Lights, camera, action: Madrid breaks the record for films shot in a year in the city

The Gran Va in Madrid, the busiest commercial street in Spain and third busiest in all of Europe, sees tens of thousands of vehicles and pedestrians every day. It is difficult to stop this maelstrom. However, when Madrid residents and visitors awoke on Sunday, October 23, one of the city's major arteries had been cut off.

Between six in the morning and noon, nobody was able to access the road. There were several police cars, an ambulance, and several cameras, one of which was attached to a sizable black crane, on the road.

It was not an accident; All the Names of God, the latest film from director Daniel Calparsoro and one of the 47 fiction feature films that were filmed in the city in 2022, was being filmed there. This amount sets a record.

According to the most recent assessment of the Film Office, a municipal organization established five years ago with the purpose of promoting filming in the capital, the villa has never before served as a location for as many productions. "The movie makes the city more popular.

According to statistics from the World Tourism Organization, there are already between 80 and 100 million people who base their travel plans on the movies they watch. Furthermore, Madrid is a chameleon, it can become Paris, Buenos Aires or New York”, explains Raúl Torquemada, director of the Film Office.

The number of movies made in the nation's capital has continued to rise: in 2018, there were 32; in 2019, there were 35; in 2020, the number fell to 26 due to restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic; and in 2021, there were 44 feature films made there. Among those who have selected Madrid as their setting for 2022, the suspenseful Calparsoro, starring inma cuesta and Luis Tosar, stands out.

that with the movie On the margins this year, he also took on the persona of a lawyer fighting against eviction. The new movie, which will be released in 2023, will feature locations like the Gran Va, Paseo de la Castellana, and Recoletos that are familiar to viewers.

The city will also serve as the setting for the eagerly anticipated sequel to Javier's emotionally charged comedy Fesser, Campeones, which received over a million viewers. 10,849 requests for permission to film on public roads were handled by the Madrid City Council's Filming Authorizations Bureau in the previous year.

39 percent of these (4,214) were for space occupation permits for medium-sized and large teams with "more than 15 people," and the remaining (6,635) were provided without charge for small teams. For the issuance of administrative documents, the first party pays 48.65 euros, and the second party pays 0.

For each day of shooting, 58 euros were requested per linear meter. The city has been the site of more than 860 projects that required a permit to film on a public highway, including movies, television shows, commercials, video clips, and documentaries.

The number counted in 2021 was 791, which is roughly 9% fewer. The Film Office has provided support for all projects in 557 cases, which is a 39% increase over the 397 shootings it attended in 2016.

The Center, one of the city's 21 districts, is the one where collectively most success is achieved: in 2022, 34.75 percent of applications were concentrated there. According to information from the Film Office, they are followed by Moncloa-Aravaca, which has 9.9 percent; Retiro, which has 9.05 percent; Salamanca, which has 6.61 percent; and Chamber, which has 5.53 percent.

The Film Commission operated in Madrid prior to this municipal office, which is dependent on the City Council's Tourism Department. This office served as Madrid's window for attracting filming, but it was forced to close in 2014 due to a lack of support from the general public and private sector. “It is important to publicize all the districts and decentralize the filming, also for the neighbors.

Many complain and rightly so. This industry has to balance the business and economic impact it generates with the needs of the citizens,” says Torquemada.

They still do not have specific data on how much they collect directly and indirectly with all the shoots, but the objective of the office is to collect that information throughout this year. "They are service companies, international promotion and the work that is generated, among many other things," adds the director of the organization.

Although film shoots are usually more striking, Madrid has also served as the setting for 66 seasons of series and miniseries of various kinds, the same number as in 2019 and two less than in 2021. National producers, such as Atresmedia, and international companies, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, have chosen the capital for your filming.

For example, the audiovisual adaptation of the literary success Reina Roja, written by the Madrid novelist Juan Gómez Jurado, or those of The Gypsy Bride and The Purple Net, both by Carmen Mola, a pseudonym not without controversy under which the winners of the Award write. Planet Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez and Antonio Mercero.

Also the British series Kaos, for Netflix and which adapts Greek mythology to the present day, or the long-awaited UPA Next, sequel to Un Paso Adelante, an 84-episode series that aired between 2002 and 2005 on Antena 3. In a matter of numbers, advertising is who wins: last year 380 advertisements and 55 photographic reports were filmed in the city.

From the Campofrío spots to those of Wallapop, Zara, Beefeater or Calvin Klein, among others. The Film Office forecast for 2023 is that the number of filming, of any kind, will continue to grow.

"New York taxis are known from the movies, because something similar can happen with Madrid," Torquemada confides. Subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.

"New York taxis are known from the movies, because something similar can happen with Madrid," Torquemada confides. Subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.

"New York taxis are known from the movies, because something similar can happen with Madrid," Torquemada confides. Subscribe here to our daily newsletter about Madrid.

The number of movies made in the nation's capital has continued to rise: in 2018, there were 32; in 2019, there were 35; in 2020, the number fell to 26 due to restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic; and in 2021, there were 44 feature films made there.