Benidorm launches an Eco-Assistant course to train personnel to ensure compliance with sustainability measures on filming

Benidorm City Council has organized a face-to-face Eco-Assistant course, a new figure that is joining the audiovisual industry and who is in charge of facilitating and ensuring compliance with sustainability measures in filming. The mayor, Toni Pérez, explained that "it is the first course of these characteristics to be carried out in the Valencian Community", and has delved into the fact that it pursues two objectives: to offer new job opportunities to the local population by training them in a profession recently established and make it easier for producers who shoot in Benidorm to find professionals in this field in our city instead of bringing them from their production centers, which are usually in Madrid or other large cities”.

Toni Pérez recalled that "in the last edition of the Madrid International Tourism Fair (Fitur), a little over a month ago, we already advanced that one of the lines of work of  Benidorm Film Office this year was going to be the to facilitate sustainable filming”. Among the measures that were announced "was this training course, which will last 20 hours and will take place from March 13 to 16, from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., in El Torrejó municipal center."

The mayor transferred that "Benidorm Film Office we have detected that the audiovisual sector is increasingly involved in promoting productions in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and with the 2030 Agenda and that therefore generates less impact on the territory". Sustainably producing films is becoming a requirement to receive public aid at a national and international level, and the main platforms and television channels are beginning to demand sustainable productions in their programming.

To meet these demands, "the productions are incorporating Eco-Assistants into their teams, who are present at the shoots, who propose measures that make them more sustainable and at the same time ensure that the proposed actions are met."

For the development of this course, which has a price of 50 euros, Benidorm goes hand in hand with Mrs. Greenfilm, one of the best-prepared teams nationwide in this matter. The training sessions will address, among others, issues such as sustainability in the audiovisual sector, the environmental impacts of audiovisual projects, the ECO-TEAM, or the existence and operation of sustainability departments. Registration can be done now at the Youth Information Center.

As detailed by the mayor, "the course is aimed at all those who want to enter the world of the audiovisual industry and preferably those who already have some kind of experience in filming." The participants who are finally accredited will have the opportunity to do internships in the productions that will arrive in Benidorm in the coming months.

The Eco-Assistant course has the collaboration of Another Way and the support of the Department of Youth and Tourism, as well as the Ministry of Culture.
Toni Pérez has insisted that "with the incorporation to the Guide of Professionals of the Benidorm Film Office of the people who are trained as Eco-Assistants, we are going to have a complete range of professionals from all production departments", so "Producers can complete their teams without having to send all their staff to our city."

Sustainable shoots

In parallel with the development of this training course, work continues "to make it easier for producers in our city to carry out more sustainable filming". To this end, a section on 'Sustainable Filming' has been created on the Benidorm Film Office website, which includes "a series of recommendations" for production companies so that their work is in line with the SDGs, and in which they already "municipal information and resources to facilitate this task" have been included and will be gradually expanded.

Thus, a map has been published with all the charging points for electric vehicles installed on public roads and whose use is free for users; At the same time, proposals and recommendations related to waste separation, use of ecological or less polluting vehicles, or choice of accommodation close to the filming locations have been included.