Good Films Studios Spain Bets on Long-Term Production at Ciudad de la Luz — SkimNews
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- Good Films Studios Spain (GFSS) has set up permanent offices, workshops and production space at Ciudad de la Luz, backed by €19.8 million ($23 million) from Spanish state fund SETT, which holds 46% equity, alongside private partner Orogen Media and producer Miriam Segal's Milka Films.
- Producer Miriam Segal is planning 20 international features over 10 years at the 197.7-acre Alicante complex, with the studio and GFSS together accounting for roughly 90% of current occupancy alongside Disney's live-action "Tangled"; the studios expect to remain heavily booked through end of 2026 into early 2027.
- Segal, whose credits include "Good" with Viggo Mortensen, "The Infiltrator" with Bryan Cranston and "City of Lies" with Johnny Depp, said committed financing lets her offer pay-or-play deals to actors for the first time in her independent career, a structure she describes as nearly impossible for indie producers.
- GFSS's first production, "People of the Book," filmed a capsizing Mediterranean refugee-boat sequence in Ciudad de la Luz's roughly 328-by-262-foot outdoor water tank, with Segal recruiting migrants through Alicante associations as background actors; she called watching them recreate bargaining for places and life jackets "one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever witnessed."
- Three projects — "American Paradise," "Duchess of Malfi" and "The Seventh Most Important Thing" — are in early production, with another six being commissioned including a Spanish-language true story set in Madrid; veteran sales executive Glenn Ackermann has joined as head of sales, with later GFSS titles to be sold in-house after Bleiberg Entertainment handles "People of the Book" at Toronto.
- GFSS's development team is almost entirely under 30, with younger writers receiving early-career commissions and training participants hired on proper wages rather than as unpaid interns; Segal said roughly 85% of the "People of the Book" crew was Spanish, calling it "the best crew I have ever worked with across the whole world."
Why it matters: Spain's audiovisual sector has historically lured international productions with locations and tax incentives only to watch them leave; GFSS's decade-long, 20-film commitment — anchored by €19.8 million in committed capital — signals a deliberate shift toward originating and retaining IP from Spanish soil, with pay-or-play actor deals and a sub-30 development pipeline designed to keep crews and companies in Alicante rather than rebuilding them project by project.
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