Producers first, a studio second
Globalstrand began in 2017 as two freelance producers with a shared spreadsheet of Chișinău locations and the phone numbers that open them. The halls came two years later, when clients kept asking where to shoot on the rainy days.
The table by the window on the second floor
Most of the work happens at one long table before anyone picks up a camera. Location prints, the storyboard if there is one, and a paper calendar that we still trust more than the shared one, because you can see a whole fortnight at a glance and nobody can move a shoot without walking over to it.
We are a small permanent team and a larger circle of freelancers we have worked with for years: gaffers, stylists, two directors, a sound recordist who lives in Durlești and is never late. The permanent team decides who is right for each brief and stays with it from the first call to the last file.
We work in Romanian, Russian and English, and write call sheets in whichever language the crew reads fastest.
Who answers the phone on Uzinelor
Five people in the building full time. When you send a brief, one of the first two calls you back.
- Doina RusuHead of production
Co-founder. Runs the calendar, the permits and the budget. Has a direct line to most of the mayoralties within an hour of the city.
- Andrei CebanProducer
Co-founder. Takes the film briefs and the ones that cross the border. Before Globalstrand, six years as a line producer on co-productions shot in Moldova.
- Cristina LunguLocations and recce
Keeps the location library, now 1,284 places with photos, sun notes and a contact for each.
- Victor PopaStudio manager
Halls, the cage, the building, deliveries. Will help you load the van whether or not it is in the contract.
- Irina BotnariGrade and retouch
Runs the finishing room. Colourist on most of our film work and the retouch lead on stills.
One estimate, in lei, with VAT on its own line and every hour of planning written down rather than hidden in a day rate.
If a job changes, you get a revised estimate before anyone does the extra work. Payment is half on confirmation and half within fourteen days of delivery.
Ring Doina or Andrei about the next job.
Tell them the date you need to deliver by. They will work backwards from there.