STI tests before a shoot
Almost every production asks for recent tests, and you should be able to see the ones from everyone else on the shoot. Here is the usual panel, the timing, and where to get tested without paying.
The panel they ask for
The usual panel in Spain covers HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and hepatitis C, plus chlamydia and gonorrhoea. Those last two are tested in urine and in the throat, and the throat is the part most often forgotten.
The throat swab has to be asked for explicitly. Many places do not do it by default, and a large share of chlamydia and gonorrhoea infections are pharyngeal and cause no symptoms. A test without that swab is incomplete for a shoot.
If you are told the throat swab is not needed, ask for it anyway. It costs the same and it is the one that matters most here.
When to get tested
The industry standard is tests less than fourteen days old on the day of the shoot. Some productions accept up to thirty, and others ask for less than seven.
Count backwards from the shoot date and leave room for the results, which in the public health system can take several days. Booking an appointment a week ahead is what avoids the classic problem: tests done, results still not in.
Where to get tested for free
The Spanish public health system offers free, anonymous STI testing, and several of these centres ask for no health card:
- Valencia: CIPS, appointments by phone on 900 70 20 20.
- Barcelona: Drassanes Exprés, booking online at vhc.cat/pacientsdrassanes. Appointments open at 19.00, Monday to Friday. When you book, tick “no symptoms” and answer “yes” to sex worker: that is what gets the throat swab included.
- Madrid: Centro Sandoval, calle Sandoval 7, no appointment needed.
If you cannot get an appointment in time, private labs run the full panel for a little over a hundred euros, with results in four to six working days and centres in all three cities. Ask for the throat swab explicitly, because it is not always part of the standard package.
Your results are yours
A medical test result is health data, the most protected category under the General Data Protection Regulation. Whoever receives it cannot keep it on file indefinitely or pass it on to anyone else.
In practice, what you do is show them: you show yours to the production on the day of the shoot, and they show you the ones from everyone else. IZZ does not store your tests and does not look at them, and you never need to send them to us.
If someone asks you to send your results over a messaging app before a shoot has even been agreed, the right question is what they want them for.
It works both ways
The part that sometimes gets forgotten: you also have the right to see the tests of everyone else who will be in the scene, as recent as your own.
Asking is not distrust. It is exactly the same step being asked of you, and a serious production has it ready and organised before you bring it up. If the request makes anyone uncomfortable, you have learned something important about how things work there.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for the tests?
In the public health system they are free. If you go to a private lab, the cost is usually yours, unless you agree otherwise with the production before the shoot.
How long do test results stay valid?
The most widespread standard is fourteen days, though each production company sets its own. Ask when you agree the date, not the week before.
Do I have to send my results to the agency?
No. IZZ does not ask for your tests, does not store them and does not look at them. You show them directly to the production on the day of the shoot.
Can I ask to see the tests of the other people on the shoot?
Yes, and you always should. It is the same requirement that applies to you, and a serious production has it settled in advance.