Attendees included three PGGB Members: Alex Boden, Nigel Wooll and Mark Hubbard (all producers). The trip took them to the major cities of Madrid and Valencia and their surrounding regions, visiting studios, locations and more.
All three Guild members sent glowing reports of the trip, and of the notion of these FAM trips themselves.
"You know the crews here are good, I know that. You know the facilities are good. But going around on these locations is really important… All in all, it is so invaluable" says Nigel Wooll. Mark Hubbard agrees: "I think it just means that you're more reassured that you know that you would be able to shoot something in Spain. You know just because you spent time here looking at what it's got to provide. It's a reassurance… the more places you've been the more they're on your radar as possibilities.”
For Alex Boden, "there's also the added benefit of the people you meet on the FAM trip. It's a well curated group of producers, heads of production, from studios, independent productions, you might even have good location managers who you can then compare notes with… We're a lot of people doing the same thing. The more we share this information the better."
The producers, along with 9 American counterparts, visited many filming locations in both Madrid and Valencia, but also Madrid Content City, a 10-studio complex 25km north of the city centre, which was an eye-opener for some of the producers. “When we were in Madrid it was very, very interesting to see the studio. That's very new. I didn't think Madrid had a studio. It hasn't for years and years… when you bring together the suppliers and the people that is important” says Nigel.
For Mark, a huge positive was “getting to know the different, regional film offices and getting in touch with them because you just don't know when suddenly it becomes quite clear that you've got to do a film that Alicante and its geography would suit and suddenly you find all your interest in that and you already have a connection. That's a big help.”
Another helpful factor for all three was the access to a service company. "What's also useful on this FAM trip is that you have a production service company with us. Having producers on the ground who live in the country, live in the city, and can tell us first-hand what it's like to film in their country. They're used to the questions and challenges that international producers face. That's an added value as well", says Alex.
Mark agrees: "I always say to other producers that the key decision you make on a foreign film is the service company. That defines how everything on the film will go so it's the crucial decision. So knowing people at PSN that have a wide range of knowledge across the world of those service companies is a very useful tool to make use of.”
Ultimately, as Alex puts it, "it's a win-win situation. Working together, establishing partners and making sure that as many different partners have the experience it takes to support an international production is only going to improve the whole experience. Really, really valuable and PSN knows that."
Link to more about this Spain FAM trip on the PSN website.
For more information on Production Service Network (PSN) please visit their website.