Filmport

[metroboi_nay]

Toronto's film/sound stages

http://www.filmport.ca/

To see the live webcam go to, 4 Vision - Progress - Webcam
To see the photo updates go to, 4 Vision - Progress - Photo Board

Photo updates as of July 27 2007

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5014/fp1vk0.th.jpg (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fp1vk0.jpg)

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/6731/fp2rp1.th.jpg (http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fp2rp1.jpg)

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/2341/fp3ce2.th.jpg (http://img524.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fp3ce2.jpg)

*sorry for starting a new thread if there is one already, I tried searching but its down apprently*

[Taller, Better]

I'm happy to see this thread!! Thanks for making it as I want to keep an eye on this development! :)

[metroboi_nay]

I'm happy to see this thread!! Thanks for making it as I want to keep an eye on this development! :)

Thanks Taller, Better :) I've been looking forward to this since I heard the announcement years ago, i'm glad it's lifting off :)

[Dino Domingo]

I'm just happy to know it's well under constuction!

[Wrk_InProgress]

Will Alsop's red cheese grater be the last building built for this phase ?

[ericeric]

"Why it's positively cranetacular!"
There's a new video on filmport.ca by the way, it's pretty funny.
I'm quite excited for this to be completed. Hopefully it will encourage more Canadian films with Canadian actors where, in the film, you can actually see something distinctly Canadian in it, instead of how these things are usually hidden. Or we can just continue to steal American jobs with unfair subsidies, whatever works.

[Taller, Better]

"Or we can just continue to steal American jobs with unfair subsidies, whatever works."



1988 is on the phone.. they want to explain the Canada-USA free-trade pact! :D "Unfair
Subsidies" are the norm everywhere .. not only North America, but Australia and the rest of the
free world.

[ericeric]

True, which is why the American government should offer similar subsidies for their film industry. Canada would be royally f*cked if that ever happened. It'd be just what we deserve though. Then maybe we'd actually start making Canadian movies and releasing them for the Canadian public (what a crazy idea)

[Taller, Better]

True, which is why the American government should offer similar subsidies for their film industry. Canada would be royally f*cked if that ever happened. It'd be just what we deserve though. Then maybe we'd actually start making Canadian movies and releasing them for the Canadian public (what a crazy idea)


?? what do you mean? American states and cities have been offering similar subsidies for years! Were you under the impression that they don't offer such things in Los Angeles? Canadians do make Canadian movies and release them for the Canadian public. I make an effort to see them.
I don't understand why Canadians don't have a right to be part of filming a movie if it originates in another country. We would never have these huge studios being built now if it weren't for the business created in the past from international films.

[ericeric]

The subsidies in Canada are still better, although in LA they're apparently throwing more money at movie makers in desperation (not that the film business in LA is declining in the least).
And how many Canadian films are there in mainstream theatres? Eastern Promises has a Canadian director... that's about it.

[Taller, Better]

There are films made by Canadians, about Canada, and there are films made by Torontonians about Toronto. I figure if anyone is truly interested in such films they would have gone to their local rental shop and taken some out. Truth is, most people are more interested in going to see the American films shot here (the ones that we apparently don't deserve to get the filming jobs for) and thus don't know about the home-grown stuff. Until everyone who says they are interested in Canadian films actually starts watching them.... they won't be in the "mainstream" theatres. No mystery about that one.

[bigcityboy]

i'm actually just finishing post-production on an hour-long documentary about the english-language canadian film industry. in making the doc, i travelled across canada, from halifax to vancouver, interviewing canadians on the street about their knowledge of and thoughts on the canadian film industry. their answers were suprisingly consistent and often humourous.

here's what i learned:

* canadians say they like canadian english-language movies.

* but, with rare exception, most canadians can't name one single canadian english-language movie (or french one for that matter - outside of quebec).

* canadians can't name one single canadian film star (jim carrey, mike myers, don't count - they make their movies stateside).

* canadians don't know what the award for achievement in canadian film is called. and that's even when given the choice of genie, juno or gemini.

* canadians can't name one canadian best picture from the past decade.

* and what's worse, once i told them what won best picture, most people admitted to never having heard of the film.

after returning home from my on-the-street interviews, i proceeded to interview film professionals from every facet of the film industry (from exhibitors to actors) to find out why things are the way they are and try and come up with some solutions to improve things. there was a lot of finger pointing, but in the end, it seems to come down to one thing: for the most part, canadians aren't making movies that excite the general public. compound that with the fact that we aren't particularly good at promotion and you've got trouble.

so, although having a kick ass state-of-the-art studio in town is going to be great for the economy, it really won't make a difference to the quality of canadian films. we'll likely just end up renting the studio to build a rural cottage setting and make a movie about incestuous, suicidal twins who were touched by their uncle.

[Taller, Better]

People are missing the point. Having production of foreign films provides the depth of technicians, studios, soundstages, actors, dancers, etc... that the city otherwise would not have. No, a huge studio is not automatically going to switch all films made here into local stories, and it is most definitely not going to convince people to make the effort to support their local film makers. Easier for people to just complain that no films get made here other than Hollywood blockbusters (which everyone does make an effort to see).

[isaidso]

Canadians don't want Canadian films they want good Canadian films. We now have the talent. What the past 20 years of Hollywood production in Toronto and Vancouver has accomplished is lay a very strong foundation on which to attain that final allusive goal: a big, strong, successful, influential, indigenous film industry.

We are now at the tipping point. Do we evolve to that final stage, or stagnate? Why are Canadian stories still being set in the USA? My Big Fat Greek Wedding was a Winnipeg story, by a Canadian comedian who took on the lead roll, yet was still set in an American city. SuperBad? Why is this being set in Hawaii instead of BC? Americans will go to see these movies. They aren't suddenly going to warn others to stay away when half way through the movie they realize it's BC and not somewhere in the States. That this still happens shows that there is still a psychological barrier where people believe you have to Americanize things to make it appealing.

Where a movie is set isn't all that important in the end, but it does point to barriers that still exist. What is more important is where the financing comes from. Movies that are fianced by American studios are going to be American movies. We need domestic studios that have the wealth and distribution deals to finance domestic film.

Here in lies the biggest hurdle. Distribution. You can produce the best films on the planet, but if your competition own all the cinemas, no one will ever see them until they go to video. The cinema monopolies need to be broken. The Americans have that industry entirely locked up. Do you think they want competition from Canadian film? Of course not. So they won't ever show them.

[bigcityboy]

What you're talking about is Exhibition, not Distribution. Distributors (distribs) buy movies from producers and try to convince exhibitors to give them screens. And yes, there is a lot of US ownership of our exhibition industry. Still, exhibitors are profit driven. They want bums in seats and I really don't think they care who provides the content - US, UK, Canada - it's all the same to them. But the way an exhibitor decides who gets what screens and how many comes down to 2 things:

1) Their assessment of the potential of a film to cross over to an audience.

2) The potential of the distribs proposed advertising campaign.

And Canadian films often fail on both accounts.

Not only do we not make movies that excite the general public, but when we do happen to make something with wide appeal, Canadian distribs are loathe to provide the funds for an engaging and/or far reaching ad campaign. So what happens? Exhibitors don't give them the best screens and the films ultimately have a poor theatrical run. There are plenty of financial incentives for distributors to spend more on P&A (prints & advertising) from Telefilm (Canada's federal film funding agency), but they don't want to eat into their greatest profit generator - guaranteed TV revenue. There has been talk of taking TV revenue out of distribs hands to push them to spend more on the theatrical release, but the worry is that if they did that distribs would simply take less Canadian films.

[Taller, Better]

Two words.
Monkey. Warfare.

go rent it. And then... explore some more Canadian films.
They are not all about boys being diddled in Come-by-Chance
by a cousin's uncle in league with the priest.
If you still don't like any of them, come back! :)

[isaidso]

Aren't the distribution channels operated by the big US studios? They might not own them all, but they are certainly the ones pulling the strings. Same goes for exhibitors.

I've watched too many Canadian films that would have wide appeal relegated to a few screens to believe that the only problem is Canadian marketing. It is part of the problem, but so are monopolies that exist. If true competition existed at all stages, these films would get seen.

Something isn't working. They need to sort it out or be slapped with minimum content requirements at cinemas like the music industry faced on radio. Canadian music needed the leg up, and only 10-15 years later, established itself to the point where it can stand on its own feet. Film probably needs the same medicine whether Hollywood likes it or not. They are in no position to complain, we spend a ridiculous amount of money buying their product. Beverley Hills looks nice because we helped to pay for it.

[Taller, Better]

Alliance is organizing itself now to become a major force in distribution in Canada.

[rise_against]

I think CHUM should make more movies. They have the money and infastructure to put out major films. They put out that awful teen movie a few years back but it was on the level of all the other teen movies from the states and National Lampoon picked it up in the States to show it there.

[Canadian Chocho]

I think CHUM should make more movies. They have the money and infastructure to put out major films. They put out that awful teen movie a few years back but it was on the level of all the other teen movies from the states and National Lampoon picked it up in the States to show it there.

Going The Distance? Hey, that was aweful, but it was funny too.

[noob(but not really)]

Kenny and Spenny should make a movie.

