São Paulo is a cosmopolitan city and many of its locations could look like any city, from its shiny glass-and-concrete office towers to viaducts, shopping malls, wide avenues and gritty urban landscapes. This “vanilla” aesthetic is one of the city’s greatest attractions, giving foreign productions maximum flexibility. The ethnic diversity of its residents is another big plus, encompassing Afro-Brazilians to descendants of Japanese, European and Middle Eastern immigrants, not to mention Brazil’s native indigenous population – a blend which could be the faces of almost any modern city in the world.
Filming in São Paulo
In the last three years, São Paulo has been attracting more and more international productions...
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São Paulo is a producer’s dream, with its diversity of architecture, environments and ethnicities, not to mention cutting-edge audiovisual equipment, international airports and some of the best talent in the business.
It’s also the Story Productions headquarters (drop in and say hi – tea time is at 5pm, sharp). We take pride in helping overseas clients find the
perfect locations all over Brazil
but we do love it, too, when our home town itself is the chosen spot for our clients’ shoots.
In the last three years, São Paulo has been attracting more and more international productions; the city hosts more than 1,000 productions per year, and the number of foreign productions has tripled in the past three years up to 2019. São Paulo has become a favourite for Netflix Originals productions – those that know the city will have recognised scenes in the Wachowskis’ Sense8, Brazil’s 3%, Most Beautiful Thing
and most recently, the
"Striking Viper" episode from the fifth series of
Black Mirror.
Why film in São Paulo?
Whether it’s for film, documentary, TV, corporate video or digital projects, there are myriad reasons why São Paulo is an attractive location for foreign productions:
01 Easy access
São Paulo has three airports, two of which are international, with direct flights coming in from all over the world. All three airports also serve as domestic hubs for the hundreds of regional Brazilian airports, providing easy access to the rest of Brazil should a shoot involve multiple locations.
02 State-of-the-art audiovisual equipment hire
There are dozens of specialist equipment providers for film and television in São Paulo, providing everything from aerial camera mounts and filming equipment to underwater photography equipment, live transmission satellite trucks, camera cars, cameras and steadicams, lenses, cranes and dollies, drones, grip equipment, lighting equipment, filters… you name it, we can source it in São Paulo at discounted rates.
03 Generic “any city in the world” locations
Image © Rodrigo Paiva
04 Iconic locations and events
While the city’s generic look will appeal to some productions, São Paulo has plenty of places and events that are unique. From its Modernist icons such as the Copan Building, the Memorial da América Latina and the MASP (São Paulo art museum) to its instantly recognizable graffiti and distinctive downtown skylines, there are some backdrops that just shout São Paulo. It also hosts the world’s largest street Carnaval and LGBT Pride parade, both of which have featured prominently in many major films and series, and it hosts some of Latin America's most important cultural and sporting events including the São Paulo Bienal, Formula One Grand Prix, São Paulo Fashion Week and the São Paulo International Film Festival.
05 Variety of locations
In a city the size of São Paulo, home to more than 20 million people, it’s no surprise to find an extraordinary breadth of types of location that can be booked for a shoot. They include parks and forests, shopping malls, stadiums, conference centres, restaurants, bars, hotels, street markets, churches, slums, airports and buildings that span architectural styles from colonial mansions to modern office blocks. Public areas managed by the municipal government can also be booked with as little as seven days notice, including museums, theatres, streets, viaducts and bridges.
06 Script and post-production services
Story Productions has a
dedicated script team as well as
post-production suites
in São Paulo. We’ve been busy working on everything from a US travel series to German educational videos and corporate web series. São Paulo boasts a further seventy post-production houses specialising in sound mixing, music mixing, CGI, motion graphics and colour grading, depending on the needs of the project.
07 Recording studios
Whether for a photo shoot, film shoot or other audiovisual production there are dozens of professional studios in São Paulo, in all shapes and sizes, catering to a range of budgets. From product shoots to fashion shoots (with make-up and changing rooms), to recording in daylight or with large objects such as cars, Story Productions can book the right studio for any production’s needs.
08 Financial incentives
The federal as well as São Paulo state government offer funds that can help finance co-productions, and our doors are always open to conversations about co-productions with producers from around the world.
09 Restaurants and hotels
São Paulo welcomes more than 15 million tourists each year and is well set up to cater to them. Its infrastructure boasts more than 400 hotels and 400 helicopters, 38,000 taxis, 100,000 vehicles for hire and more than 20,000 restaurants.
10 It’s a city that works!
São Paulo is often described as a city that works – both in terms of the committed work ethic of its residents, as well as the fact that its facilities, infrastructure and services function – for the most part – reliably and efficiently, which is not always the case in other cities in Brazil. This predictability can be a real comfort to foreign production companies.
The challenges of filming inSão Paulo?
While the logistics of shooting in São Paulo may seem much less daunting than a shoot in the Amazon Rainforest say, this megalopolis does present challenges of its own that foreign crews should bear in mind:
The city’s 6 million-plus cars can mean that traffic is unpredictable and hiring a local driver to navigate the city can save precious time
Given the size of the city, it can take a long time – depending on the time of day – to travel from one neighbourhood to another, so multi-location shoots should, ideally, be planned with those logistics in mind.
Obtaining filming permits can be a quick process, but it does vary depending on the relevant government body or institute providing the permit. Story Productions can organise all filming permits for international clients.
Security can be an issue in certain parts of the city; Story Productions can advise clients on the risks of specific locations, and provide security detail.
In short, navigating the quirks of São Paulo takes knowledge and skill that Story Productions has built up over years, arranging shoots all across the city for clients that include Red Bull,
Siemens, Unilever, CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera,
RTL, Grey Goose, Facebook
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and
Instagram, to name just a few.
Let us help you get the best results from a shoot in São Paulo.
Get in touch.
More about filming in Brazil
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Have a question or comment? Let us know.
São Paulo
Tel: +55 (11) 2365 1375
Cel: +55 (11) 98193 8456
Where to find us
Story Productions
Rua Oscar Freire 2250, cj. 715
São Paulo-SP, CEP: 05409-011
Brasil
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