From Paris to New York to the Wild West: The Allure of Compass Rose’s Backlots

Part of a filmmaker's task is evoking and communicating a sense of place to viewers; grounding the characters in a setting and imbuing it in verisimilitude. Travelling to a location – say Paris or Venice – is one way of achieving this, though it’s not always the most practical. Budgets aside, crowds and filming permits often make production difficult, sometimes impossible. A solution is film studios’ backlots: dedicated sets mimicking certain locales or providing incredibly believable stand-ins alongside purpose-built sets that can be transformed, or ‘dressed’, to suit different productions. Many of the most famous movie backlots are located – where else – in Hollywood, like Midwest Street which was featured in film classics like ‘Rebel Without a Cause’, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’, and the TV series ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’.

But Hollywood isn’t the only place to find film backlots. Trying to land a combination of high-quality backlot sets, experienced crews, and favourable budgets seems impossible until the backlots in Compass Rose’s group are seen. From a Roman setting to the streets of Paris, a western saloon or a mediaeval castle, and the feel of London and New York can all be found among CR’s network of backlots, totalling 30 across the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Spain. TV hits like ‘Wednesday,’ filmed in Romania, and the second season of ‘Interview with the Vampire,’ filmed in the Czech Republic, have already made use of the backlots in these countries. Etsy and Coca Cola spots made use of the backlots in Romania and Bulgaria to stand in for France and the US, respectively. 

LBB caught up with CR’s Pavla Burgetova Callegari, MD and executive producer, and James Hatcher, executive producer for the UK and Europe, to learn more about the group’s varied backlots, the benefits of shooting there, and why – in the age of virtual production – backlots continue to hold so much appeal.

LBB> Tell us a little bit about the backlots in the Compass Rose’s group!

Pavla> We have an extensive collection of standing sets, also known as backlots, across our group. These permanent sets, built on soundstages or backlots, are designed for repeated use in productions. They can represent a variety of locations, including neighbourhoods, streets, and house interiors, commonly seen in advertisements, TV shows, and movies. The rationale for situating these sets in cost-effective locations is simple: why incur the high costs of filming in New York or Paris when you can achieve the same looks in places like Bulgaria, Romania, or Prague?

Above: New York and/or London set in Bulgaria

Above: Parisian Street in the Czech Republic

LBB> How many backlot locations does the group have? 

Pavla> We have around 30 standing sets in total in the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Spain. The collection includes a New York City neighbourhood, London streets, Paris streets, an American town square, American suburbia, Western towns, and a Roman square. We even have a smaller replica of St. Paul’s Cathedral. You name it, we probably have it!

Most of these permanent backlots were originally constructed for TV series or movies and then remained available for other productions, which is an excellent example of sustainability in the film industry. Some of these projects include ‘We Were The Lucky Ones’ and ‘Wednesday’ in Romania, and the second season of ‘Interview With The Vampire’ in the Czech Republic.

Above: Western-style set in Romania

Above: Fort Bravo-style set in Almeria, Spain

LBB> Which backlot is perhaps the most surprising / unexpected to find and where is it located?

Pavla> The most recent addition is the Parisian street backlot at Prague’s Barrandov Studios, created for AMC’s second season of ‘Interview With The Vampire’. This set is a faithful replica of 19th-century Paris. The street consists of 20 different houses and 10 interiors available for shoots, and it even includes a walkable roof with a clear natural horizon. 

LBB> What are the benefits of choosing to produce on one (or many!) of the Compass Rose group’s backlots? 

Pavla> The key benefits are cost and control. Imagine trying to shoot in the West Village in New York or Soho in London and having to manage pedestrian or car traffic. Closing down streets for filming is nearly impossible in such locations.

Above: St. Paul's Cathedral in Bulgaria

On a backlot, you have complete ownership and control of the location, allowing for maximum creativity. Not only are you already working in a country known for being cost-effective for production, but you also save money and time by having full control over the setting.

LBB> With the rise of virtual production, why might filmmakers pick to shoot on a backlot instead of a virtual stage?

James> I’ve been fortunate enough to shoot a few jobs on virtual production stages and can vouch for the endless possibilities. You can literally shoot anywhere in the universe but that immense capability, like any tool in the production industry, also has its limitations. Lead times on a VP shoot are counted in weeks or months, prepping a backlot for even a complex shoot is measured in days - a timeframe more in step with the vast majority of commercial productions. 

You can open a door in VP but your protagonist can’t walk through it. Backlots meld the best of both worlds when it comes to shooting on a location or on a stage, giving a level of control that brings speed and efficiency. I see the confidence in my 1st AD’s eyes when our director wants to shoot 10 or 12 set ups in a day on a backlot. On a VP stage you’d caution your client not to expect many more than four or five before the overtime kicks in. 

But let’s not slip into a like-for-like comparison, they are very different tools. Take a Hollywood star, with many lines of dialogue, to be delivered in conversation with someone else, on the back seat of a moving car. VP is your go to place, but… If you need to shoot a Paris street, you’d head to Prague and shoot on their backlot, every day of the week, rather than try and re-create it in a VP studio. For this instance, it’s more efficient in prep and buys you much greater freedom with regard to how you can shoot.

Above: 'Knightfall' set in Prague

Above: 'The Outpost' set in Serbia

LBB> Which backlot locations have proven the most popular so far? And which clients have you worked with there? 

Pavla> Our most popular backlot is probably the New York/London set in Bulgaria. We have produced numerous projects there with top production companies and directors for brands like Coca-Cola, Porsche, Citroën, and Lego. Next up is the Boston set in Romania, which was partly used to film this year’s Super Bowl commercial for Etsy and we expect to get a lot of traction with the Paris street backlot in Prague. 

Above: Venice in Serbia

Above: New York at Warner Park in Madrid

Compass Rose’s group of service production companies consists of Stillking Films Prague and Cape Town, Icon Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia, Entity Films Slovenia and Croatia, Spectrum Mexico and 24/7 Spain, Portugal and Chile.