How to arrange shooting permits in Barcelona?

The Barcelona Film Commission offers assessment to the productions and intermediates between them and the different Departments of the public Administration, in order to help with the shooting permits arrangements and apply for the exemption and/or reduction of the fees for non commercial productions in the city of Barcelona. It organizes coordination meetings for preparing shootings and offer a Companies and Professional’s Directory through this website, as well as locations in all the territory.

Filming on public thoroughfares

The City Police’s Information and Formalities Office [Oficina d’Informació i Tràmits de la Guàrdia Urbana (OIT)] issues permits for filming on public thoroughfares in Barcelona.

You can apply for several different kinds of permits for filming on public thoroughfares in Barcelona:

General permit:

• This permit authorises a small film crew (maximum 10 people + 1 camera + 1 tripod) to film freely on streets and squares anywhere on public thoroughfares in Barcelona.
• This permit is valid only and exclusively between 8 am and 10 pm.
• You may apply for this permit for up to 30 consecutive days.
• The Barcelona Film Commission can handle the formalities for obtaining this permit for both cultural and commercial productions with 2 working days’ notice. Find out more here.
• Price: Free for all kinds of productions.

Specific permit: 

• This permit is required for film crews larger than 10 people + 1 camera + 1 tripod and/or which require parking privileges for vehicles essential to the shoot.
• This permit should be applied for at least 5 working days in advance.
• Applications for a permit for a commercial production should be submitted to the OIT: call (+34) 93 291 50 30 or email gu_oit_filmacions@bcn.cat.
• Applications for a permit for a non-commercial production can be handled by the Barcelona Film Commission. Find out more here.
• Prices:
  • €89,59 issuing fee per application.*
  • Public thoroughfare usage fee***.
    • Film shoots: €600 per day and location.
    • Photo sessions: €336 per day and location.

*Issuing fee: Specific Permits are not valid without the corresponding proof of payment of the issuing fee provided by the City Police [Guàrdia Urbana]. This fee may be paid by any natural person or legal entity, with or without a digital certificate, on the Barcelona City Council Formalities website (in Spanish|Catalan).

NOTA: Under no circumstances will this fee be refunded. We recommend that you contact us to tell us what you want to do before you pay the fee to make sure this is a feasible application that can be submitted within any deadlines, etc.

*** Check here how to request the 90% discount of the Public thoroughfare usage fee for cultural productions (in Catalan or Spanish only). Check how to request the discount here.

The only productions exempt from paying these fees are:

• The Spanish Government, Catalan Government and local entities
• Political parties in electoral period.
• Academic projects

In each case, applications must include a letter from the institution in question setting out the purpose of the shoot.

General Permit for Car-Mounted Cameras:

• This permit allows a car-mounted camera to move freely through the streets of Barcelona (except the Ronda de Dalt, Ronda del Mig and Ronda Litoral), provided that the vehicle uses an approved device and is no wider than a traffic lane (2.55 m).
• The car-mounted camera and prop vehicle may be accompanied by a maximum of two support vans to prevent other vehicles getting too close, but these vans must stay in the same lane (in front of or behind the other two vehicles), never alongside, so as not to restrict the flow of traffic.
• This permit should be applied for 2 working days in advance and you may apply for this permit for up to 30 days.
• Applications for a permit for a commercial production should be submitted to the OIT: call (+34) 93 291 50 30 or email gu_oit_filmacions@bcn.cat.
•  Applications for a permit for a non-commercial production can be handled by the Barcelona Film Commission. Find out more here.
• Price: Free for all kinds of productions.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information on how to apply for filming permits and parking privileges.

Parks, Gardens and Beaches

The body responsible for giving permission to shoot in city-owned parks, gardens and beaches is Barcelona Municipal Parks and Gardens Institute, which issues a written document stating the conditions for shoots it authorizes. The rates for advertising productions or commercial photography are €600 - per day and location - for filming and €336 - per day and location - for photography. The Barcelona Film Commission manages a fee waiver request for all the non commercial productions that helps to publicize the city and its identity.

Note that the arrangement of shootings permissions in Parks, Gardens and Beaches require 15 days in advance and have to be arranged for a specific day, time and location. There isn’t a General permit for the Parks. It’s important to be careful with the different restrictions that have some of the Parks such as the Parc Güell, Parc de la Ciutadella and Parc del Laberint (Horta's Labyrinth Park), please check their profile at the Locations Directory to know their conditions. The beaches have restrictions as well from June to September.

