Carlos Rosado Cobián, director of Spain’s Film Commission, cut a figure of intense pride as he stepped on stage in a small conference room this afternoon at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
That energy was matched by the audience of Spanish industry figures inside the room as Cobián introduced what he described as a groundbreaking report on the economic impact of international film and TV productions in Spain.
The commission’s report is the first of its kind in Spain and was produced by the UK-based consultancy firm Olsberg SPI in collaboration with the Spanish producers union PROFILM.
The data collected in the detailed report covers four years, from 2019 to 2022. The analysis was collated using information from 165 productions that benefitted from Spain’s international incentive scheme.
The report states that the 165 international productions spent a minimum of 1,320 billion euros in the Spanish economy over the tracked period, generating an estimated minimum of €1,795.6 billion in Gross Value Added contributions to the Spanish economy. The report concludes that 70% of that money would not have been made in Spain if the international incentive had not existed. The report estimates that overall, every euro of public money invested into the incentive programme sent nine euros back into the Spanish economy.
Spain has offered an incentive programme for international productions since 2015. The incentive offers a tax deduction of 30% on the first million euros spent on eligible expenses and 25% on additional expenses. The maximum limit of the incentive is 20 million euros for feature films, and 10 million euros per episode for television series.
Recent international productions to shoot in Spain include Wed Anderson’s Asteroid City, Woody Allen’s Rifkin’s Festival, the Emily Blunt-starring series The Western, and Diego Luna’s Star Wars series Andor.
The Film Commision’s report forms part of the Spain Audiovisual Hub project, an initiative launched in 2021 by the Spanish government, co-financed by the European Union. The aim of the initiative is to increase audiovisual production levels in Spain by 30% by 2025.
The San Sebastian Film Festival runs until September 28.