How to Find a Local Production Fixer in Argentina

Happy US Crew (HGTV) and San Telmo's Gabriel Balanovsky, local production fixer

by Ginger Gentile and Amy Ramirez (contributing blogger)

You’ve gotten the green light from the executive producer or the funding needed to start shooting in Argentina. But you’ve never been, speak very basic Spanish and have a tight schedule and an even a tighter budget.

So finding a local production fixer (aka local production coordinator) who works fast and can get stuff done is important.

How do you find the right one?

Here are the questions I would ask:

1)       Does the fixer have a combination of local know-how and international experience?
A lot of expats are offering themselves as production fixers but some of them have very little  experience filming in Argentina and their accents might mean that they will be offered higher prices than locals.

2)       Does everything seem too cheap or too expensive?

When you ask for a budget, most of the time you are on the look-out for being overcharged. Argentina isn’t as cheap as it was a few years ago, but it should be less expensive than shooting in the US or Europe. But also beware of budgets that seem too good to be true. Plan to spend between $200 to $400 USD per day for a fixer who is reputable (more money for short shoots and complicated shoots), not including transport and costs. Hiring a film student for much less is possible, but then you might not get all the material you need.

       3) Does your local fixer say “no” to some of your requests?

Beware the fixer who says yes to everything. In Argentina it is culturally acceptable to say that things are possible when they are not. Some locations and interviews are impossible or cost a lot of money. Better to have a plan B or change the schedule BEFORE you get down to Argentina.

       4) Does your fixer offer you ways to save money?

Argentina is not the US or Europe, and sometimes you can save money by spending more upfront.

A good example: it’s actually cheaper to hire a chauffeur than to have a frazzled PA driving  a rented van–the van will have to be rented (few people in Buenos Aires have cars, and most are very small), parked, and driven through crazy traffic. For about the same price as renting a van, get one with a driver and don’t worry about parking and traffic.

Remember, a good local fixer is more than just someone who gets film permits and translates. They can help get what you need and negotiate between different cultures. In Argentina, people are very reluctant to sign appearance releases, but a good fixer will know how to get them to sign, and turn a “no” into a “yes” and suggest ideas, locations and know where to get equipment at midnight.

At San Telmo Productions, we have acted as local fixer (field production coordinator) for crews from the US, Australia, Canada, UK and Europe who come to Argentina to shoot TV shows and documentaries. We love showing the world that Argentina is not only a beautiful country, but a great place to film.

Location Double: Argentina’s Medieval Castle Double

by Amy Ramirez, contributing blogger

Who would have thought that a town lost in the suburbs of Buenos Aires could be used as a location double for everything from middle age castles to pirate ports? Quilmes, the staple of Argentine beer, used the town to re-create a pirate port and a Transylvanian castle for the most recent commercial titled, “Historia de la Amistad” which celebrates friendship throughout the ages.

About 30 miles from the center of Buenos Aires lies this quaint medieval replica made entirely from recycled materials. Campanopolis, named after its creator Antonio Campana, contains hundreds of buildings complete with narrow streets, fountains, lakes, footbridges, and even a Dutch windmill!

A mixture between Tim Burton and Disney World, Campanopolis is the perfect location for those looking for a dark and enchanting place that captures the nostalgic allure of childhood fairy tales.

If you want to film in Campanopolis, you will need to contract a local production company to obtain the location permits and legally required insurance coverage. San Telmo Productions is used to helping filmmakers and TV producers from all over the world have great shoots in Argentina.

Train Stations in Buenos Aires: Your Next Film Location

Constitucion Train Station by Pedro Ignacio Errico

by Rob Sykes, Contributing Blooger

For the film producer looking for cheaper options for Victorian England, World War II France, or even Mumbai, the railway stations of Buenos Aires offer a huge opportunity! Filming under their grand arched ceilings or outside their exquisite entrances can transport movie goers back in time. This is in part what caused Variety Magazine to name Buenos Aires one of the best location doubles in the world.

The main stations of real interest are Retiro (which is actually three stations in one), and to the south of the city, Constitución. Both are grand buildings, both inside and out, in fact Retiro was declared a national monument of Argentina in 1997. The station interiors especially, offer wonderful shooting opportunities, allowing both Retiro and Constitución to ‘play’ a variety of other stations. Whilst Once station may also offer opportunities to those searching alternative, cheaper filming options, thanks to its Renaissance revival style architecture.

For obvious reasons, Retiro station was used, though playing itself, in the 90s blockbuster version of Evita starring Madonna. However it is perhaps only recently, that the industry is really beginning to take advantage of Buenos Aires’ train stations’ abilities to play other roles. For example this coming year the station at Constitución will be seen on screen masquerading as a Spanish train station in Roland Joffé´s Spanish Civil War epic There Will be Dragons.  Oscar winner for best foreign language film The Secret of Their Eyes filmed the emotional climax of the film in Retiro station (a still of which can be seen on many posters fro the film).

Retiro and Constitución stations were actually built by a team of British architects and engineers in the early twentieth century. This gives them there suitability to play British stations, think Victoria or Charing Cross in London. Although they were built around fifty years earlier, their broad front entrances and arched ceilings inside allow similarities to be drawn. Of course both Retiro and Constitución were built in a French-style, making them suitable also for stations in Paris and other French cities at the beginning of the twentieth century and beyond. Not to mention other British colonial outposts, the main hall at Constitución can easily double as Mumbai for example.

Film permits for the train stations are often granted but it is best to plan for weekend or night shooting, and to use a local production company who can talk to the various government and private entities who control the stations.