[bigcityboy]

the debate as to what kind of films canadians should fund often comes down to culture vs commerce.

canadian english-language movies accounted for 1.1% of our domestic box-office last year - down from 1.6% the year before. and dvd sales are equally pathetic. so the debate as to whether or not we should continue to fund culturally significant films doesn't make sense to me because these numbers prove there's no real cultural impact. how can there be when our movies simply aren't getting seen by canadians?

you could advertise the shit out of monkey warfare, flower and garnett and new waterford girl (all examples of pretty well reviewed canadian films that were competently produced), but they are not the type of films that will ever attract a wide audience. even if they were made in the US and had major US talent in them, they're simply arthouse movies along the lines of say squid and the whale.

in order to attract wide audiences we have to make genre films: comedies, thrillers, horrors, etc. now of course, you bring this up and people start bashing genre films as commercial pieces of shit we shouldn't even want to make. but is it so wrong to want to make films like the full monty, shallow grave or high tension (haute tension)? those movies all come from countries that are almost as equally inundated with hollywood product and have the same issue when it comes to lack of promotional dollars. but the movies found a way to succeed against all odds. mainly because they were quality films. and i would say, in being regionally specific and finding a wide audience both domestically and internationally, these films attain a higher level of "cultural significance" than any film we make here in canada.

if we're using tax dollars from every canadian taxpayer to fund canadian movies, shouldn't we be trying to make movies that every canadian taxpayer wants to see? not just urban arthouse theatre-goers. and the profits from one full monty would be able to fund the production of a multitude of other so-called culturally significant canadian films.

[Taller, Better]

There is no problem with people making trashy pictures, if they want. There is a market for them. Anyone thinking the much publicized (relative) success of Quebec films is based on "art films" is hugely mistaken. I disapprove strongly of any government system that would set itself up to only fund one type of film; that smacks of Kim Jong Il. Let the marketplace decide and put some funding into film schools. I certainly don't think we should mandate low brow and eliminate thinking films. Personally I'd rather see one Monkey Warfare than ten Porky's.

[bigcityboy]

Thank God it's still on track. This could have been very bad for the biz.

From Today's Star:

Enbridge deal with Hydro puts studio back on track

Jurisdictional dispute threatened to postpone Filmport's curtain rise
Tony Wong
Business Reporter

Toronto's long anticipated megafilm studio is back on track to be completed in time for next spring.

A jurisdictional dispute between utilities Toronto Hydro and Enbridge Gas Distribution had threatened to delay the opening of the studio and place the already struggling Ontario film industry on precarious ground.

Hydro is installing power lines in the 12-hectare Filmport complex – which features the largest soundstage in North America – in the portlands area.

But Enbridge is also contracted to run a natural gas pipeline in the area for the Portlands Energy Centre, a gas-fired power plant at the foot of Leslie St.

Toronto Hydro workers were to have left the area last week, which would have meant the studio would have been delayed for two months or more, resulting in a potential loss to the city in the millions of dollars.

But a deal between the two utilities means Hydro will be allowed to finish its work. Filmport's first soundstages are expected to be completed by March.

"Everything's been settled and on track," said Enbridge spokesperson Debbie Boukydis.

Under the terms of an agreement worked out by both sides, Enbridge will move into the area on Oct. 18 for preliminary work. At the same time, Hydro will be allowed to complete their work until Oct. 25.

Hydro spokesperson Tanya Bruckmueller said the utility should be able to fully complete the work by that time.

The delay would not have been a welcome one, particularly since the industry has been hobbled by a loonie that has flown above the U.S. dollar, eradicating any competitive cost advantage.

A possible strike by the Screen Actors Guild by next year would shut down production in the summer, so studios are booked solid as producers try to put as much in the pipeline as possible.

"We're quite pleased that everyone has worked things out, and it appears that Hydro should be able to keep up their schedule," said Filmport partner Ken Ferguson.

"The issue for us was to keep Hydro working. If they had stopped, it would have meant no power to the buildings especially during the winter period when we needed it most to continue construction."

Ferguson estimates that the average big studio film spends about $1.5 million to $2 million renting space when they book with his company. In addition to direct costs, the city estimates the economic impact is 2.5 times greater as studios and stars spend money in the city.

Toronto-Danforth MPP Peter Tabuns, a long-time supporter of the film industry, said the compromise was good news.

"This is fabulous news for the film industry," Tabuns said. "If this hadn't been resolved it would have been a disaster for the city."

[DrT]

bigcityboy
.....the debate as to what kind of films canadians should fund often comes down to culture vs commerce.

There should be no debate. As far as I am concerned, government has no business being in the movie business. Period.
Take my tax dollars and then use them to "entertain me". No thanks. I'll find and pay for my own entertainment.
"Culture". Who the heck decides what culture is. You want your government to do that for you.

T,B .........that smacks of Kim Jong Il.
Exactly right.

[Taller, Better]

I have no problem with the government supporting the arts; none whatsoever. I just don't think the government should dictate to the arts what they should be saying, as is the habit of Mr. Kim Jong Il.
In this case the government is helping an industry survive... an industry that supplies many local jobs.
This is what governments all around the world do, including the US.

[DrT]

I have no problem with the government supporting the arts; none whatsoever. I just don't think the government should dictate to the arts what they should be saying, as is the habit of Mr. Kim Jong Il.

I would agree with you if the theory could be perfectly applied in the real world, but, you know the Golden Rule, "he that has the gold, makes the rules" and in some form or fashion, if the government is doling out money, they WILL make rules as to what is acceptable and unacceptable, and they will also choose WHICH groups or individuals to fund, which is defacto control of what "art" gets produced.

[globetrekker]

Any new updates/photos? :)

[Taller, Better]

Good question.. I'm thirsting for information and updates.

[bar1967]

They are getting ready to install the windows.

[b13]

any pictures???

[KGB]

I would agree with you if the theory could be perfectly applied in the real world, but, you know the Golden Rule, "he that has the gold, makes the rules" and in some form or fashion, if the government is doling out money, they WILL make rules as to what is acceptable and unacceptable, and they will also choose WHICH groups or individuals to fund, which is defacto control of what "art" gets produced.

Well, the alternative is to just let "big business" decide what gets done...and I can tell you, they don't care about artistic merit...they only care about money, and are extremely good at convincing the general public to consume their garbage.

Sorry, but the "gov't" is "the people", and as such, at least have "some" motivation to support quality and diversity, rather than line the pockets of share holders. The government supplies a buffer between you, the dumb, gullable consumer, and the corporations that are more than happy turning you into a pod to make a buck.

That's why we have to support the "arts". Luckily, it isn't just government subsidies that the arts rely on, there are still private people and companies that still regard quality as important...just not the majority of them.


More on topic....I just can't help sqirming about all the fuss down in our future downtown waterfront revolving around industrial issues. It was industry that stole our waterfront away from us over a century ago, and it will be industry that will hamper it's recovery. Why is it that the simplist rules are the ones hardest to learn?




KGB

[Dev.z]

Kenny and Spenny should make a movie.

That show, in my opinion, is terrible. It is scripted, and I can tell because they're such horrible actors. That's usually the kind of humour I would like but the ideas are too stupid and unoriginal and both guys are such babies. A Kenny and Spenny movie would only take the lameness of the show and multiply it.

[ScrapeTheSky]

Sorry, but the "gov't" is "the people", and as such, at least have "some" motivation to support quality and diversity, rather than line the pockets of share holders. The government supplies a buffer between you, the dumb, gullable consumer, and the corporations that are more than happy turning you into a pod to make a buck.

I agree with you. The government might be somewhat corrupt at times, but we live in a democracy and they do look out for their citizens to a degree. You can be sure private corporations certainly aren't. That's why corporations bankrolling elections is so dangerous.

[KGB]

The government might be somewhat corrupt at times, but we live in a democracy and they do look out for their citizens to a degree.


Yea, but funding of the "arts" is really just an admin function, rather than an area of politcal corruption. Governments must by mandate, spend a certain amount of money on the "arts", in the interest of the general public (just like health and education), and this is not done by carreer politicians, but commitees of dedicated "arts" people.

At least we have managed to create a government structure which protects us from being totally consumed by corporate greed...a bit of a losing battle, but one worth fighting anyway.





KGB

[zerokarma]

Any recent pictures?

[globetrekker]

The first phase is supposedly going to be finished this year. Does the first phase include....What does the first phase include?! How many soundstages will be completed in the first phase? Does it also include production offices and that Alsop building? What will the Alsop building house? Oh, and is the orange funky rendering the final one? I actually like it. Any new pix?

[Taller, Better]

I've been thirsting for information, and there was a veritable tidal-wave of it in yesterday's Globe and Mail!! link to story:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080223.FILMPORT23/TPStory/?query=welcome+to+t.o.llywood



FILMPORT A NEW HOPE

WELCOME TO T.O.LLYWOOD

It may still look like a wintry wasteland, but Toronto's one-stop-shopping movie factory is set to be operational next month. Despite productions leaving the city and the dollar at par, the badly timed $700-million project may still see a happy ending. Jason McBride reports

JASON MCBRIDE

Special to The Globe and Mail

February 23, 2008

Hung from the fences surrounding Filmport, Toronto's film megastudio that has been a decade in the making, are signs emblazoned with an optimistic tagline: "Now in Production." On this wintry day in early February, however, the massive industrial site in the eastern Port Lands looks less like a dream factory than the silent surface of the moon. Snow-covered backhoes and booms sit as idle as playground equipment. A trio of workers roams the grounds, muttering into cellphones. Only a couple of forbidding grey bunkers, each the size of a couple of football fields - sound studios, as it turns out - appear finished. A glass-fronted, four-storey production office is halfway there, its insulation and steel beams still exposed. A dozen other concrete buttresses poke out of the snow. The entire spectacle would inspire only the most imaginative budding Bergman.

