Toronto poised to edge N.Y. City in film, TV production

 

By BARRY BROWN
News Toronto Bureau
4/9/2002

 

TORONTO - With two new, huge film production studios set to open in the next year or so, Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman said he hopes to see the city, now the third-largest film and TV production center in North America, edge out New York City for the No. 2 spot.

"Thanks to Hollywood, Toronto now ranks third," he said. "I'd like to see us climb to second."

Lastman made his remark at a news conference to announce that Studios of America Corp. signed a 30-year lease for an old power-generating station and half its grounds, and planned to turn it into a major film stage.

"Had this building been available (at the time), a film like "Titanic' could have been entirely filmed here," said Paul Vaughn, the company's president and chief executive officer. In fact, he said, the new facility will have "one room that is twice the size of the world's largest film stage."

The deal for half the site's 62 acres and all of its 270,000-square-foot plant comes just two months after Lastman announced a $94 million (U.S.) deal with Britain's Pinewood Shepperton Studios to build up to 1 million square feet of state-of-the-art film studios, sound stages, post-production and other film and television facilities on a piece of land just one mile east of the power plant site.

Pinewood is the company behind box office blockbusters such as 1988's "Batman," "The Mummy Returns" and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." The 20th James Bond film - starring Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike - is now in production at Pinewood.

Lastman and Ontario Premier Mike Harris flew to Los Angeles this weekend for a reception at the Canadian consulate there and to thank the Motion Picture Association of America for opposing efforts in California to financially penalize American films made in Canada. Proponents of the penalty scheme said so-called runaway production in Canada is costing the United States $10 billion a year in lost revenue.

While not all of that money is lost to Toronto, production here - including foreign and domestic sources - jumped from more than $440 million (U.S.) in 1998, to an all-time high of more than $830 million in 2000. Of that, about $360 million was from American productions.

As part of the effort to draw more film production to the city and province, Harris announced that foreign producers will now be able to claim 85 percent of their estimated tax credits within six weeks of filing their claim, instead of waiting for up to two years for their rebate.

Lastman added to this by announcing that Toronto had streamlined its permit operations to provide one-stop shopping for companies.

"That's why we are making this trip, to inform our American friends how important it is to locate in Ontario. That's why we've accelerated the tax rebate and why we're working to provide larger studio space," said Harris spokesman Rui Brum.