Experience & Production

Location, permission, crew - solved locally.

Location scouting, permits, crew, and logistics for film, television, and photography production in Cuba.

Why it matters

Cuba's production value is period authenticity that would cost a fortune to build anywhere else. The obstacles are permission, crew, and getting equipment into the country, and all three are local problems with local solutions.

Productions come to Cuba for a look that cannot be built on a backlot, and then discover that the schedule is set by paperwork and customs rather than by daylight. That is the part worth planning first.

A useful recce answers three things at once for every location: what it looks like at the hour you want it, who has to say yes, and how the unit physically gets there with its gear. Locations that fail any of the three come off the list early, which is far cheaper than finding out in week one.

What we manage

The work this covers.

Location scouting and recce packages

Scouted options delivered with access, light, and permission notes attached.

Filming permits and public-space authorisations

Prepared and submitted with the lead times they actually require.

Local crew, fixers and interpreters

Assembled from people who have worked with foreign productions before.

Equipment logistics and customs

Usually the longest lead item on the schedule, and planned from the recce onward.

Transport, security and unit base

Movement and basing arranged around the shooting schedule.

Talent, vehicle and period-property sourcing

Including the classic vehicles the destination is known for.

How we approach it

The order the decisions get made in.

Step 1

Scout and permit together

A location without a permission path is not a location.
Step 2

Front-load the equipment question

Import timing sets the production schedule more than anything else does.
Step 3

Plan the data workflow on site

Backup and transfer are designed for limited connectivity rather than assumed.

What this means in Cuba

The part a global agency cannot write for you.

The production value is in the period register, from 1950s vehicles and unrestored colonial facades to streetscapes that do not read as generic anywhere else.
Filming in public spaces and historic districts follows a permission process with institutional coordination. Lead times are real and are built into the schedule.
Equipment import is typically the longest item on the production timeline and is planned from the recce stage onward.
Connectivity constraints mean data transfer and backup workflow are designed on site rather than assumed to work.

Scale