But imagination - not to mention great reserves of patience and very deep pockets - is precisely what has brought Filmport to this point. Toronto's film and television industry has long dreamed of such a project - a state-of-the-art studio complex where production companies from all over the world can come to rent out space, surrounded by restaurants, a skating rink, movie screens and other public attractions that make it a self-contained mini-city not unlike Universal Studios. Indeed, Filmport may be the one-stop shop that will finally make the dubious appellation Hollywood North feel entirely earned.

Filmport's timing, of course, has not been exactly fortuitous. At its height in 2000, the film industry spent $1.3-billion filming in Toronto; in 2006, according to the Toronto Film and Television Office, that number dropped to a heart-stopping $700-million. Just as Filmport construction began last fall, the city issued the clumsily titled document Bounce Back to Fast Forward, a strategic plan "to correct the current disastrous state of the industry." That same month, the dollar hit parity. And, in November, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, jeopardizing yet another summer of shooting. While that strike ended just in time for the Oscars, the possibility of a June strike by the Screen Actors Guild still looms.

But in such an unfriendly climate, Filmport and Toronto Film Studios president Ken Ferguson maintains that the city still has an edge in an extremely competitive industry, one that only needs a home like Filmport to be capitalized on. "What we have in Toronto," he says, "is our really deep bench strength. The unions here are second to none. We have one of the largest acting pools outside of L.A. We have Deluxe and Technicolor, two major post-production houses here, who are able to do world-class stuff. It'll take any other place 20 years to build up the expertise that we have in Toronto, expertise that we're not utilizing."
Print Edition - Section Front

Section M Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail

lights, camera ... action?

A megastudio for Toronto has been a long time coming. Over the past decade and more, similar projects (Cinevillage, the Image Factory, a Mike Harris-led deal with U.S. film company Studios of America) have been squandered or abandoned. Filmport, a union of Toronto Film Studios, its parent company, the Rose Corporation, and Paul Bronfman's Comweb Group - owner of William F. White International, one of the world's largest film-equipment suppliers - finally broke ground last September on brownfield lands leased from the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO) east of the Don River and south of Lake Shore Boulevard. The first phase of the development - comprising seven sound stages - is scheduled to be operational by the end of next month.

But given the current challenges, Mr. Ferguson isn't quite ready to celebrate. Slim and soft-spoken, the former engineer and real-estate developer has a slightly embattled air - no surprise, given the vexing decade he has spent lobbying, agitating and planning for this moment. In 1998, Toronto Film Studios turned moribund warehouse space on Eastern Avenue into what became temporarily the country's largest film studio. The company acquired the adjacent Alliance Atlantis Cinevillage building in 2003; current tenants include CBC's The Border and Rhombus Media's adaptation of José Saramago's Blindness. Now, Toronto Film Studios will become the anchor tenant in what Mr. Ferguson calls "the Filmport community."

"We're excited, but a little apprehensive," he says in the company's tasteful boardroom on Eastern Avenue, surrounded by dozens of architectural renderings and maps. While Filmport will open its doors this spring, Mr. Ferguson is unwilling to name any specific shows that have booked space. (A paltry half-dozen foreign productions are currently shooting in the city.) "The strike made things a little quiet around Hollywood," he says. "Everyone's just hedging their bets now."

Continued from Page 1…

Peter Finestone, the city's acting film commissioner, whose office produced the strategic plan, is somewhat more sanguine. "I'm always optimistic," he says of the current climate. "It's been hard for lots of people. But we're well positioned. If we continue to do what we do well - make great movies - things will eventually shake out."

Once Filmport's utopian renderings become a reality - construction should be complete by 2018 - the complex will boast some staggering stats: Occupying a 50-acre site in total, the Studio Lot, as it's called, will comprise 550,000 square feet of production facilities, including more than a dozen sound stages, office space, wardrobe houses, prop shops, a commissary and numerous other amenities. The Studio Lot will be complemented by a Commercial Campus featuring everything else a movie or TV show production might require, from editing bays to daycare - and, eventually, a whole range of other attractions: restaurants and bars, a boutique hotel, even a Canadian Cinematic Hall of Fame.

Late last summer, Filmport excitedly announced that Will Alsop, the architectural brains behind the Ontario College of Art & Design's Sharp Centre, would be designing a new building for the complex's main gate - the mothership, perhaps - a multi-use, 11-storey edifice scheduled to open in 2010, its flowing red glass-curtain wall inspired by the tankers that once sailed through these channels. And then, this January, Deluxe, the city's foremost post-production facility, announced that it would move its headquarters into Filmport, also in 2010.

According to Mr. Ferguson, the project will create a total of three million square feet of building space, the largest such enterprise in North America outside L.A. And the fact that large portions of Filmport will be open to the public makes it a complete package that places like Rome's famed Cinecitta Studios or many other Hollywood lots can't duplicate. "It'll really be a Dundas Square-type environment," Mr. Ferguson says. On the company's maps, the current Don Roadway has been renamed Filmport Boulevard.
Print Edition - Section Front

Section M Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail

combating pessimism

and controversy

The city has weathered production-crippling storms before - 9/11, SARS, West Nile - but Mr. Ferguson stresses that the film industry now needs to significantly change the way it does business. Without the incentive of a low dollar or cheap, plentiful warehouse space (consumed by condo development) and with competition from all over North America - everywhere from Vancouver to Louisiana now offer comparable tax incentives and solicitous film offices - Toronto needs to emphasize the extensive infrastructure the city has built over the past 40 years, the professionalism of our film crews and facilities.

The present situation has been made worse by a dearth of high-quality, purpose-built studio space in the city. Rather than saying, well, the productions aren't shooting here so there's no point in building new space, Mr. Ferguson espouses a "build it and they will come" mentality. Last year, The Incredible Hulk ate up most of Toronto Film Studios; other big Hollywood films such as G.I. Joe passed on the city partly because of inadequate sound stages (in G.I. Joe's case, heading to L.A. and Prague).

As seemingly welcome as Filmport is, the development has not been without controversy. Last fall, the Rose Corporation sold much of the Toronto Film Studios land at 629 Eastern Ave. to SmartCentres, a retail developer well known for its suburban power centres, and the studio is currently leasing the land and buildings back until the property is redeveloped.

A proposal last May to build an enormous shopping plaza, with 650,000 square feet of retail and, possibly, a Wal-Mart, incensed citizen groups and councillors in Leslieville and Riverdale. Such a proposal contravenes a ban on big-box development in the area - and many residents' wishes to preserve both the residential neighbourhood's character and the Studio District's industrial opportunities.

At a public meeting last summer, SmartCentre vice-president of development Tom Smith met with an angry group of residents at Ralph Thornton Hall. To Mr. Smith's claim that the design of the shopping centre was "totally geared to the pedestrian," one resident shot back, "Then why does it have 2,000 parking spaces?"

While revenue from that sale has certainly helped bankroll Filmport's construction, the SmartCentres squabble is somewhat tangential to the complex's genesis. A more significant conflict might be with Cinespace, a rival studio within clear view of the Filmport site. Cinespace had one of its primary studios on Queens Quay East - which it had leased from TEDCO - abruptly shut down a year ago to make way for the construction of Corus Entertainment's new headquarters. That eviction meant the loss of 140,000 square feet of space, long before Filmport could make up for the shortfall.

Continued from Page 2…

Cinespace's principals, Jim and Steve Mirkopolous, have been vocal critics of TEDCO, calling it a rogue agency and joining an appeal to make public the terms of Filmport's so-called sweetheart deal with TEDCO. TEDCO - an arm's length corporation of the city responsible for the sustainable development of underutilized lands - gave Filmport a 99-year lease for an undisclosed figure, with an additional non-compete clause preventing TEDCO from leasing adjacent land to other studio operators. (Cinespace did not return calls for comment.) Mr. Ferguson has been critical of TEDCO's machinations himself: "It took a long time," he says, "and we almost walked away many times. It's the cultural difference between the private and public sectors. But more such partnerships should be done, notwithstanding that they're very difficult."

While he won't divulge the terms of the deal, he is quick to point out that the project has not received a single taxpayer dollar. "The city's broke," Mr. Ferguson says, and neither the Harris nor the McGuinty government saw fit to pony up money for the project. The total budget for Filmport is estimated at $700-million, and the price tag for Phase 1 is $60-million - the shareholders are investing half of that in equity capital.

"That's quite a high ratio of equity," Mr. Ferguson says. "The bank loan that we've got is only for 50 per cent of the construction. It meant that our group is having to put a lot more at risk, and it means your return on investment is slower. Obviously, our hope is that there will be enough commercial development that will offset the risk that it takes to go ahead with the first phase."

To that end, Filmport is negotiating with a dozen other possible tenants, and, while Mr. Ferguson again refuses to name names, he alludes to the guilds and unions, other production suppliers, and even, at some point, media companies such as Bell or Rogers. And if Hollywood fails to return to Toronto, portions of the Studio Lot could be repurposed for other commercial development - hence the street-grid-like design of the lot.
Print Edition - Section Front

Section M Front Enlarge Image
The Globe and Mail

Filmport's also minimized its risk by lobbying various governments to make filming in Toronto more attractive. Along with other financial leaders, Mr. Ferguson helped push forward the mayor's proposal to grant expanding Toronto businesses a 10-year property-tax break. And the province recently boosted industry tax credits for foreign productions to 25 from 18 per cent on eligible labour expenditures. While it's too early to tell whether this will be enough incentive to offset a still-strong dollar (not to mention the fact that Manitoba and Saskatchewan still offer considerably higher credits), Queen's Park boasted that the increase would pump an additional $50-million into local production.

