Official Language: Romanian; English and French are the main foreign languages
Currency: $1USD = 2.04 ROD (Romanian New Lei); Romania is expected to adopt the euro in 2014
Time Zone: GMT +2

The better part of Moonlighting's location reel is pretty standard stuff. As a Romanian electro banger booms on the soundtrack, beautiful alpine mountain vistas fade into quaint, medieval cobblestone laneways. One might assume the Bucharest-based production company wants to sell the city's tourist-friendly nickname, "the Paris of the east."

But toward the end of the reel, the sky fades from blue to grey and the music suddenly becomes ominous. Austere concrete domes, barren landscapes and Dracula's decrepit castles appear.

"Every service company is going to our white sand beaches and our alpine mountains. But the campaign I want to run is: we can make your film look like shit," says Moonlighting EP Christopher Landry. "You can shoot an ad with mom spreading butter on toast anywhere, but you have just as many ads with a creepy feel."

A specific creative angle will come in handy if costs continue to rise and Romania adopts the Euro in 2014. With so many producers happy to stay home when budgets permit, local prodcos can't rely on cheapness to lure foreign jobs forever.

For Scion's Hostel-inspired spot, "Surgery," directed by Outsider's James Rouse, Moonlighting found the crumbling basement of an abandoned hospital an ideal setting for a weirdo doctor to mould the heads of patients into squares.

A native of Massachusetts, Landry moved to Romania in 1999 and has watched the country become a popular production destination. The country has three major soundstages plus several smaller studios, which fill up in winter months with construction-heavy gigs.

Five years ago, American Civil War epic Cold Mountain substituted Romania for North Carolina, opening a floodgate. Concurrently, a new wave of Romanian films have started winning awards at festivals (including this year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days) in a local film boom that's boosted a tech-savvy infrastructure.

"In 2000, nothing was being shot here," says Mihai Gligor, project manager for Romanian Film Promotion, a non-profit dedicated to promoting the country's local film industry abroad and attracting foreign production dollars. "Now, many companies have had the chance to develop technically by working with Hollywood people and Romanian producers are investing their own money in local film."

Romania's entry into the EU this past January will likely increase costs, but membership has also streamlined bureaucracy, standardizing the country's paperwork procedures with those of London or Berlin. And depending on the script, Romania can lead to interesting savings. Landry says he once rented a whole symphony orchestra, paying each player $75 per day (tuxes included).

But while Partizan, Paris EP Frédéric Genest says Romanian crews have improved over the years, he prefers to stay close to home.

Genest decided to shoot Japanese director Nagi Noda's first European campaign in Bucharest for purely financial reasons. The client was Monoprix, a French supermarket chain that had never advertised on television and had no budget. The spots feature dancing bunnies transforming into creepy, rabbit-faced children and a woman with a giant eyeball for a head. Erecting and shooting on 1,000-square-foot sets would've cost 20% to 30% more in Prague and 50% more in Paris, says Genest.

"I shot [in Romania] five years ago and it was a nightmare. This time, it wasn't a nightmare, but it was difficult. It was very heavy construction with moving walls and big studios," he says. "It was not the usual method of construction - you feel they improvise a bit."

Genest brought in all department heads and talent from Paris and found the facilities very modern, but the work ethic somewhat frustrating - although the work got done and he's seen a marked improvement in the technical abilities of local crews.

So creatively, why shoot in Romania?

For Xbox 360 "Cops and Robbers," McCann Erickson, San Francisco needed a "generic-looking" European city suitable for a wild car chase. Berlin and Prague were attractive options architecturally, but ruled out for logistical reasons - shutting a major thoroughfare for five consecutive days is out of the question, meaning production would've taken place only on weekends.

Although vehicles had to be trucked in from outside the country and insuring a helicopter was a major feat, Romania was still the best option because the local authorities were willing to ignore permitting and shut the street Friday to Tuesday, says Matthew Winks, an EP at McCann.

"At 5pm I asked the line producer what time we were supposed to be off the street and she said 11am," he says. "I don't know if money changed hands but the police were very agreeable. If you look at the sheer fact that you can shut the street for five days in a row rather than stretch it out over a few weeks, it saves money."

A tight budget also led Outsider to shoot "Surgery" in Bucharest. "To be honest, we could've found that location anywhere," says Outsider, LA EP Jonathan Ker. "That budget was very challenging and we had to fit a lot in."

In the end, Romania's decrepit vibe benefited the creative. To add a foreign horror flavor, Rouse cast all Romanian actors (who speak Romanian in the spot). All of the prosthetics were created in LA and flown to Bucharest, but the art director was Romanian and all the props and square-head casings were locally made. The only foreign crew was the DP and director.

When Outsider pitched Romania, the creatives at San Francisco's ATTIK were surprised. Senior producer Michele Morris thought the country a tad far-flung, but felt it best suited to the creative. "It was a little slow-going but you can deal with that when you've got fabulous film," she says. "I would definitely go back if the location really called for it and we had a tight budget. You really have to determine what's best for the creative - it's a long trip."

Cost comparison
Bucharest is an inexpensive place to shoot a TV commercial these days, especially for European productions. Over the past few years, American producers facing budget crunches have set their sights on the Romanian capital for both location and studio jobs, so we tracked down EPs in Bucharest and LA to find exactly how much money they're saving on some basic production costs.

DAY RATE FOR PRINCIPAL TALENT
Bucharest: Between $270 and $800 per 12-hour day
Los Angeles: $567.10

DAY RATE FOR A GAFFER/ELECTRICAN
Bucharest: $150 / $75
Los Angeles: $600 / $450-$500

SHUTTING DOWN A STREET
Bucharest: The cost varies, but roughly $300 per day. Permit procurement process is longer than in the United States.
Los Angeles: $2,222 total to cover your application fee, the street closure fee ($312), the film permit office service fees and two cops ($50 per hour, minimum eight-hour day plus one-hour travel, double after 12 hours and time and a half on weekends). Barricades cost $900 to $1,700 depending on the company.

HOURLY RATE FOR A HELICOPTER
Bucharest: $1,250, inclusive of fuel, insurance and pilot.
Los Angeles: $1,500 - $2,000

STUDIO RATE FOR A DAY
Bucharest: Negotiable, but generally $1,340 or $670 for prep/build/strike.
Los Angeles: $1,200 - $10,000

PICK-UP TRUCK RENTAL FOR A DAY
Bucharest: Pick-ups are hard to come by in Romania.
Los Angeles: $100

35 MM FILM PROCESSING
Bucharest: Kodak Cinelabs Romania charges 26¢ per foot and a one-light transfer is 19¢ per foot.
Los Angeles: 55¢ per foot and a one light transfer is 33¢ per foot.

sources:
Moonlighting Films, MOO Studios, Kommitted Films, SAG, Film Permits Unlimited, Inc.

McCann Erickson, San Francisco http://www.mccannsf.com
Moonlighting http://www.moonlighting.tv
Partizan Paris http://www.partizan.com
Outsider http://www.outsider.tv
ATTIK http://www.attik.com