Members of the Toronto production community have expressed concern over the use of brokers in the locations process for commercial or long-form shoots, but the Ontario Film Development Corporation is not supporting the efforts being made to limit the activities of brokers here.

According to members of the Film Industry Liaison Committee, which has collectively disagreed with the ofdc’s practice of including brokered locations in its library, location brokering adds expense to productions and carries long-term negative repercussions for the viability of the production industry here.

The Directors Guild of Canada, Ontario District Council has issued a letter asking members not to use brokered properties unless specifically instructed to do so by a producer. According to the letter, ‘the use of `brokered’ locations is in most cases not in the best interest of the producer or the Guild member.’

Toronto commercial production shop The Partners’ Film Company has also endorsed the dgc’s position.

flic – which comprises representatives from industry and government sectors, including trade unions, studio owners, locations people, the Commercial Production Association and the cftpa – met with the ofdc representatives recently to address location brokering.

Members of flic maintain that the inclusion of location brokered photo files in the ofdc library runs counter to the mandate of that organization, which flic members argue is a publicly funded body and should therefore be serving the best interests of the industry as a whole, not the imperatives of individual brokers.

The ofdc argued in the meeting that the brokered properties meet a demand for high-end locations, that action against the brokers could have potential legal consequences, and concluded that it would continue to offer producers the choice to receive brokered files.

Typically, a location manager is responsible for location services and protecting the interests of property owners, with the production company liable for any damages while shooting takes place.

Brokers are third-party agents who represent properties to location managers and producers. Expenses for locations staff and services are incurred by the production house whether a broker is used or not, with brokers typically taking about a 10% to 15% commission for locating properties for a production.

Brokers add no value to the locations process, says Paul Kenyon of Absolute Location Support Services. They assume no liability for damages, he says, but do add cost to the process, which could have a long-term effect on the health of the production industry.

Kenyon says there have been incidences of properties as much as doubling in price when they become broker-represented, with no change in the physical status of the property.

A small handful of location brokers currently operates in Toronto, but the practice has assumed a greater profile of late.

Shelley Blechman, owner of Film Locations, is a prolific broker in the Toronto market, providing high-end properties to commercial and long-form projects. Blechman says her service benefits the production company and the location manager and does not introduce arbitrary cost increases to the process.

She says she offers potential time – and money – savings to producers resulting from a reduction in search time for a property with specific characteristics.

Blechman says she provides much needed high-end properties and locations which cannot be accessed by any other means, and adds that she had been encouraged by the ofdc to develop the market for million-dollar homes, which was lacking in the province’s locations repertoire.

Currently, Blechman’s locations files are archived separately in the ofdc library.

As a cautionary example of the negative effect of locations brokers, Partners’ points to the l.a. film market where location costs have skyrocketed.

In l.a. there have been instances in which whole neighborhoods enter into reciprocal agreements, forcing productions to compensate, for instance, every homeowner in a given area so the producers can obtain a permit to shoot in a single residence. The practice has resulted in litigation and production relocations, with some u.s. studios no longer allowing the use of brokered properties on their projects.

Kenyon says he has met with a representative of the California State Film Commission, who strongly advised against widespread use of location brokers, saying it could turn an attractive production location into a detriment.