Hollywood on the Danube: Location management and the production of place in transnational media production

Abstract

Budapest, Hungary, has become one of the largest media production centers in Europe, even though the country has little local domestic production and few exports. Rather, nearly all production spending in Budapest comes from servicing foreign productions. This article explores the role that location managers in Budapest play in producing a recognizable sense of Budapest as a specific place, both on and behind the screen, in an effort to make the city “sticky” for global media capital. Throughout pre-production and production, location managers produce a sense for foreign creative workers that Budapest is both versatile and flexible as a shooting location. Ironically, while their efforts generally erase the specificity of Budapest, creating the impression that the city is as film-friendly as any other media capital, this erasure is precisely what makes Budapest sticky for transnational media productions.