, for an amount of 58.3 million euros and a contribution to Social Security of 17.5 million euros. By sectors, equipment rentals and accommodations account for the highest amount of expenditure with 17.6 and 17.4 million euros respectively. This is followed by the construction of sets with 12.8 million and auxiliary companies with 11 million euros. This year, for the first time, the amount that the Spanish Treasury, through the Tax Agency, will return as a tax incentive to the entity’s partners has been extracted. Of the 197 million euros of direct investment made in Spain in 2023, 162 million were eligible local spending and the return reached 53.8 million euros.
