Toronto space has so far to attract Hollywood major
TORONTO -- Filmport, Toronto's mega-studio and a possible white knight for its isolated film-production sector, opened its doors Wednesday with just one problem -- no studio tenant.
Phase 1 of the $60 million studio complex, which comprises seven-spot stages covering 260,000 square feet of blank, is so far without a Hollywood major on board as the studio-SAG contract dialogue in Los Angeles drag on.
Filmport Studios president Ken Ferguson predicts the complex will fill up one time the major league reach a new consider with the actors guild.
"In these challenging times for the Toronto film manufacture, we required a boost. We hope Filmport fanny play a role in putting Toronto where it belongs, back on top," he aforementioned at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Mayor David Miller and Canadian theater director David Cronenberg.
Filmport, which includes a pillar-free 46,500-square-foot stage for effects-heavy studio pictures, already has chartered out power space to George A. Romero's "Diary of the Dead 2," which is shooting on location in Toronto.
Additionally, Universal is eyeing Filmport for its "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" externalize, which is based on a amusing by local writer Bryan Lee O'Malley and congeal in Toronto. But with the Canadian dollar at near-parity with the American greenback, and New York offering a 35% tax credit, Universal producers besides are considering the Big Apple as a stand in for Toronto.
Paul Bronfman, chairman of Comweb, which has a near-half stake in Filmport, said that the mega-studio and Toronto will have to work operose to secure big-budget studio apartment shoots after a SAG deal is inked.
"It will be tough. But we'll find a way," Bronfman said.
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