Ultimately, Mr. Ferguson and his fellow shareholders are putting their money where their mouths are, their continuing faith in Toronto as a filmmaking capital embodied in the very fact that Filmport, for all of its uncertainties, is being built at all.

"It's one of those overnight successes," he says, with the smallest of smiles, "that happened over a much longer period of time. I think it's an amazing vision, one that we dreamed for a while. It's kind of a volatile industry, but day by day, our vision is being endorsed by more and more people. It's actually happening."

The good, the bad, and the ugly: a Toronto film industry timeline

1904

The first film is shot in Toronto, George Scott's The Great Toronto Fire.

1959

Nat Taylor opens the Toronto

International Film Studios in Kleinburg, Ont., featuring two

of the largest sound stages outside Hollywood.

1978

Daryl Duke directs The Silent Partner (produced by Garth Drabinsky, screenplay by Curtis Hanson) - the beginning of the tax-shelter boom years (which ended in 1996).

1981

Porky's is released, becoming Canada's biggest box-office success worldwide.

1997

Ontario introduces its own tax credit system, encouraging

producers to use local labour.

January, 1998

The Rose Corp. acquires the foundering, bankrupt Toronto Film Studios.

2000

Producers spend $1.3-billion in

Toronto on major productions

(including animation).

April, 2006

Karen Thorne-Smith is appointed the city's first film commissioner, responsible for developing relationships between film and TV producers, the City of Toronto and other relevant governments. She stepped down last summer to become the president and chief executive officer of the

Ontario Media Development Corp. Peter Finestone is the current acting film commissioner.

2000 - 2006

Toronto stands in for 28 American states, two provinces, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and

Israel.

September, 2007

Out of continuing fears of runaway productions, the American Film and Television Action Committee files a petition with the U.S. trade representative office

to investigate Canada's "unfair" film subsidies.

Jason McBride

Sources: Take One, Toronto Film and Television Office, FilmOntario

[globetrekker]

Thanks for that article! I appreciate it. :) I've been wanting some more news on Filmport (one of my favourite developments.) If someone can, please get down there and take some photos for us. The updates on Filmport's web site don't do it for me.

[Taller, Better]

I find it all very thrilling, and can't wait til it is completed... especially the Alsop part in 2010. 2018 seems a very long way off for entire completion....

[globetrekker]

"Phase 1, which will comprise of seven sound stages including a 45,500-square-foot "mega-stage", is set to be open by March of 2008."

Does anyone know if they're close to having these seven sound stages finished? Oh, and has construction on Alsop's contribution to Filmport begun? It was reported that work would begin on it in early 2008.

[bar1967]

"Phase 1, which will comprise of seven sound stages including a 45,500-square-foot "mega-stage", is set to be open by March of 2008."

Does anyone know if they're close to having these seven sound stages finished? Oh, and has construction on Alsop's contribution to Filmport begun? It was reported that work would begin on it in early 2008.

I pass by it every day and IMO it will not be done. They are still putting the cladding on one building of the three buildings, and the other more traditional film stage does not even have a roof!

[catcher_of_cats]

This project can be seen from the Gardiner, and one of the buildings definitely does not have a roof as of today.

[urban 2.0]

... but these are quick builds.

Once the shell is finished it can almost be ready for use.

It's not like an office tower.

[bar1967]

... but these are quick builds.

Once the shell is finished it can almost be ready for use.

It's not like an office tower.

The main glass clad building is half office half sound stage.

[Tuscani01]

I dont know if these have been posted before, but I just came across them while looking for something else and though this looked amazing...

Im guessing this tower would be the hotel portion of Film Port?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/canadian_gino87/HOK1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/canadian_gino87/HOK2.jpg

Heres the film school that was mentioned back when the project was first announced.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/canadian_gino87/HOK3.jpg

[urban 2.0]

.. wow that is beautiful - I really like the skyscraper.

[Mollywood]

I was by there recently and it's hard to imagine it looking like this pic. It's so desolate and ugly now. I hope this is not just more empty hype.

[Taller, Better]

I've never seen that rendering before... looks amazing.. I believe the entire project is not scheduled to be completed for another ten years or more. I heard that Alsop's building goes up in 2012... if I remember correctly.

[metroboi_nay]

I herad that as well. Those pictures look great hope it turns out that way.

[ale26]

WOW that would be amazing...Where exactly will this be though ?

[metroboi_nay]

Btw, the hotel in the render is a Hard Rock hotel ;)
Ohh and it's in the portlands where the rest of the film studios are being built.

[Taller, Better]

Has anyone heard anything more about the other announced film studio planned for Davisville West, or something? It was partnered by the prestigious Pinewood Studios...

[Dream Brother]

Nice layout but the buildings are nothing to write home aboot.

[isaidso]

Agree with that. They are underwhelming. Nothing wrong with them, but they don't exactly get you excited or stimulated in any way. It's so evident when an architect shows so little passion for their trade. It's an ultra safe conservative design that we've seen thousands of times over. At least there's a coffee shop there to perk yourself up from the sleep inducing architecture.

Everything in front of the buildings are much much better though. Good boardwalk design, seating, water features, etc. The choice of greenery could be a lot more sophisticated in species and arrangement.

[globetrekker]

Agree with that. They are underwhelming. Nothing wrong with them, but they don't exactly get you excited or stimulated in any way. It's so evident when an architect shows so little passion for their trade. It's an ultra safe conservative design that we've seen thousands of times over. At least there's a coffee shop there to perk yourself up from the sleep inducing architecture.

Everything in front of the buildings are much much better though. Good boardwalk design, seating, water features, etc. The choice of greenery could be a lot more sophisticated in species and arrangement.

I completely agree with everything you wrote.

[Taller, Better]

Minus the tower, this is very much the type of contemporary architecture in the Netherlands, but
with perhaps lighter colours.

[urban 2.0]

I think they look art deco'ish

[Taller, Better]

Has anyone heard anything more about the other announced film studio planned for Davisville West, or something? It was partnered by the prestigious Pinewood Studios...

To answer my own question, I Googled and found some fairly recent information. Forgive me for posting it in this section, but there is no thread
for this other film studio project yet. link:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/business/news/e3i797c75af15317bcfdd760d6ea7b37ef5

Castlepoint to proceed with Toronto studio site

By Etan Vlessing

Feb 14, 2008
TORONTO -- Despite the lack of a green light from partner Pinewood Studios Group, Toronto real estate developer Castlepoint Development plans to move ahead with demolition and environmental clean-up work on a downtown Toronto site slated to be a six-soundstage movie studio.

Alfredo Romano, a principal of Castlepoint Development, told a meeting of downtown residents Tuesday night that his company and Pinewood continue to do due dilligence to establish whether a studio complex in Toronto's west end "makes economic sense."

Castlepoint Development bought the 7.5 acre plot in downtown Toronto last year, and established a 50-50 partnership with U.K.-based Pinewood to possibly open a studio for big-budget movie shoots.

The downtown property already is zoned for commercial/industrial use, so Castlepoint faces no major planning issues with the city of Toronto.

But Romano indicated that financing the proposed complex remains an obstacle as he continues discussions with Pinewood ahead of ratification by the British studio group's board.

The proposed complex will include a purpose-built 100,000 square foot, six-soundstage studio that adjoins an existing 100,000 square foot, 10-story historic brickwork building that dates back to 1919.

Romano said that extensive demolition and clean-up work is required before construction of new buildings and soundstages can start.

Without getting into specificis, Romano said that, should Pinewood back out of the proposed studio deal as an equity partner, he will press ahead with the redevelopment with an eye to renting out space to high-tech design, graphic arts and new media companies.

"If they (Pinewood) don't come, my plan doesn't change. I'm still going to bring in commercial businesses," he said.

Castlepoint and Pinewood's proposed six soundstages aim to complement seven new soundstages already under construction on the city's waterfront by Toronto Film Studios.

That FilmPort complex is expected to open its doors in March. No firm bookings have yet been announced for FilmPort by the Toronto Film Studios.

In 2004, Romano and Pinewood lost out to Toronto Film Studios in a bid to build a studio complex on the city's waterfront, where Castlepoint is a major land-owner and developer.

Pinewood has long eyed a Toronto megastudio as a possible beachead into the North American studio market, according to Romano.

Both FilmPort and the proposed Castlepoint/Pinewood complex aim to snag big-budget Hollywood movie shoots that in recent years have gone to Montreal, Vancouver or elsewhere.

The proposed Castlepoint/Pinewood studio will have soundstages in the 10,000- to 25,000-square foot range, with adjoining office and workshop space.

In all, the complex would include about 270,000 square feet of refurbished or new building space, and supply approximately 1,000 permanent jobs and up to another 1,000 support positions.

The city of Toronto has designated the downtown Toronto site an economic improvement area, and has promised Castlepoint tax breaks over a 10-year period if it goes ahead with the redevelopment.

[valantino]

I heard that Alsop's building goes up in 2012

I thought his design was replaced with something else which has happen more then a few times to Alsop in Toronto. It's probably why he left town.

[Taller, Better]

I thought his design was replaced with something else which has happen more then a few times to Alsop in Toronto. It's probably why he left town.

He has left town?!?! As in, closed the office? .. Where has he left town "for"?

[urban 2.0]

I thought his design was replaced with something else which has happen more then a few times to Alsop in Toronto. It's probably why he left town.

... Alsop left town? I noticed his name is off the windows of his office downtown. I wondered about it.

