The Hungarian National Film Fund received more than two thousand applications for filming on location in public spaces last year, and already more than a thousand requests had been submitted by the middle of July 2018.
What's more, it's been revealed that roughly five locations are used for filming each day in Hungary as the country's position as the leading European film destination intensifies.
Production companies pay hundreds of millions of Hungarian forints a year in order to be allowed to film in Hungarian public spaces. Besides feature films and TV productions, commercials are regularly shot in Hungary.
The vast majority of the submitted requests, some 1,900 applications marked Budapest as the locations and 100 applications targeted the countryside. In 2018, 900 requests were submitted for Budapest and 100 for rural spots.
In the countryside, Szentendre, Esztergom, Vác, and Dunakeszi are the most popular venues, while in the capital, Andrássy road, Szabadság square, St. Stephen Basilica, Feneketlen Lake, Villányi road, Döbrentei square, and Castle Garden Bazaar are the most sought-after places, according to MNF data.
Not only are they chosen for their cultural and aesthetical value, the relatively low price of Hungarian locations also proves a draw. The daily filming fees for World Heritage sites are only 2,000 HUF per square meter. The main tourist destinations of the capital can be purchased for 800 HUF per square meter, and rural sites can be rented for just 200 forints per square meter.
The fees are set out in the Annex to the 2004 Act on Motion Picture, and there is no plan to change tariffs.