Toronto to reassure LA on film studio resources

Toronto is Canada’s main production hub and is also one of the busiest filming centres in North America, but the city is under pressure to provide more studio facilities.

“We heard that issue last year and things are happening to address that and we can send that message,” said Jim Mirkopoulos, president of Cinespace Film Studios Toronto, in comments to the outlet.

“We don’t want to be turning productions away because our film studio facilities are full and we are at peak infrastructure capacity.”

Cinespace Film Studios Toronto offers more than 750,000 sq ft of production space at its flagship site and has recently hosted TV shows 12 Monkeys, The Strain and a short-lived series adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi movie Minority Report.

Pinewood Studios also has a Toronto facility and has recently hosted the DC/Warner Bros. action film Suicide Squad (pictured) and the Oscar-winning journalism movie Spotlight. New Star Trek TV series Discovery is scheduled to move into production at Pinewood in the coming months.

The usual strategy in the world’s major filming hubs is to ensure that vacant or otherwise un-used industrial buildings are made available as production spaces, if only on a short-term basis.

Los Angeles executives are looking for reassurance that Ontario’s filming incentive programme has long-term stability and will support potential multi-year runs of TV dramas. They also want to know that production spaces are available to cater for increased local demand.

Image: Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc/Ratpac-Dune Entertainment/Ratpac Entertainment