[Robin155]

Will Alsop is still designing the buidling for Filmport. The project is even on his official website. They will start this summer and finish in 2010.

[KGB]

I thought his design was replaced with something else which has happen more then a few times to Alsop in Toronto. It's probably why he left town.


Fact is, it happened to him everywhere else, which is why he came to town in the first place. I think TO has been fairly Alsop-friendly.


I'm pleasantly surprised with the overall Filmport design...I thought it was more of an isolated industrial section of the Portlands, as opposed to this $3/4 billion project.


They are underwhelming. Nothing wrong with them, but they don't exactly get you excited or stimulated in any way. It's so evident when an architect shows so little passion for their trade. It's an ultra safe conservative design that we've seen thousands of times over. At least there's a coffee shop there to perk yourself up from the sleep inducing architecture.


They seem more like concept drawings, as opposed to actual final-design working drawings. Even at that, they have an excellent look to them...very Scando type sensibility.

I know I've said this before, and it doesn't matter if I say it again (cause he's got me on ignore..wink)...isaidso's taste is in his toenails.




KGB

[Taller, Better]

True. The circumstances surrounding him **ahem** leaving Britain are well known.

[valantino]

Will Alsop is still designing the buidling for Filmport. The project is even on his official website. They will start this summer and finish in 2010.

So the &co design is a separate project of almost indentical massing and construction timeline? Interesting

[valantino]

What exactly does the ignore function do? hide the posts?

sounds stupid if you ask me

[Jasonzed]

A video tour of Filmport from the The Star

http://www.thestar.com/fpLarge/video/417708

[Taller, Better]

^^^Thanks, Jason.. that was EXTREMELY interesting, and I cannot believe how fast it is all coming together. Seems like it was just a hole in the ground not long ago.
That guy that does the bored voice over needs to check out some alternative careers. Like helping insomniacs fall asleep.
This project is going to be a massive shot in the arm for film production in this city.

[globetrekker]

A video tour of Filmport from the The Star

http://www.thestar.com/fpLarge/video/417708


Very nice! Thanks for the link Jason.

[Taller, Better]

By the way, here is the article that accompanies the video. It is by none other than Tony Wong. link:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/418214

TIME FOR ACTION
TheStar.com | entertainment | Filmport ready to roll

Filmport ready to roll


June 5, 2008
Official opening of Filmport’s first phase

10 years
Estimated construction time

20 hectares (49 acres)
Total Filmport site area

7
Number of large sound stages in Phase 1

More than
150,000 sq. m
Total floor space

$275 million
Total development cost

$1.3 billion
Spending on movie production in Toronto in 2000

$700 million
Spending movie production in Toronto in 1996

25,000
Crew members employed by movies and TV production

Cleveland, Cincinnati, Prince Edward Island, Regina, New York, Los Angeles and South Beach
Places Toronto stood in for last year

To shoot blockbusters, we needed a mega studio here, the film industry said. Now we're about to get that and more with Filmport. Will Hollywood come to Toronto?
Apr 25, 2008 04:30 AM
Tony Wong
Business Reporter

On a wet spring day, Ken Ferguson is standing in a pile of sticky muck, mud sloshing off rubber waders. Behind him, looming over the Toronto waterfront like the glistening metal bones of a futuristic creature, are the makings of North America's largest movie soundstage.

"This is it," says Ferguson, president of Toronto Film Studios, one of the developers of the site, on reclaimed industrial land on the east-end waterfront. "This is as big as it gets."

At 45,900 square feet, the mega stage is large enough to accommodate the Greek Parthenon, and a Harry Potter movie or two. In an industry that has been hobbled by 2003's SARS scare, a soaring loonie, stiff competition from better tax credits in other jurisdictions and a lack of infrastructure investment, this is the boldest statement yet that the city intends to reclaim its tarnished crown as Hollywood North. A lot is riding on that muck underneath Ferguson's feet.

The mild-mannered engineer, along with Toronto mayor David Miller, will officially open the first phase of Filmport – Toronto's long awaited mega film centre that sits on 20 prime hectares of east-end waterfront area land on June 5. When it is fully built 10 years from now, Filmport is expected to include up to 3 million square feet of studios, theatres, retail, office and production space – a virtual theme park for Hollywood producers and their fans.

It's also something of a gamble. While Ferguson has been busy flogging the studio to producers in California and Toronto, there is no guarantee that Hollywood will come knocking.

And the timing could certainly have been better. A potential strike in June by the Screen Actors Guild is spooking producers into balking at commitments until there is a deal– which means, in the case of Filmport, a potentially empty studio lot come opening day.

"The whole idea of build it and they will come is a scary concept," says Ferguson. "This is a big leap of faith for everyone but we are confident this is what the city needs to attract business."

Toronto – strange as it may seem – has had few purpose-built studios just for movie making. Most indoor filming here takes place in converted warehouses, which aren't ideal. The city has also lost out on major productions in the past because of a lack of a mega stage, a studio large enough to hold a cast of centurions, or say, a battle scene with the Fantastic Four.

With the mega stage ready in July, the hope is that there will be a critical mass of sound stages and related services in one area that will put Toronto back on the movie map.

Surrounding the mega stage are several smaller soundstages, concrete block buildings that look more like a nuclear reactor facility than dream factory. But it's what inside that counts.

The walls are covered in what looks like acres of puffy white futons, pricey sound insulation that is music to a technician's ears. There are also miles of high-tech cable running through the walls for instant communications and slick office spaces in adjoining buildings guaranteed to satisfy executives with giant-sized egos and the budgets to match.

"There's no question it's an interesting time to be doing this, but I'm pretty optimistic," says Rose Corp. chair Sam Reisman, the media-shy majority owner of Filmport, whose partners include Ferguson, and Paul Bronfman's Conweb Group, owner of William F. White International, one of the largest movie equipment suppliers globally. "I really feel there is a demand out there for these kinds of stages and in giving filmmakers this kind of choice."

With a commanding 80 per cent interest in Filmport, Reisman has a lot at stake. The privately funded Filmport opens at a time when the industry is in serious decline. The irony is that while the annual Toronto International Film Festival continues to attract the biggest stars in the world, less of them have been coming here to actually film a movie.

But the downward slope in Toronto productions may have bottomed out. According to city hall's film and television office, production companies spent $755.8 million in Toronto 2007 (including commercials and music videos), up from $704 million in 2006, which was down from the $900 recorded the year before. The peak was $1.3 billion spent during 2000.

With every dollar spent in the city by a production crew, Toronto benefits in myriad ways as everyone from retail to restaurants to the lodging and hospitality industry gets a piece of the action. Tourism also gets a boost from the city being featured on screens around the world.

But international competition, including impressive new facilities built in cities as diverse as Sydney, Madrid and Cape Town has taken a big bite out of local business.

Another significant reason has been the decline of the U.S. dollar in relation to the Canadian dollar. That has had a severe impact on Los Angeles-based filmmakers such as Dan Heffner, the executive producer of the lucrative and gory Saw horror movie series, mostly shot on Toronto streets. Saw V just wrapped.

"Toronto is a great city, and I love making movies here, but right now it's a very tough environment," says Heffner. "At some point if it goes much higher, you end up looking for alternatives."

Which is why the city feels Filmport is so important.

Peter Finestone, the city's acting film commissioner, likens the emergence of the centre as opening a five star all-inclusive hotel in an area once dominated by three- and four-star properties.

"Filmport is crucial to the industry," says Finestone. "It places us among an elite group of cities. We may not be the cheapest place to do business anymore, but it says we're the best."

Filmport's Ferguson says the strategy is to reposition Toronto's film industry from the Movie of the Week business to try and go up the cinematic food chain for the $100 million plus features and blockbusters.

"The big-budget films are less currency sensitive, if they have to be somewhere, they'll pay the cost for the best facilities," says Ferguson.

Certainly few facilities in North America can compare to Filmport's ultimate vision.

Will Alsop, the architect behind the whimsical crayon box design at the Ontario College of Art & Design's Sharp Centre is designing cool new office space in phase two. And Deluxe, the city's top post-production facility is also moving offices to the port lands.

While studios may occupy ultimately about 600,000 square feet, the vast majority of Filmport will be mixed use. Ferguson is hoping to attract restaurants, retail, offices, and even animation or film schools to set up shop in the area.

"I think there is an opportunity to have this convergence district, where we can have a creative centre. It's also a place where regular people can come down to be close to the movie business," says Ferguson.

Ultimately, Filmport, built on a former petroleum-storage area, is part of a larger vision by the city to develop the formerly industrial portlands in Toronto to build a vibrant community. Right now the job is to fill phase one. That includes 260,000 square feet of space with seven soundstages at a cost of $60 million.

Ferguson says he is talking to many producers who are exited about the new facilities. But so far, no solid bookings have been announced. "The depth of experience here and the crews are phenomenal, we've built a really loyal team," says Saw producer Heffner, who hires all local crews. "But it's getting tougher to film here."

With the dollar jump in the last year alone, Heffner estimates it's costing an additional $800,000 compared to Saw IV – representing about a 10 per cent increase in budget and a huge amount for a medium sized movie.

"In the '80s, you had Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver and Toronto. That was really it," says Heffner. "Now you've got a lot more choices as a producer.

"It's great that the city is attempting to do something, but the competition is more intense. Filmport is a good piece of the puzzle, but we'll have to see if it turns out to be the magic bullet."

Financial film futures

With a global credit crunch and the Ontario economy on the edge of a recession, getting financing for Filmport's future expansion may be an issue. But developers say they are committed to the 10-year project.

