Toronto is losing out to Vancouver and Montreal on high- end u.s. productions coming to Canada, and industry insiders agree the state of the city’s studios is largely to blame.

The types of Hollywood projects Toronto has traditionally hosted include low-budget features, mows, and series. But the relatively strong u.s. dollar, ofdc production tax credits and a reputation for technically proficient film crews have succeeded in luring some heavy-hitters as well.

But according to Adam Ostry, ceo of the ofdc, the number of blockbusters filming in town could be much higher.

In the week of June 23, there were 41 film and tv productions – u.s. and Canadian – shooting in what is a record year for Toronto production, but the only one Ostry would qualify as ‘high-end’ is the Sylvester Stallone race car movie Champs (a.k.a. Driven) and a big reason for that film shooting in the city was to incorporate action from the Molson Indy.

Early in July, the Globe & Mail reported Toronto being booked solid, leaving productions in need of soundstage space to look elsewhere. In addition to this lack of space, Ostry believes Toronto studios are not cutting-edge enough.

‘In order for the Toronto industry to compete effectively globally, it needs the physical infrastructure that will allow it to make high-end effects-driven films, and in Canada today those features tend to be made in Vancouver and Montreal,’ he says.

Ostry points out that those cities have the advantage in that their studios are custom-built, whereas Toronto studios are mostly small converted warehouse spaces.

‘Some have pillars, some are poorly insulated, some have low ceilings. They can’t accommodate the high-end projects, which are driving industry activity, employing the most labor, using the latest technology, and paying the most.’

Ostry says Toronto needs custom-built studio complexes with 40,000 square feet of space and 80-foot ceilings.

The biggest project Toronto has seen lately is Fox’s super-hero opus X-Men, which had over 90 shooting days in late ’99 to early 2000. The production required all three soundstages at Showline Harbourside Studios, which usually rents out to three separate projects. And even that wasn’t enough – spill-over work from the film went to Cinespace’s Marine Terminal 28 and a tv studio at cbc.

In a recent interview with American Cinematographer, X-Men dop Newton Thomas Sigel lamented that Toronto studios were not big enough for the film to achieve some scenes as planned. The crew was forced to downsize sets, replace mechanical effects with cgi, and compromise lighting and camera angles.

Local industry players acknowledge Sigel’s complaints.

‘He’s absolutely right,’ says Bill White, president of production equipment supplier William F. White, who adds, ‘Vancouver and Montreal are far ahead of us.’

Starting as a full-service lighting and grip company, wfw has branched out to offer studio space in Montreal, most notably at the recently-opened Cine Cite Montreal. Cine Cite has just signed on the mgm us$85 million remake of Rollerball, which makes it one of the largest films yet to shoot in Canada.

White says he is interested in opening a studio in Toronto, but it won’t happen until the municipal or provincial governments begin to offer the financial incentives studios in b.c. and Quebec enjoy.

‘Without that subsidy from the government in some way, shape or form, it’s just not viable,’ he says. ‘Studios don’t make money on their own – they need a subsidy from somewhere. But they sure do attract a lot of dollars into this community.’

White insists that if wfw were able to get a new state-of-the-art studio off the ground, the resulting work that would be generated would pump $100 million annually into the local economy.*