Woody Allen's Madrid Romantic Comedy WASP 2026 Sets October Production Start with €12M Budget

Woody Allen is heading back to Europe. His next feature, currently in pre-production under the working title WASP 2026 (shorthand for Woody Allen Spring Project 2026), is set to begin principal photography on October 5 in Madrid, Spain, giving crew and department heads a clear window to pursue what is shaping up to be one of the more distinctive European location shoots of the coming year. With a budget estimated at €12 million and cameras rolling in under seven months, staffing on this production is likely moving now.

Allen, now in his late eighties, remains one of the most prolific writer-directors in the history of American cinema, with a career stretching from Annie Hall and Manhattan through his celebrated run of European-set pictures including Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Midnight in Paris, and To Rome with Love. That run of location-driven ensemble romantic comedies is the clearest creative antecedent for WASP 2026, which is described as an ensemble romantic comedy set entirely within Madrid and the surrounding region. Plot details and casting have not been announced, but the ensemble format Allen favors typically calls for a mid-to-large cast of character-driven roles, which means casting activity should be expected to ramp up in the months ahead. Allen writes and directs his own material, so the script is presumed complete or near-complete given the confirmed October start.

The production is structured as a co-production between three companies: Wanda Visión, a Madrid-based production and distribution company with deep roots in Spanish cinema and television; Gravier Productions, Allen's longtime New York-based production shingle that has backed virtually every Allen film in recent decades; and 3SIX9 Studios, a Puerto Rico-based production company that brings additional co-production infrastructure to the arrangement. Public financing from the Madrid Regional Government and the Madrid City Council together contributes €3 million of the estimated €12 million budget. That public funding comes with contractual obligations: the final release title must include the word Madrid, and at least 15 percent of scenes must be shot on exterior locations in ways that keep the city architecturally and culturally recognizable on screen. The result is a production that is as much a showcase for Madrid as it is a personal film, a dynamic that shaped Allen's best work in Paris and Barcelona and clearly appealed to both the filmmaker and his Spanish partners here.

For crew based in Spain or with European co-production experience, this is the most directly actionable detail in this report: the film shoots entirely in Madrid and the surrounding region, with post-production split between Madrid and New York. That structure strongly suggests a locally-based crew in Spain for principal photography, with Allen's customary New York collaborators likely involved in post. Madrid has a well-established film infrastructure, with experienced local crew across most departments and a thriving locations ecosystem that has supported major international productions in recent years. The exterior shooting requirement, at a minimum of 15 percent of scenes, signals meaningful work for the locations department, particularly in identifying and securing permits for Madrid's architecturally distinctive neighborhoods, plazas, and landmarks. Art department, costume, and production design teams with a feel for contemporary European urban settings will be well-suited to this project's aesthetic needs.

At €12 million, this sits comfortably in the mid-budget prestige feature range for a European co-production, a scale that supports full department staffing without the sprawl of a studio tentpole. Allen's productions are famously lean and efficiently run. His working style, developed over decades of low-overhead New York filmmaking, tends toward small, trusted crews, natural light where possible, and a pace that keeps the shoot moving. That said, the Madrid exterior requirements and the ensemble cast will demand a well-organized locations and production team capable of managing a city shoot across diverse urban settings. Crew familiar with coordinating exterior work in dense European capitals will find their skills directly applicable here.

For the full production listing, including contact information, office addresses in Madrid, confirmed crew attachments as they are announced, and schedule updates as October approaches, readers should check the complete WASP 2026 listing on ProductionList.com. Department heads and crew members with European co-production credits, Spanish-language fluency, or experience on Allen's previous location-based features should consider this a priority listing to follow closely. The October 5 start date is confirmed, and pre-production timelines on Allen projects tend to move deliberately but without much slack. This is a production worth getting in front of now.

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