Inside Spain: How locals are calling time on their cities being movie sets

Spain is once again ‘dying of success’; its cultural heritage and diverse natural beauty being sold to the highest foreign bidder. Only this time rather than affluent overseas property buyers, it’s Hollywood executives who are shopping.

Spain’s Socialist government set out in earnest to turn the country into a global filming location in 2021, although since 2015 Spain has offered a specific tax incentive for foreign productions, which has been modified several times to enhance the country’s appeal as a filming location. 

Generally speaking, a 30 percent deduction is applied to the first million euros invested in eligible expenses and 25 percent to additional filming costs.

“We aim to become, and we have been named in some media, and if you allow the comparison, the Hollywood of Europe,” Pedro Sánchez said at the time.

Spain wanted to increase audio-visual production levels by 30 percent by 2025 and vastly surpassed this target, reaching up to a 70 percent increase for some productions.

“Every euro of public investment through the tax incentive program generated an additional nine euros for the Spanish economy between 2019 and 2022,” Spain’s Film Commission has stated.

But just as with tourism, the macroeconomics benefits are not always easy for the layman to discern.

What has become a lot more noticeable for Spaniards is to have their neighbourhoods turned into movie sets.

Girona in Catalonia is a prime example of becoming a victim of its own cinematic success (and architectural beauty), ever since it was featured in the hit fantasy TV series Game of Thrones in 2015.

This summer, there’s been a constant flow of costumed extras throughout its fairytale-like historic centre as part of the shooting of the live-action Disney adaptation of Tangled. This has resulted in street closures to traffic, residents and rubbish collection trucks, and restricted access to tourist landmarks such as its incredible gothic cathedral. 

All that’s needed for studio producers to film in the Catalan city is to submit a request to use its streets at least 10 business days before filming begins. 

Banners reading “less film shoots, more services” now hang from balconies in the city.

Al barri vell comencen les reivindicacions, perquè volem ser un barri per viure i no per sobreviure, el barri vell no és un decorat. @avbarrivell pic.twitter.com/nIHueyHGYb

— MAR i 🌊 (@CostaMariona) July 17, 2026

Girona residents have grown weary of the frequent movie shoot disturbances to their day to day, which together with the popularity of local festivals like Temps de Flors and the boom in cycle tourism (due to Lance Armstrong’s visit to the city) have all contributed to “excessive (tourism) growth”. 

This is also impacting the “unique identity of family-run, local, and diverse businesses,” Girona locals told Spanish daily El Mundo, while a 166 percent rise in tourist accommodation has resulted in a 50 percent drop in long-term rental properties for locals. 

Analysts dub this phenomenon “screen tourism,” the kind that encourages visits to film and TV locations, a trend which is particularly popular among Millennials and Generation Z.

Spain’s Screen Tourism Observatory reports that between 22 percent and 40 percent of European travellers surveyed had discovered a place in the country thanks to film.

​​Madrid residents have also called for more restraint from authorities when allowing the Spanish capital to be turned into an international movie set.

Protests have been held in central neighbourhoods while filming permits have skyrocketed by 42.25 percent in a single year in Madrid. 

In the upmarket barrio of Los Jerónimos in the Retiro district, some thirty film shoots have been held in six months.

“I think that’s a lot, especially in a neighbourhood that isn’t very large ,” Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida stated, claiming that he wants to put the brakes on the film boom. 

Almeida says his goal now is “to preserve the quality of life and well-being of the residents,” while also taking into account that “there are other locations in Madrid that are also very worthwhile to film in”.

In Barcelona, a city which has experienced the consequences of overtourism for over a decade, a local boycott campaign was launched in July over the shooting of television series La Vida Barcelona.

The show is a sort of spin-off of Emily in Paris, known for its tone-deaf idealisation and stereotyping of life in the French capital.

Similarly, La Vida Barcelona follows a Dutch designer who falls for the charms of Barcelona while not being affected by any of the issues residents face in real life, from sky-high rents to mass tourism or rampant gentrification.

Locals fear the upcoming rom-com series will portray Barcelona as a theme park for so-called “expats” and digital nomads, attracting even more to the Catalan capital in the process.

The growing backlash to Spain being used as a backdrop for big screen productions is yet another consequence of the country being ‘open for business’, just as it has been with tourism and its real estate market.

And once again it’s the locals who are getting pushed aside while the red carpet is rolled out for gentrification.