There are some Parks that are not responsibility of the Barcelona Municipal Parks and Gardens Institute, and they obey different guidelines:

• Jardines Universitat Central Responsible: Universitat De Barcelona
• Jardines Palau Robert: Responsible: Generalitat De Catalunya
• Jardines Palau De Les Heures: Responsible: Universitat De Barcelona
• Jardines Maternitat: Responsible: Diputación De Barcelona
• Jardines Botànic: Responsible: Institut De Cultura De Barcelona (icub)
• Jardines Palau De Pedralbes: Responsible: Protocol Of Generalitat De Catalunya                                                      
• Jardines Joan Maragall: Responsible: Protocol Of The Barcelona’s City Council

The Gaudí Square, the Sagrada Familia, the breakwaters, the Destillers Street, the Zona de Banys del Forum and the Park Camp de la Bóta are managed by Barcelona Municipal Parks and Gardens Institute.

In order to request non-commercial shooting permits for Parks, Gardens or Beaches, please fill the Registration Form (if you haven't done it already) and fill a Location Request for each location. You can find them here.

Please do not hesitate to contact us or the Parks Department for further information on how to apply for filming permits.

Markets

To shoot inside the Municipal Markets you can contact the Barcelona Film Commission to manage them for free if it is an insitutional or academic production. For the rest of productions, you can apply for authorization through its website http://goo.gl/u2Ibzl. The authorizations must be processed one week in advance.

According to the latest tax regulation no. 3.6: the filming and recording activities and the photo shootings for advertising or commercial purpose in the market area, if they not cause impairment of the normal purpose of habitual activity and with prior municipal approval, will have pay (per day or fraction and market):

• Recordings for promotional or corporate videos, online diffusion: €200
• Commercial and feature film shootings for television, cinema and online diffusion: €785
• Promotional or corporate photo shootings for online & offline diffusion: €140
• Commercial photo shootings: online & offline diffusion: €475

The following activities are exempt:

• Institutional shootings and photo shootings
• Press shootings and photo shootings for Media
• Non lucrative cultural projects
• Academic projects

In order to request insitutional or academic shooting permits for Municipal Markets, please fill the Registration Form (if you haven't done it already) and fill a Location Request for each location. You can find them here.

For more information about applying for shooting permits in Markets:

• For cultural productions:
  Barcelona Film Commission
  Tel. +34 93 454 80 66
  filmcommission@bcn.cat
• For commercials productions:
  Institut Municipal de Mercats de Barcelona
  Tel. +34 93 413 28 90
  mercatsbcn@bcn.cat

Cemeteries

The nine cemeteries in the city of Barcelona (Montjuïc, Poblenou, Sant Andreu, Les Corts, Collserola, Horta, Sants, Sarrià and Sant Gervasi) and the two crematoriums situated in Montjuïc and Collserola are managed by Cementiris de Barcelona, S.A., a part of the B:SM Group.

The shooting permits have to be requested through the Barcelona Film Commission by filling online the Production Registration (if you haven’t fill it already) and the Barcelona Locations Request.

Academic projects have the following conditions:

• The authorizations must be processed one week in advance.
• The shootings will be only authorized during the opening hours of the Cemetery (you can check the schedule in each case on the CBSA website).
• It will be necessary to make a location visit with the managers (we will facilitate the contact once we receive the forms).
• The permit will be free with a letter from the school certifying that it is an academic work (send to filmcommission@bcn.cat).

For the rest of productions, it is necessary to take into account the following conditions:

• The authorizations must be processed one week in advance.
• All productions will have to pay the filming fee according to the Cemeteries Ordinance, which is € 715.30
• In addition, they will have to be accompanied by a security guard who will hire CBSA but who will be paid by the production company (approx. € 20 / h Minimum 4 hours).
• A contract will be written which will require the data of the company and the name and ID of the person who will sign it (send to filmcommission@bcn.cat)
• It will be necessary to send a copy of a Civil Liability insurance policy that covers any claim for damages caused to the facilities and people of CBSA or third parties, for an amount of SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND EUROS (€ 600,000) and proof of payment of the last assessment (send to filmcommission@bcn.cat).
• On the day of the signing the production company will have to pay € 1,000 as guarantee (the number may vary depending on the material and what has to be done), which will be returned once the filming is finished.

For more information about shooting in cemeteries, please contact us.

Barcelona Municipal Buildings

For use of municipal buildings, the fees established vary according to the kind of location and the management body responsible. We at the Barcelona Film Commission are working to enable professional films, videos and television recordings other than advertising productions to obtain a total or partial reduction in the rates for shooting in public buildings such as museums, schools, sports facilities, civic centers, district offices, etc. The range of sites that come into this category and the wide variety of possible kinds of shoot means that each application must be studied and analyzed on a case-by-case basis and final decisions will not always be the same. In all cases, advertising spots are required to pay the full rate for occupation of municipal spaces. You should bear in mind that the production company will be liable for all expenses derived from filming and occupation of locations. These costs include cleaning, security and any possible repairs and/or damages. If possible, the owner of the location will make an estimate of estimated costs. Should it be impossible to assess these costs beforehand, you may be asked for a deposit, which will be returned once filming is over.

For more information about shooting in a concrete municipal building, please contact us.