"It's a challenging environment, and the debt market problems have had an impact," says developer Sam Reisman, the majority owner of the studio.

South of the border, banks are being hammered in the credit markets as the economy has stalled. As a result, financiers have been much more risk averse and have been freezing credit to big projects globally.

"You tell a banker that you have a film studio, but you don't know who your tenant is going to be next month or next year, and that's not the answer they want to hear," says Ferguson.

Of 22 banks approached for the financing for the new Deluxe film production office, for example, only two were interested in the business, says Ferguson.

"It's certainly been challenging, we can't seem to catch a break," says the developer. "The business environment is making our job more difficult, but it certainly won't prevent us from building in the future."

Tighter credit may mean developers will have to sign more tenants before breaking ground, says Ferguson, who expects conditions to ease. It's not the first time that Rose Corp., the holding company that controls Filmport, has faced a tough challenge. It beat out far more established players in 2005 to build the complex.

Local company Rose Corp, the parent company of Filmport It beat out far more established players in 2005.

The deal was mired in controversy when competitors argued that Rose Corp. had received a sweetheart deal from the Toronto Economic Development Corp., with a 99-year-lease and a no-compete clause.

Filmport developers argued that the deal it was fair since they were taking all the risk by putting up all the capital privately to build the project.

[Jasonzed]

This whole area is in dire need of redevelopment; this is an excellent start!

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/HPIM0771.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/HPIM0772.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/HPIM0773.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/HPIM0775.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii108/jasonzedd/HPIM0776.jpg

[CrazyCanuck]

Awesome Jason. We now have a modern day barn in our city.

[Taller, Better]

The building is a classic example of form following function. When one considers what function the sound stages will take, the shape of the structures makes sense. To me the exciting idea of this concept is what artistic endeavours it will encourage in the filming industry.

[globetrekker]

I love this project, however, I do not like the way the mega-stage doesn't allow you to use the entire structure. I thought filmmakers would have a height clearance of....well see how it curves at the top? I thought that area would be free to use as well. But I love this structure anyway. Thanks for the great pictures! They're greatly appreciated!!:)

[valantino]

^ I wish there were some street-related opportunities on the ground floor of the production offices eventhough I know it would be an extremely hard sell in the beginning (although the hot dog vendor located nearby is probably a multi-millionaire)

[isaidso]

Craft services probably keep everyone very satisfied, but I'm sure the occasional person is going to wonder off in search of a hot dog.

This Filmport development is the most promising thing to happen to the Toronto film industry that I can think of. This facility will give our industry a huge amount of leverage in securing productions.

[current]

May 25

Filmport from the TD Centre
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/2524924889_8aba58e5c2_b.jpg

[Taller, Better]

It is going up very fast.

[OEincorparated]

That area needs a supertall, or two.

[ONE HUMAN]

That area needs a supertall, or two.

That's actually the last thing it needs, but thanks for coming out.

[Taller, Better]

One Human, I keep thinking you've moved on and then every once in a while you tease us with your presence... Hang around more!

[ale26]

So is that whole area going to be built up with filmport? or jus the buildings we see there now ? Cuz that area needs a SERIOUS makeover

[Taller, Better]

The completed project won't be til 2018 or something like that. This is the first phase.

[ONE HUMAN]

One Human, I keep thinking you've moved on and then every once in a while you tease us with your presence... Hang around more!

I'm around at least every couple of days lurking. Every once in a while I'm motivated to post a snarky remark. :D

[filcan]

I hope this project will help revitalize the port lands...

[OEincorparated]

hmm...........

[OEincorparated]

May 25

Filmport from the TD Centre
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2343/2524924889_8aba58e5c2_b.jpg

They must be planning density, why else are they building a nuclear power plant for?

[isaidso]

BLOODY GARDINER AGAIN.

:guns1: Blow up that :bleep: :bleep: :bleep:

[OEincorparated]

^^ your right.

[Mollywood]

Yep, I agree! Tear that mother down. It just might happen, partially, anyway.

[ericeric]

Oh Filmport, why won't you be done fasterer? Every time (every. single. time) I see the "Filmport" thread, I hear in my head; "Yes, Filmport!" in that old-timey voice from the funny video on their website.

[OEincorparated]

I dont know if these have been posted before, but I just came across them while looking for something else and though this looked amazing...

Im guessing this tower would be the hotel portion of Film Port?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/canadian_gino87/HOK1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/canadian_gino87/HOK2.jpg

Heres the film school that was mentioned back when the project was first announced.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/canadian_gino87/HOK3.jpg

I hope they kept these plan's and follow throw.
Just imagining this in the Portlands makes me Giddy.:lol:

[Taller, Better]

I'm still flummoxed why The Fume thinks this can be built anywhere out in the burbs, and this area should be used for the 8,000,000th condo.

[OEincorparated]

Because he want's this city to grow?

[Taller, Better]

so.... jobs and industry aren't part of a city's growth? Should downtown Toronto be just a bedroom community for industries elsewhere?

[OEincorparated]

Industrial jobs can be done in the outskirts of the city.
Downtown and around the Harbourfront jobs should be more of the Tourism nature, such as the Film industry, Food, Shopping, and Entertainment.

[monkeyronin]

Downtown and around the Harbourfront jobs should be more of the Tourism nature, such as the Film industry, Food, Shopping, and Entertainment.

And what do you think "Filmport" is exactly? :lol:

[OEincorparated]

Hopefully it's employs alot of people, I'm hoping to build so 100 condo's around there. I need working people to buy.

[urban 2.0]

... toronto doesn't need more condo's - downtown toronto needs more good HQ jobs - i.e hightech and related - the ibms, googles, etc.

We have the people living here - it's time to bring the jobs. Hurray to filmport - this is the type of work great for the area.

[OEincorparated]

^^IBM, googles don't they work out of offices?

I'm all for a IBM and googles tower off of Commisioners St.

[taal]

Hi tech companies like to work in what is knwon as "campuses" large low buildings surrounded by greanery and giant above ground parking lots ... Have you ever seen IBM's Torotno lab at Warnden and Hi-way 7 ... or have a look at RIM in Waterloo ... better yet have a look at Microsoft in Richmend (Seattle suburb). Google is similar.

[OEincorparated]

^^ Yes I know how the IBM on hwy7 looks like, but haven't been in it nore do I know what they do in it.
If you can please enlighten me.

[taal]

It's IBM's main software development lab in Canada and the biggest by far (Probably one of their larger ones period)

The lab pretty much writes the majority of DB2 (IBM's database) code. There's a lot of websphere work as well as compiler research as well ... and more (I think there are about 3200+ people there). All of this used to be where Celestica is now, off eglinton, which for the most part had the campus type setup as well.
The one on steeles is IBM Canada's headquarters ... business and what not is located there. They actually have presence downtown as well in the TD bank buildings + somewhere on bloor.

In any case like RIM ... and Microsoft, have you seen it in person? It's a bunch of buildings seperated by parking spots.

I don't know what the chances are of getting techinal companies in remotely high rent area's ... they usually like big wide open spaces - with a large cafe + gym + basketball + you get the picture.

[metroboi_nay]

Industrial jobs can be done in the outskirts of the city.
Downtown and around the Harbourfront jobs should be more of the Tourism nature, such as the Film industry, Food, Shopping, and Entertainment.

I agree, can you imagine building a factory at yonge and dundas! Wait.. it already looks like one but with a lot of billboards.. :lol:

[OEincorparated]

As long as there is no shipping of goods involved, IBM should definately be a front runner for an office tower some day.

[globetrekker]

Does anyone have any recent photos that they're willing to share? :)

[Taller, Better]

Ok I have a rough idea in my mind where this is on the east end of the portlands, but by bicycle, which is the best route to access it from downtown? I will go and take pics soon.

[Fleetwood]

I love this project, however, I do not like the way the mega-stage doesn't allow you to use the entire structure. I thought filmmakers would have a height clearance of....well see how it curves at the top? I thought that area would be free to use as well. But I love this structure anyway. Thanks for the great pictures! They're greatly appreciated!!:)

I've been to this site a few times to check out the photos of Filmport and thought I chime in with a little research I've done.

The Megastage at Filmport will be the second largest in the world and the largest in North America. The world's largest is Pinewood's stage 007 (gee, wonder what movies they film there?;) ) The next largest after FP's MS are at Universal and Columbia (Sony). According to the numbers I could find, the clearance inside the MS is more than enough- in fact it bumps the stage up to world's largest by volume (my embellishment- don't ask me if that is significant or not).

From an email I sent a friend:

Pinewood, England
374ft x 158ft x 41ft High
59,092.0 sq.ft.
2,422,772 cubic ft.

Filmport, Toronto
250 x 180 x 60
45 000 sq ft
2,700,000 cubic ft.

This could bode very well for the local biz. These large stage are used for the multi-million dollar productions. Good PR/Marketing and good kick in the pants in general - to flash it in front of ....

A small presentation I was at a few weeks back shed some light on another aspect of the structure. The speaker, who had been on a tour of the facility, relayed some marketing facts they'd been given- something about being able to support the suspension of a platoon or flotilla (her words) of battle tanks under the roof with strength to spare. And on a tour of one of the "smaller" stages, they were overwhelmed by its size and especially the near absolute silence experienced once the doors were closed.

Finally, something I just noticed.

While perusing Taller, better's pics, one of Nathan Phillips Square caught my eye. I noted the curve of the arches over the ice rink...

And the similarity of the MS's roof...

