Event draws global film professionals

The Shooting Locations Marketplace 2026 event, held in Valladolid on 14 and 15 October, attracted location scouts from 27 countries across Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Africa. This sixth edition of the event has solidified its position as a key reference point for professionals in the filming locations sector, with a notable increase in international participation and familiarisation trips to locations in Norway, Stockholm, Estonia, Portugal, Turkey, and Spanish regions including the Canary Islands and Castile and León. Over the two days, 1,500 meetings were held between location scouts, producers, production-service companies, film commissions, film offices, studios, and other industry professionals.

Industry leaders praise event's impact

Víctor Caramanzana, chairman of the Executive Committee of Feria de Valladolid, highlighted the event's effectiveness in providing a working environment that meets participants' expectations. Burham Gun of AZ Celtic Films (Turkey) noted the productive meetings with highly professional contacts, while Giuliano Doman of Family Film (Romania/Hungary/Serbia) emphasized meeting the right people who ask interesting questions and have projects in mind.

Event covers key industry topics

The event included analysis, debate, and the exchange of views on various topics, including tax incentives, adapting to changing economic, geopolitical, and climatic conditions, Europe’s audiovisual strategy, and understanding each country’s audiovisual ecosystem to streamline filming. Spain Film Commission presented studies and reports on the development of screen tourism experiences, along with the Film Data España digital platform, which connects audiovisual productions with their filming locations in Spain.

Future challenges and priorities discussed

Feria de Valladolid’s director-general Alberto Alonso and the president of Spain Film Commission Juan Manuel Guimeráns discussed future challenges for Shooting Locations Marketplace, including improving efficiency, increasing participants while maintaining supply and demand balance, and encouraging filming activity to strengthen the sector. Stability, trust, efficiency, security, honesty, and speed were repeatedly mentioned as key concepts, while bureaucracy was seen as a challenge. Executive producer Alexis Auditore emphasized security as essential due to the long timeframes involved in film projects. Tristan Albrecht of the Switzerland Film Commission argued that destinations without tax incentives need to offer other advantages to remain competitive, a view echoed by Leon Forde, CEO of consultancy Olsberg·SPI, who stated that incentives are not everything.