Miller promoted jobs in Fort William in defending not having competition for TTC subway cars but vehemently opposes the island airport expansion which would see more jobs in Downsview. He is taking the same approach when it comes to the movie industry....
Movie industry taking a beating
January 22, 2007
Is Hollywood North heading for the end?
Jan. 19.
This was an excellent article that finally brought to the fore many of the problems plaguing the Toronto film industry. I've worked in the industry for 14 years. The bonanza years truly are what sustains many of us in an industry constantly battered by events beyond its control, like 9/11, SARS, the rising dollar and government support from all levels for tax incentives and film-friendly policies.
It's very sad indeed, when 2007 was destined to be one of our best boom years ever, that we are now suffering at the hands of events that should be within our control. The ACTRA strike is taking a severe toll on our industry. While it's true that some of the 21,000 actors are still working on productions finishing up from 2006 at a 5 per cent increase, most are not.
The slate for 2007 is empty. We have already lost productions due to the instability created, and many productions that are or may be shopping our city are indeed looking elsewhere.
Another crisis, which has been sidelined by the strike but poses an even greater threat, is the pending closure of Cinespace's Queens Quay E. studios. Whether the ACTRA strike resolves itself tomorrow or three months from now, the loss of this facility for this year will prove devastating. While some future may or may not be recoverable from the effects of the strike, the loss of such a large studio facility from our resources will be crippling and very likely long-lasting.
While the dispute over the two-month notice presented by TEDCO is on the surface a tenancy issue, what's really at stake is 20 per cent of a $1 billion industry. How much available studio space Toronto has dictates how much film work comes through this city.
Cinespace represents roughly 20 per cent of currently available studio space for large- to mid-size productions. No studio will mean 20 per cent fewer productions. The Toronto film industry employs thousands of workers. A 20 per cent cut to available studio space will mean a 20 per cent cut to the industry's employment capacity.
But on top of that, the industry supports thousands of Toronto businesses through its use of local suppliers – from paint and lumber to caterers, clothing stores, cleaners, grocery stores, travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, car and truck rentals, gas stations, furniture stores, department stores, cellphone companies and office suppliers.
We also support Toronto's economy through our location rentals of local residences and businesses for interior and exterior shooting. We pay permits to the city for shooting on local streets. We pay for local services like the TTC, police, hydro, city roads when shooting street exteriors.
This studio is not about tenancy. It's about thousands of jobs, people's livelihoods, their families and futures, and millions and millions of dollars for Toronto businesses and the people who depend on them.
Elis Lam, Toronto
EDITORIAL: This show better be good
By SUN MEDIA
Toronto has officially declared "Lights, camera, action" on the city's forever-stalled waterfront revitalization.
By tossing Cinespace out of its shoreline studio at the foot of Sherbourne St. by Feb. 21, we're now into the action part of this never-ending story.
Cinespace's Pier 28 is a viable, profitable studio doing business in this city. The bright lights of Hollywood have come to the waterside soundstage for movies like Chicago, X-Men and more than 500 other projects.
This is 13,000 sq. metres of much needed production space the city can ill-afford to lose. Cinespace said it had one confirmed production and seven verbal commitments to use the studio, worth big money to the city. From actors to caterers to wardrobe artists, any lost show business is a major blow.
That said, Cinespace is not without blame. The development of the East Bayfront neighbourhood is the centrepiece of Toronto's waterfront redevelopment plans. Tearing down the studio isn't some fantasy storyline, it has to happen for us to have a public, accessible waterfront.
Toronto Economic Development Corp. (TEDCO) claims to have sent the studio an eviction notice two years ago and offered up a space in Etobicoke to put another big studio. Instead, Cinespace hung on, probably figuring work on the waterfront never happens. The studio figured the city and TEDCO were bluffing -- and lost.
"Cinespace is the author of their own misfortune," Mayor David Miller said.
TEDCO is supposed to have a project set to be announced in the next couple of months for the site. Construction will start in April. The schedule for East Bayfront calls for demolition and site preparation to start by the end of this year.
The new stars of the waterfront show have to be a wrecker's ball, bulldozers and cranes or this latest performance on Toronto's waterfront will land in the flop category, next to the rest of the grand designs promised to Torontonians. Failure to launch would also be another massive embarrassment to the city's film industry.
We can't accept that at all.
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