If I had the time I would post a comment with simply two photos in it, one of each structure with the caption: "Hmmmmm".

Filmport-Megacity-Filmcity-Megastage.

BTW, hope I didn't miss the sarcasm about the gas-powered, electrical generating plant at the site of the old Hearn Station (SE of the Megastage in that one photo from the TD building) being a nuclear plant!

[Taller, Better]

I'm still in the dark about the other film studio that is supposed to be going up in the West end at Bloor and Lansdowne.. Pinewood was to be part of it, but I don't think so any longer.. I can't get any current info on the project, either.... the last thing I can find is the article I posted in April, from last February.

[Fleetwood]

Last I heard I think was in that same article. Something about holding a community meeting to advise people that dumptrucks would soon be rolling through their neighbourhood during the initial phase involving the soil decontamination.

Here's a quick ref to the project that I just found.

Studios Under Construction- Playback Mag (http://www.playbackonline.ca/articles/magazine/20080428/studios.html?word=castlepoint).

[Robin155]

When does the Will Alsop building for Filmport start?

[Taller, Better]

^^ Good question. I believe in a few years. Will probably depend on the relative success of Filmport. Here are some pictures I took yesterday at the site:

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/New%20Summer%202008/IMGP0959.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/New%20Summer%202008/IMGP0962.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/New%20Summer%202008/IMGP0957.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/New%20Summer%202008/IMGP0961.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/New%20Summer%202008/IMGP0956.jpg

there seems to have been a lot of progress on the site, but I did not see even one
worker onsite. Mind you, this was about 5pm on a Monday, so maybe they had all packed up and gone home by that time. They have a mildly irritating FLASH website:
http://www.filmportstudios.ca/

which describes statistics of each of the actual and planned buildings, but not much of the overall
planning of the project.

[globetrekker]

Brilliant photos TB. Thanks for keeping us updated on this project.

[Taller, Better]

pas de probleme. I have been meaning to get down to that spot since wintertime. Glad I did not attempt it in winter... it is windswept and in the downtown boonies.

[DrT]

Looks like Hollywood studios allright.
Great shots and very positive for TO. All the moguls that go to the TIFF can be given free tours and a wink to make your movies here.

[isaidso]

I hope they glam it up and give the whole place that feeling of excitement.

[CrazyCanuck]

Definitely, we need another destination, they should give tours and stuff and really make the place something special.

[globetrekker]

http://to411daily.com/2008/08/07/mayor-david-miller-to-officially-open-filmport/

Mayor David Miller to officially open FILMPORT
August 7, 2008

Toronto - Mayor David Miller, along with Jeffrey Steiner, President and CEO of the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO) and Ken Ferguson, President of FILMPORT, will officially open Phase 1 of FILMPORT. FILMPORT is Canada’s newest and largest convergence district for film, TV & digital media companies.

FILMPORT and TEDCO are playing a key role in bolstering Toronto’s film industry by making it more competitive internationally, attracting and retaining jobs, and kick-starting the development of Toronto’s Port Lands.

Great, but ah, does anyone know when this will be??

[Fleetwood]

Yes, nice pics. If you do anymore soon, get a shot of the front of the admin building. Once posted, I defy anyone to say the ground floor exterior detailing isn't meant to emulate a film strip. Cheeesey! But, these things happen. And a very minor point about a major project/business. (but they may be snickering in LaLa land when they see this).

Or, it's my own pet peeve getting the better of me. Films are not about film reels, strips of films, spotlights or slates ("Clapper boards"), but these are the almost ubiquitous symbols one sees when the movies are symbolized.

I'm done.

As to the opening--- CAN'T WAIT!!! (Keepin' my ear to the ground for that date).

[Taller, Better]

Are people allowed to go onto the compound? I saw a security guard looking at me and the place was deserted, so I didn't try to get in. I imagine you would have to, to see the front of the admin building.
I am also excited about this opening. Hope it gets some video coverage.

[Mollywood]

http://to411daily.com/2008/08/07/mayor-david-miller-to-officially-open-filmport/

Mayor David Miller to officially open FILMPORT
August 7, 2008

Toronto - Mayor David Miller, along with Jeffrey Steiner, President and CEO of the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO) and Ken Ferguson, President of FILMPORT, will officially open Phase 1 of FILMPORT. FILMPORT is Canada’s newest and largest convergence district for film, TV & digital media companies.

FILMPORT and TEDCO are playing a key role in bolstering Toronto’s film industry by making it more competitive internationally, attracting and retaining jobs, and kick-starting the development of Toronto’s Port Lands.

Great, but ah, does anyone know when this will be??

So when does this thing open? I wonder why they gave no official date of opening? During the film fest would be the best time, I would imagine. I bet it will open then.

[globetrekker]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080819.PRTEDCO19/TPStory/Business

Backroom player is ready for its close-up

Filmport project the latest example of TEDCO's evolution into a mover and shaker in commercial real estate
ELANA SAFRONSKY

August 19, 2008

TORONTO -- It could have been yet another condominium on Toronto's waterfront. Instead, a former brownfield site is the home for what observers hope will rejuvenate the city's film industry and restore its claim as "Hollywood North."

A project known as Filmport has its premiere tomorrow, with the official launch of the first phase of what ultimately will become a $700-million venue for film production.

Already, a cavernous, hangar-shaped soundstage - at 49,500 square feet, it is said to be the largest of its kind in North America - has become a landmark in an otherwise dreary stretch of former industrial and port property on Toronto's eastern waterfront.

Filmport was created to provide a centralized facility for movie makers, sparing them the need to conduct shoots in abandoned warehouses.

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But it's also another feather in the cap for Toronto Economic Development Corp. (TEDCO), which is leasing the 20 acres to the development's principals, Rose Corp. (owner of Toronto Film Studios) producer Comweb Group Inc., and Ken Ferguson, president of Filmport Inc.

The 550,000 square feet of film and television production space planned for the site can be traced to a study TEDCO conducted in 2002, examining why Toronto was losing big productions to other Canadian cities, such as Vancouver and Montreal, Mr. Ferguson says.

"Studios are very expensive to build and a lot of other cities built their soundstages with government assistance. Ontario for years had taken the position that they were not going to throw public money at a private business, and without help it's very difficult for anybody to pull off," he says.

So, like the cavalry charging in to save the day, TEDCO acquired waterfront property from Imperial Oil Ltd. with an eye to remediation, and to designate it for the construction of the facilities.

"We knew the film industry was hitting a glass ceiling," says Jeff Steiner, TEDCO's chief executive officer. "And, while it would have been much more profitable, and more fun in some ways, to turn it into a condo village - because it's on the water - we put on our economic development hat and decided that the higher priority for the city was to make land available for the growth in infrastructure for the film industry."

TEDCO's role also reflects an odd hybrid of purposes: Pursuing public policy while dabbling in the private world of commercial real estate. From its inception in 1986, TEDCO's mandate has been to "pursue industrial and economic development, and to attract and retain jobs in the City of Toronto." To this end, it can buy, sell, lease and otherwise deal in real property, also the main source of its revenue.

TEDCO, which acts at arm's length from its sole shareholder, the City of Toronto, has become a significant player in the city's real estate development - indeed, in the case of the port lands, it has ventured where other developers may have been reluctant to tread, one observer suggests.

After the Toronto Harbour Commission transferred more than 400 acres of mostly contaminated port land to TEDCO in the early nineties, real estate development became its core function.

"After we received all that land, [TEDCO] did some projects in the late nineties in and around brownfields that, while they weren't enormous, were in a way ground breaking because they were examples of brownfields actually [being] cleaned up," Mr. Steiner says.

Today, TEDCO owns more than 500 acres of land across the Greater Toronto Area, has more than one million square feet of proposed developments and is involved in at least 14 projects. Since 1992, it has restored more than 120 acres of brownfield land to productive use, Filmport being the latest example.

It is also an example of how a city's former economic development commission has used more aggressive tactics - expanding its role from mainly landowner to strategic investor and development partner - in pursuing new economies.

Professor Pierrre Filion, co-author of Canadian Cities in Transition: The Twenty-first Century, who teaches at the University of Waterloo's School of Planning, says this is most evident in the port lands.

"Before the city of Toronto amalgamated into the Greater Toronto Area, the inner city was losing manufacturing jobs, and TEDCO wanted them back," Prof. Filion says, "But now it's very hard to attract industry to those areas. The port's essential functions are few, and Toronto is not a major port city.

"There's not much incentive for [companies] to locate close to the harbour - industry goes to the suburbs. The vision for the waterfront has changed and TEDCO's tactics in developing those lands have had to adjust accordingly."

Besides Filmport, another major TEDCO development in the port lands includes the Toronto headquarters and broadcast centre for Corus Entertainment Inc., a $147-million investment that is expected to bring 1,300 workers to Toronto's waterfront area by 2009. Elsewhere in the city, TEDCO is in predevelopment for a 14-acre office complex to be known as Downsview Corporate Centre near the Downsview airport.

"What they're doing is a little bit of city building, which is not necessarily a bad thing," says Michael Brooks, chief executive officer of the Real Property Association of Canada. "Sometimes, [TEDCO] can accomplish things that a private developer can't, particularly when it comes to land assembly, brownfields and dealing with a larger area ... helping to revitalize an area that may otherwise have been pretty stagnant."

In the case of Filmport, Mr. Steiner certainly makes a case for TEDCO's hand in city building. Filmport's website refers to the development as a "convergence district" for the film and media community and the company is planning its own foray into commercial real estate with plans for office and industrial space there.

