With beaming lights and rich brocade curtains as the backdrop, a suave, overly slick announcer in a tux takes centre stage flanked by two beautiful blondes in evening gowns. With the over-the-top opulence and glamor reminiscent of the Oscar Awards clearly established, the host calls out the nominees. And no, its not Leonardo DiCaprio or Tom Hanks who top the list but rather North America’s most glamorous cities – New York, l.a., Vancouver. After letting anticipation build, the host – barely containing himself – yells out the winning city, and it’s none other than Toronto.

And who better to accept the award on the city’s behalf than its very own Mega-Mayor, Mel Lastman, who fumbles away at the curtains to find his way out into the glaring lights. Very much surprised and a little stunned by all the hoopla, the mayor is taken to the podium accompanied by the blonde bombshells. But as soon as the microphone is in his hand, all shyness is gone, and the mayor is into his old ‘Mr. Showbiz’ self, launching into a speech thanking the people of Toronto for their support of the filmmaking industry. When the announcer cuts him short with a condescending, ‘Wrap it up, Olivier,’ the feisty politician lashes back with ‘Why don’t you wrap up that suit,’ and tops off the speech with his trademark ‘Noooobody…’

The spot, titled ‘Oscar,’ was created by Echo Advertising and Hoodoo Films for the Toronto/Ontario Thank You Campaign 2000, which annually (since 1991) pays tribute to the citizens of the city and Ontario as a whole for allowing the film and tv community to use their streets, homes and businesses for location shoots.

The campaign is an initiative of the Ontario Film Development Corporation and the Toronto Film and Television Office, assisted by an advisory committee made up of members from all sectors of the industry and six gta councillors. The crux of the initiative is to recognize the importance of the goodwill of the residents to the booming film and tv production economy. In ’98/’99 alone, more than 50,000 street permits were issued and in excess of $680 million was spent on production in Ontario, most of it centred in Toronto.

‘Oscar’ marks a collaboration of the local commercial, film and tv industries, each donating time, money and equipment to produce the spot, which is being cut as a :60 to play as a trailer in Famous Players, Cineplex, amc and Alliance Atlantis theatres across Ontario. A :30 is being cut for television. So far, Citytv, the New vr, Ontv, Global, cfmt, hgtv, History Television, Life Network and Showcase have agreed to air the spot.

Shot over a day in early December at the Showline Milton Studios, the spot would have cost $80,000 to $100,000 without the generous donations of the community, says Hoodoo executive producer Michael Rosen. The long list of companies lending a hand included William F. White, Ford Models, iatse, Deluxe, Starcraft, Shoots Catering, Trevor Morris Music, dave, etm and Kodak Canada. Panic & Bob edited with some post at toybox. Sound was courtesy of Airwaves and Eyes Post did the transfer.

‘Oscar’ is directed by Echo’s own Barry Avrich. Stanley Mestel served as dop. Rosen executive produced, agency producer is Margaret Callaghan and production producer is Jeff Gowan.

‘We wanted to add more glitz and glamor to this year’s spot and position the people of Toronto in the starring role for giving up their streets,’ says Avrich. ‘So we staged this Oscar-like awards show to give away the supreme highest honor to the City of Toronto, to give something back to the city by putting them on the screen.’

The project came together on a tight timeline, he continues, with two weeks to come up with the creative and the shoot scheduled for 60 days later.

Avrich’s only concern was Mayor Lastman. With the mayor’s tight schedule, there was no rehearsal and a limited number of hours in which he was available. But ‘Action Mayor’ as he became dubbed on set, proved he may have a future career in front of the camera. In no time the crew were treating Lastman like any other actor, yelling out, ‘Hey Mel, move to the left’.

Mireille Watson of Cultural Enterprises International, a company she jointly runs with Catherine Hurley, produced this year’s Toronto/Ontario Thank You Toronto campaign for the ofdc.

Each year the Ontario film and tv industry is asked to donate money to the campaign and the money is given back to the community by funding local charitable projects. Foreign producers who have shot in Ontario over the past year are also asked to give a voluntary levy on a per-project basis, ranging from $200 to $600, depending on the project’s budget.

This year’s campaign goal, says Watson, is to raise in excess of $90,000 from the film and tv community, which will be donated to local charitable and community causes in three Toronto wards and three communities outside Toronto.

A reception and press conference will be held Jan. 31 at the Winter Garden Theatre, where the recipient cities will be honored and the cheques handed out. Local actors will also be on hand as Thank You Campaign ambassadors. Lastman will also join in the celebrations.

The campaign also includes posters on Toronto bus shelters and in buses, and a radio contest on MIX 99.9. A new initiative added this year is the premiere screening of a yet-to-be-determined film on Jan. 29 at Famous Players’ Paramount Theatre.