San Telmo Productions offers Complete Video Productions Services in Argentina for Syngenta Corporate Video

Last week we provided a local English-speaking film crew, equipment and logistics for a corporate video for argo company Syngenta. The producer was the Edge Picture Company of London, and we all got to try out Sony’s new pmw-f3, an HD camera which is going to battle the Red One for getting that film look on an HD camera.

Capturing a typical farm dinner with Sony's new pmw-f3 HD camera, which has 35mm sized sensors and an incredible depth of field.

Our bilingual gaffer Roman pushes a dolly while UK Producer Sophia looks on.

The locations were a farm and vegetable market in Rosario, about a four hour’s drive from Buenos Aires. All equipment had to be brought in from Buenos Aires! As you can see from the shoot, it was a small crew with a lot of cool toys and an even cooler vibe.

San Telmo is the most filmed Neighborhood in Buenos Aires

It should come as no surprise that the name sake of our production company, the neighborhood San Telmo, is the most popular location for film and commercial shoots in Buenos Aires. 2010 was a banner year for film shoots in the city and Buenos Aires province, with a significant increase from 2009. There were over 548 film permits granted in the city and 726 in the province.

35% of the film shoots were for the foreign market, the largest being the film “There be Dragons” directed by Roland Joffe that takes place in Civil War Spain. The Academy Award nominated director of The Mission and The Killing Fields chose to film this high budget epic film in San Telmo and in Lujan (Province of Buenos Aires) because of the high quality and lower costs of filming in Spain. For a quick behind the scenes look in English:

The city of Buenos Aires also commonly serves as a location double for New York (yellow taxis can be rented to make the transition complete), Paris, and the beautiful train stations serving for anywhere in Europe.

Ranking of locations in Buenos Aires

1  San Telmo (I´ve seen it double for just about every European capital you can imagine, including Krakow!)

2 Downtown (microcentro) Urban cannons in one end, French-style in the other, and the impressive Casa Rosada.

3 Recoleta (It can be Europe, the Upper East Side of Manhattan and its cemetery filled with tombs is a great set piece)

Ranking of Locations in the Province

1 Vincente Lopez (a posh suburb just minutes away from the city. Mansions galor!)

2 La Plata (a beautiful city featuring cobblestone streats and low buildings)

3 Atlantic Coast (Beach towns and coastal cities that easily double for US coastline)

In addition to a hundred year old film industry, award-winning technicians, film permits are about 30% of the cost in New York and Europe.

San Telmo Productions Wraps Filming Spanish Learning Videos for Joint Venture between K12 INC and Middlebury

Filming in Hotel Bauen Language Learning Videos for K12 Inc and Middlebury College

It’s not everyday that we at San Telmo Productions are part of a new global enterprise, but the New York Times recently reported on a new online language program that we filmed videos for in March in Buenos Aires. Middlebury College, a small Vermont college known for its rigorous foreign-language programs, is forming a venture with a commercial entity to develop online language programs for pre-college students. The college plans to invest $4 million for a 40 percent stake in what will become Middlebury Interactive Languages in partnership with K12 Inc.

Buenos Aires is One Large Film Set, and the Stats confirm it!

If you live in Buenos Aires, you probably come across a film shoot from time to time. But did you know from the beginning of 2010 to the present date over 10 feature films and 168 commercials have been shot on its streets?   Thats a ton! While the number has dropped from the peak in 2006, the number of productions has increased in 2010 compared to 2009.

Productions in the first quarter of each year
	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Feature Films	5	4	12	10	11	10
Commercial	107	179	172	159	106	121
Television	19	26	9	8	6	15
Documentary	3	2	5	4	1	3
Academic	8	13	11	20	7	9
Shorts	0	1	1	1	1	2
Photography	5	17	0	0	0	7
Music Video	4	6	5	2	3	0
Corporate	1	1	3	1	2	1
Total	152	249	218	205	137	168

Commercials have been filmed for the Argentinian, US, French, Polish, and Peruvian markets. Brands include Liberty Insurance, Marlboro, Vodafone, 7 Up and Shell, amongst others.

Thanks to BASET for the stats!

Film Permits in Buenos Aires

Film permits are necessary in Buenos Aires if you plan on filming with a professional crew that will cause disruption to auto or pedestrian traffic, or if special effects will be used or action happen that can confuse or endanger passersby (for example, an actor uses a gun), or you need to park trucks, use a generator, etc. They are not necessary for a small documentary crew to film in the street, if that crew would cause no more disruption than a typical news crew.

While the process is your normal red-tape, be warned, you need at least 5 business days (and beware of holidays!) to get the first part, which is habitation to work, showing that you have insurance for crew and passersby–this is the hard part, and it is recommended to contract a local fixer or local production company to handle this. Then it is at least another 5 days to get permission for the specific location. And of course, all in Spanish!

The form that you need to fill out:

http://estatico.buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/produccion/industrias/baset/archivos/FGENERAL.pdf

Do you need a film permit or permission to film in Argentina?

It depends on the size of your production. If your filming will not disrupt traffic or a sidewalk, the quick answer is no, you can film in Argentina without a permit. So if it is you with a camera and your assistant, you should have no problems. Attitudes towards public space are much more lax than in the US, and at the most you should hire a local fixer or assistant to make sure the camera doesn´t get stolen (a big problem in some parts of Buenos Aires).
But want to move inside to a museum or public building? National pakr? Or a train station? These situations can get tricky very fast. We had to film in a train station and had to get permission from 5 different companies–one owned the platform, the other the food stand, the other the rails, etc.
Film permits are definately needed for any film shoot where you need to block traffic or sidewalks.
Remember, while these permits are not expensive, they can be a nightmare of redtape and multiple government offices. And you will need a local fixer to help you through it.