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Hi Everyone,
My Dad moved over to Spain 4 years ago just near to Fortuna and in the early part of 2013 I’m making a 30 minute documentary on UK expats living in Spain.
My general question is, do the members on this forum think that a documentary about UK expats living in Spain be good to watch? And what kind of content would you want to see?
Any thoughts and suggestion would be well recieved.
Many thanks
John
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John -you will need to make a much longer documentary in order to cover the many and varied opinions you will be bombarded with. Many tv companies have also done this type of documentary-it's probably been done to death.
You will hear from the smugs, often ex military with huge pensions, who will jump on anyone criticising Spain for a justifiable reason. Everything in Spain is, to them, warmer, cheaper,friendlier, easier.Horrendous events suffered by some poor souls are dismissed by them as happening to people who haven't done their research.
Then you will hear from the voluntary brigade, who fill every waking moment raising money for,dogs,horses and sometimes humans! Very commendable, but not everyone's cup of tea, who came to Spain to simply relax and do their own thing without feeling guilty.
After that you will find the"under the radar club"-don't pay income tax, don't re register their uk plated vehicles, even run businesses using them,nip off back to Blighty for their prescriptions every three months etc.
Then you will find what the first group call the whingers-any one who has a complaint, or suggestion, no matter how valid, and rightly see themselves as residents of Spain, certainly not guests.
Finally you've got the "keeping up with the jones's", who often live in urbanisations, and have competitiions to see how many arches they can add to their already overdone gardens,add yet more fancy tiles, walls, balustrades etc. until they've used up their money.
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Ouch 
Surely John's got a chance at this?
This message was last edited by chazepping on 28/11/2012.
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camposol
What a sad outlook on life in Spain you have.
What has been done to you I ask?
y
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Yes have to agree that is a bit harsh. Go for it John if that is what you want to do then go ahead could be very interesting.
Patricia
This message was last edited by pat and roy on 28/11/2012.
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Camposol, et al,
Thank you for your replies, this is exactly the kind of feedback that I'm looking for to make the documentary both engaging and relatable to people with an ear to the ground.
Keep the suggestions coming!
John
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Loads of programmes made about Brits on urbanisations and in enclaves with Brit bars ,curry houses and chippies and seen enjoying constant bingo and karaoke nights. Suggest Instead you seek out the more unknown areas/ villages where Brits are living among the very friendly indigenous people. Might make those in UK ,who desire a tranquil and different lifestyle , realise that not all of Spain is as constantly portrayed by the media. Spain is not perfect....where is...but in recent years it has made leaps and bounds to encompass the 21st century.
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And the problem would be that there are already loads of such documentaries. Simply googling on the subject brings up loads, most asking for expats in trouble, those whose "dream" has gone sour, those who are homesick, those that, basically, the media can take the Mick out of and show "little Englanders" living on bacon and eggs and searching for a pint of English beer. In other words, totally ignoring the thousands upon thousands who have made the move and are actually enjoying themselves living a different way of life. But that doesn't make for good telly, though. People want to see other peoples problems, they want to see those who took out huge mortgages getting their comeuppance not people who are actually happy and enjoying themselves and made ample provision for themselves. "Loads of expats making a good life for themselves" is not a headline that sells in UK. "Expats forced home because of scrappy pound" does. Schadenfrereude may be a German word but the Brits have made it their own.
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Little England showing expat life in SW France is not full of bad news quite the opposite so showing the lighter side of life abroad is a format that can work.
This message was last edited by Poppyseed on 28/11/2012.
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Poppyseed
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Totally agree with Floella. The standard image, usually portrayed, is either people living on half-built urbanisations moaning about no water supply, or people living in luxury mountainside villas (built illegally) moaning because there's going to be a motorway out through their swimming pool. Go inland, talk to people just getting on with it, some running businesses, some not, many speaking the language, many whose friends are Spanish. There's a good chance this is the biggest group. Yet not portrayed. Not even by Camposol who purports to have classified us all into his sorry little groups.
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Blog about settling into a village house in the Axarquía. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/tamara.aspx
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No , Camposol's not harsh he is spot on. He might have left out the ones Tamaraessex refers to but the rest is correct.
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Poppyseed am sure you are right. It is time for the media image of the Brit in Spain ....in illegal builds or not....needs to be changed because with all the information available only an idiot relocating here now would suffer these problems. As it is the media have constantly portrayed those who did get conned in a less than favourable light...unless of course one lives in CDS ..where the portrayal of an over indulged lifestyle is just as ignorant. However non sensational headlines don't interest Joe public.
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I think it's pretty mean to classify people as idiots if they suffer problems when they relocate to Spain; if you do things in life, you come across problems. And even loads of planning can't protect you from that. Many people used what they thought were reputable lawyers; how would they know they weren't? And similar mistakes will be being made as we speak. I defy anyone to say they moved to Spain and faced no problems.
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My account of moving to Spain. http://www.eyeonspain.com/blogs/olives.aspx"><img
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Eggcup, seems you missed the word NOW after I had written the word "idiot". 10 years ago when I and many others thought of relocating to Spain there were sans mention via websites of problems purchasing a property which all assumed to be as secure as in UK. And why not. It would have been a rare person who didn't encounter at least a slight singeing of the fingers with many folk being completely engulfed in fire by rogue developers. Only the most cruel of people would declare them idiots. However now it is a completely different scenario. Masses of info and warnings both in the media and on the www so surely no-one but the most foolhardy would buy without all the correct paperwork intact .
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"do the members on this forum think that a documentary about UK expats living in Spain be good to watch?"
John: Absolutely - just go for it !!
Camposol: Interesting reading your comments below & fully respect thats how you feel based on your experience in Spain. Just a little curious to know if there is a category which you fall into ?
Cheers,
Harry
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My own unique category, of course, Harry!
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Yes, if you are going to make a documentary about folks that have relocated to Spain, do make it something like Little Britain. It's true we have seen many programmes telling us how easy it is to buy a place in Spain, how wonderful life can be OR how difficult life has been for some and how awful it has become for others over the past few years. I'd love to see a series of programmes showing expats who have integrated into Spanish communities and are living there happily now, even if they found it hard at first.
There must be a good selection of contented expats in Spain on this site to choose from....if you're looking for volunteers!
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Steady on maddiemack, hope you meant 'Little England' and not Little Britain (although it is the same narrator)!
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Poppyseed
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oooops! You're right, Poppyseed...I meant 'Little England'. My mistake....maybe it's because I'm from Scotland...och aye the noo...
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Totally agree with Floella. Many people have made a move to Spain for a more relaxed pace of life (for me, it was to see my child. Getting home at 10 pm at night after work and a demanding five year old didnt really work). Many of them have made successful careers, enjoy the Spanish culture, speak the language and have a very mixed base of friends. Others have come here to retire and are happy knowing that the weather is much better and Spain has a lot of wonderful experiences to offer. Not all professionals are dodgy, there are many very geunine business people here too. I would love to see a documentary on a more positive note. There are many feel-good documentaries about other holiday destinations and people settling there; why not here? A sort of one step further from A Place in the Sun where you see how people continued after they had taken the big step. Good luck John.
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