"Filmport will be a hub of employment and dynamism that will make the area interesting. Yes, some people at city council thought the land would be better used as condos, but there are other lands in the surrounding area that will be available for residential development, and of course we want mixed use," he says.

Thanks to TEDCO's initiative, Mr. Steiner suggests, the transformation around Toronto's downtown core has already begun. "The port lands were off-off-core, now they're just off-core."

Is anyone going to the ribbon-cutting? Is it open to the public???? Well if anyone is going, please take some pictures!

[Taller, Better]

I wonder if it is open to the public? I do so very much hope they snag some big budget films.

[isaidso]

Or one better, that we evolve to the point where the domestic film industry is globally successful and vertically integrated. Instead of bidding on US productions, the next step is to bid on Canadian/Toronto productions where financing is from a domestic studio or company.

If Flashpoint can do it, so can our film industry. Make a film for Canadians. If it is good, foreigners will want to distribute and watch it too. Over time, if we continue to produce good cinema, budgets will increase due to a good track record of delivering product that sells. This is a business after all. Art films have their place, but in the end, if few people watch them, few people will be employed by them.

Beyond the benefit of developing our culture, the end goal should never be reliance on a foreign industry. Look at Windsor. Windsor was never really in control of its future or the chief economic benefactor. When things went well, Windsor prospered, Detroit prospered the most. When things went bad, Windsor sat helpless and had no power to control the outcome. All Windsor could do is hope that the foreigners sorted it out and chucked some bones their way. Decision making and profits, when there were profits, always went disproportionately to head office in another country.

There are important lessons to be learned from the reliance on outsiders for your well being. Filmport and the Toronto film industry need to understand this. They need to possess the initiative, shrewdness, and acumen to guide our industry so that one day in the not too distant future, we are the masters of our own domain.

[Taller, Better]

From the Toronto Star. link:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/482451

Cronenberg hails Toronto's new Filmport facility


VINCE TALOTTA/ TORONTO STAR
Toronto Mayor David Miller and director David Cronenberg at the opening ceremony for the Filmport studios in Toronto Aug. 20. Email story


City a hub for post-production Financial film futures Taking it slow and easy Stage set for a contest Profile: Stefan Steen, production assistant Profile: R.H. Thomson, Actor Profile: Don Carmody, producer Profile: Doug Dales, equipment supplier Profile: Lynda McCormack, makeup artist Tour the Filmport facilities Movie/TV spending in TO since 2000 The Filmport Studio lot What makes a sound stage Filmport missing only a blockbuster
Lights, cameras and, hopefully soon, some action.Aug 20, 2008 04:00 PM
Comments on this story (4)
Bruce DeMara
Entertainment Reporter

Acclaimed film director David Cronenberg said the opening of Filmport today will be a dramatic boost for movie-making in Toronto.

"I love shooting in Toronto anyway. But (Filmport) makes it easier to convince producers and studios that this is a viable place to shoot. Because I'm never making a movie just on my own obviously, I'm doing it with a lot of people, so you need some weaponry when you're trying to convince people to shoot here instead of someplace else," Cronenberg, the Canadian director behind films such as The Fly, A History of Violence and Eastern Promises.

"The low dollar that we used to have was a big argument. We don't have that at the moment so we need something else. This (Filmport) is that something else," he added.

The film studio, with seven state-of-the-art sound stages – making it among the largest in Canada – officially opened today.

Cronenberg, who has shot Crash and other films in the city, said he and other filmmakers have had to make do in the past with inferior converted warehouses.

"We've had to stop shooting when it rained because the noise was too loud ... because the buildings weren't sound-proofed. It would be much too hot in the summer, much too cold in the winter," Cronenberg said.

"The people who designed this, who built this, who have engineered it, have really sweated the details, every single detail. It's really quite phenomenal and incredibly impressive and incredibly exciting to any film person," Cronenberg said.

Cronenberg heaped praise on Filmport's main asset, a 45,900- square foot sound stage reputed to be largest in North America and possibly the world.

The soundstage, nearing completion, is designed like Paris's famed Notre-Dame cathedral, with flying buttresses on the outside, meaning there are no internal pillars or other obstructions.

"So for me, I have to say that the mega-stage is now my Notre-Dame, it's my cathedral, I plan to worship there regularly," Cronenberg said.

Sam Reisman, president of the Rose Corporation – the majority shareholder in Filmport – said he's not discouraged by the lack of major films ready to take up residence as a result of the unresolved dispute between the major Hollywood studios and the U.S. Screen Actors Guild.

"The labour disagreement, of course, is unpleasant and it causes temporary hardships. But when you make an investment, you make it for a generation, you don't make it for the first quarter or the second quarter results," Reisman said.

"I would expect that next spring, we will see a very robust business here," Reisman said, adding there are a number of "soft holds" from producers to use the site pending the resolution of the labour dispute.

Toronto Mayor David Miller said Filmport will only add to the city's "creative economy," which boasts roughly 190,000 jobs.

"Five years from today, Filmport will be the epicentre of the creative economy in Toronto and will have put us very clearly in our rightful place on the world stage," Miller said.

"We are making a statement today that the future of Toronto will succeed with thinking jobs, creative-type jobs, film industry jobs. We are supporting the 21st century economy in this city and it couldn't be a finer moment," he added.

[Taller, Better]

also from the Star. link:
http://www.thestar.com/Article/481804

photo by TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j251/dawnd_01/Autumn%202007/winter%202007/Summer%202008/New%20Summer%202008/filmportmodel-photobyTONYBOCK-TORON.jpg

NEW MOVIE STUDIOS OPEN TODAY

Filmport missing only a blockbuster

TONY BOCK/TORONTO STAR
Model of Filmport, the new studio lot set to open Aug. 20, 2008.

Hollywood's SAG contract dispute puts a damper on Toronto's launch of a big TV production centre

Aug 20, 2008 04:30 AM

Bruce DeMara
Entertainment Reporter

Lights, cameras and, hopefully soon, some action.

Filmport, the newest addition to Toronto's film and television industry, is set to open today, with the potential to re-energize a struggling sector and catapult the city into the upper tier of locales capable of playing host to $100-million-plus movie productions.

But an issue beyond our borders and control – the ongoing contract dispute between the U.S.-based Screen Actors Guild and the major Hollywood studios – means the site is opening without being able to announce that it's landed a multi-million-dollar blockbuster.

"I've talked with all the heads of production in Los Angeles and they are telling me that until the SAG issues is settled, they're not going to be green-lighting much of anything," said Paul Bronfman, president of the Comweb Group, a partner with majority owner Rose Corp. in Filmport.

That said, Filmport is still a vital addition to the city's film and television sector, Bronfman said.

"Filmport will bring the big budget feature films to Toronto. What Filmport is going to do is attract business into Toronto that has otherwise gone to Vancouver and Montreal because of the lack of studio space," Bronfman said.

Filmport includes North America's largest sound stage at 45,900 square feet and several smaller stages on 20 hectares of land in Toronto's port lands. Over the next decade, the site is slated to house up to 3 million square feet of retail, studio, office and post-production space.

"It is a fabulous state-of-the-art facility," agreed Rhonda Silverstone, manager of the Toronto Film and Television Office.

"It will make the city more competitive. We feel it will help the city as a whole and even other studios. If you have a huge production, everybody tends to get a piece of the action," she added.

Toronto Mayor David Miller, who will attend the opening, said Filmport is a vote of confidence in the city's future. "Not only is it going to be a tremendous asset for our screen-based industries, it shows that the broader industry has great confidence in the future of film and television production in Toronto."

Besides accommodating Hollywood blockbusters, Bronfman also committed to giving a boost to Canadian productions.

"A lot of Canadian producers say they won't be able to afford to use Filmport. But if we have the studio space available, we will cut a special deal with them to support Canadian productions."

Filmport's arrival comes at a time when the city's film and production industry is emerging from a slump.

Last year, film and TV production increased to $755 million, up from $704 million in 2006. That's still a far cry from 2000, when Toronto's production peaked at $1.3 billion.

But while competitors in Montreal and Vancouver added larger purpose-built studio space, with government support, Toronto made do with converted warehouses and smaller studios.

Bronfman said Ontario is the only province in Canada lacking the "political will" to provide direct support for its film and TV industry.

In cities such as Regina and Halifax, which have shorter production seasons, provincial governments have funded 100 per cent of studio space, he added.

At the same time, other jurisdictions around the world have introduced generous tax credits to compete with those offered by Ontario, Bronfman said, noting 40 U.S. states now offer some incentives for filmmakers.

The rise of the Canadian dollar, once well below par with the U.S. dollar, has also diminished the competitive advantage of Canadian cities like Toronto.

[koolio]

Was about to watch the report on its opening ceremony yesterday on CBC. The report had some technical difficulties so they cut it short and contrary to their promise, never showed it again.

Any ways, this is great news and I do hope, like the rest of you guys, that this acts as a catalyst not only to revive interest from south of the border but also to kick start a renaissance of the Canadian film industry itself.

[globetrekker]

Does anyone have recent photos of Filmport? How is the landscape coming along?

[Mollywood]

Is Filmport even open? We have gotten very little information about Filmport, what's going on here? With the Canadian dollar dropping, I'm sure it will only help this complex get movies.

[Me Too]

If anyone wants to check out the site they are having an artshow there until Oct. 18 and it is open to the public:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/518109

[taal]

As far as I'm aware only part of it is open but that part is taking bookings now ... not sure what if anything is booked as of this momentum.