The iconic Catalonia capital of Barcelona, and its surrounding area, provided the ideal locations and top-notch crew for high-end TV action thriller Who Is Erin Carter?. The seven-part series — produced by the UK’s Left Bank Pictures for Netflix, assisted by the Catalunya Film Commission (CFC) — stars Evin Ahmad as Erin Carter. She is a UK teacher in Barcelona with a secret past — and an ability to kick ass — whose previous life threatens her and her family’s tranquil existence.
Rob Bullock, executive producer at Left Bank Pictures, reveals the creative team, including series creator Jack Lothian, originally considered setting and shooting the production somewhere in Latin America. However, during pre-production it was decided to stay in Europe and shoot in Spain, in the region of Barcelona.
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“When you’re looking to film overseas, you’re looking for places that have got a really strong film infrastructure,” Bullock says. “We started looking within Europe, places that had a thriving expat community, but which also worked for the story.”
The story needed Erin Carter living in suburbia and to be plausibly brushing up against organised crime. Bullock previously produced the award-winning The Night Manager for BBC/AMC, which had filmed partly in Spain. The range of architecture and locations, as well as the light in Catalonia, sealed the deal.
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“We decided in prep to shoot Barcelona for Barcelona,” Bullock says of the decision, made in conjunction with Netflix, which has a significant production presence in Spain.
The majority of the shoot took place in the suburbs and towns surrounding Barcelona, including the coastal town of Sitges from April to September 2022. Bullock and the production team worked closely with CFC to access key locations. These included the Montserrat mountain, the old bullfighting arena La Monumental in Barcelona, and a number of locations in the Maresme county, north of the city: a residential area of Les Bilbenyes in Sant Vicenç de Montalt, Hamelin-Laie International School in Montgat and the town of Alella. A set was built in a studio near Barcelona for the family’s home interiors.
Production partner
Mike Day’s highly experienced Palma Pictures was the local production partner, a company Bullock had worked with on the Spanish shoots of The Night Manager and The Crown.
The production accessed a 30% tax credit on the first €1m ($1.08m) of its spend; it is 25% thereafter. The Catalan government also has a fund for high-end TV projects majority-shot in the Catalan language, which can access up to €1.5m ($1.6m) or no more than 60% of the total budget, but it was not applicable to the mainly English-language Who Is Erin Carter?.
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“We shot an entire car chase in and around Sitges,” Bullock says of an impressive feat of logistics pulled off by the partners. “We managed to close all streets in the old town and we filmed right on the bay of Sitges. We flipped a car, had a high-speed car chase and a complex stunt sequence involving multiple vehicles, supporting artists and stunt performers. Over a period of five days, we shot this incredibly successful car chase — all during the height of the tourism season.”
Palma Pictures facilitated the tax rebate for the production. “It was processed and paid out four months earlier than we expected,” Bullock says of the rebate. “We were impressed by how quickly it came.”
The crew of 300 people included a mix of UK and local Catalonians, with a few craftspeople from Madrid; 80% of the crew were based in Catalonia during the shoot. “We also worked with a local location manager and a local line producer,” Bullock notes.
One of the biggest challenges was the sheer scale of the production; seven episodes means seven scripts and seven stories — for different directors. The local crew proved as good as they come. “I loved the Catalonian crew,” Bullock says. “They were really hard-working, brought a positive work ethic and created a good atmosphere.”
Contact: Carlota Guerrero Bernaus, Catalunya Film Commission
Source: https://t-tees.com
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