My St George’s Day treat was a fascinating talk by Palma Pictures Managing Director Paul Abrey, who gave an amazing insight into Mallorca’s thriving film industry, with intriguing inside information of some top series including The Crown and The Night Manager.
Founded in 1993, Palma Pictures is run by two Englishmen CEO Mike Day and Paul Abrey, who have built an impressive reputation in an extremely tough industry, providing a full production service for all genres of film across mainland Spain, the Balearics and Canary Islands plus Portugal.
They not only employ 60 staff comprising eleven different nationalities, but also boost the Spanish economy by spending on behalf of clients in Spain in excess of 65 million euros in 2023 alone. (Particularly impressive as many felt the film industry stagnant last year due to the American script writers’ strike.) This includes approximately 5,000 euros on hotel rooms, over 10,000 euros on restaurant meals, 700,000 euros location spend with another 100,000 euros obtaining local permits.
The diversity of locations makes our little island the perfect backdrop for films, TV shows, commercials and music videos and Palma Pictures are here to make the most difficult of challenges possible.
I was enthralled to learn the secret locations in Mallorca and the mainland used for The Crown. Especially in the sixth season, when St Tropez, Barbados, Mustique Villa and Beach, Sardinia and the Montecarlo Streets and Marina were actually filmed in Mallorca.
I was extremely impressed that the fantastic new British Airways’ Avios commercial was filmed off the coast of Puerto Pollensa. Also surprised to learn that this complex piece of filming was entirely authentic, with absolutely no help from artificial intelligence. If you haven’t seen this brilliant advert, it shows 24 different types of people fully clothed, racing across a calm sea in close formation on hover surfboards. Against all odds looking remarkably cool and relaxed. Probably the most memorable commercials I have ever seen. How long did it take? How many fell in? I needed to know.
Paul patiently answered all questions and proved his involvement and passion for each project. Certainly they have put our small island firmly on the film business map, stating: “We are proud of the contribution we have made to Spain across our 30 year history.”