Competition for U.S. film shoots is fierce, and Hollywood producers are warning Toronto to take note.

‘I get a distinct feeling that the City of Toronto is more interested in real estate development than it is in the film industry,’ says Dan Heffner, exec producer of the Saw film franchise, referring to various waterfront developments affecting studio space in Toronto this summer.

The Ontario Media Development Corporation website lists 24 current shoots, including the features The Incredible Hulk (Marvel Studios), The Rocker (Rocan Productions), Flash of Genius (Spyglass Entertainment), American Pie Presents Beta House (Learning Productions) and The Love Guru (Paramount).

Productions of the scale of the Hulk sequel – reportedly in the US$100-million range – bring in mega bucks when they do come to Toronto, but it is producers like Heffner who are the bread and butter of the Toronto service industry, with repeat business of pictures in the US$10-million range.

‘In the ’80s, there was nothing the city wouldn’t do to get you here,’ Heffner explains. ‘The film commission would fly you up, give you the tour and help you scout. Now you have to beg and plead.’

Since 1986, Heffner (then with Disney), has brought films such as Three Men and a Baby and Cocktail to shoot in Toronto. More recent pics include the upcoming thriller P2 and installments two through four in the Saw franchise. He is undecided where he will shoot Saw V.

Production of Saw IV was unceremoniously bumped when the Toronto Economic Development Corporation delivered an eviction notice in December to one of the city’s largest studios to be off the premises just two months later. Heffner and other producers who had booked space in Cinespace’s 140,000-square-foot Marine Terminal 28 had to scramble to find other stages on short notice. The production relocated, but MT 28 is still sitting idle.

The coveted waterfront property is earmarked for a new Corus Entertainment office headquarters, according to TEDCO president Jeffrey Steiner. ‘The site is being prepared now and the shovels will be in the ground by the end of August,’ he says. This project is not connected to soundstages for the service industry.

TEDCO owns the land and ran the competition for architectural bids, which was won by Jack Diamond, co-chair of Toronto Mayor David Miller’s 2003 election campaign.

Hollywood exec producer Garrett Grant tells Playback that since MT 28 closed, ‘There’s only one true studio space in Toronto, and that’s Showline [Harbourside Studios],’ where he shot the recently released Hairspray last year. He agrees that the forthcoming Filmport megastudio will help the Toronto space crunch, ‘but the tax breaks in some of the [American] states have now leveled the playing field, especially with the Canadian dollar so high.’

(At press time, the loonie was worth nearly $0.96 against the greenback.)

Construction is underway on the $60-million phase one of Filmport, which will include 260,000 square feet of production office space and seven soundstages on some 11 acres of land. That includes a 45,500-square-foot mega-stage, touted as ‘the largest purpose-built soundstage in North America,’ with more than one acre of vertical column-free space and a 60-foot ceiling.

Filmport, situated on TEDCO land, is slated to open March 31, 2008.

Filmport now owns Toronto Film Studios, according to Ken Ferguson, president of both. Filmport has three shareholders: the former TFS parent company (The Rose Corporation), Ferguson’s own unnamed company and a subsidiary of Paul Bronfman’s Comweb Group.

‘We’ve got over $30 million equity in the project now,’ explains Ferguson. ‘I can see that [investment] going upwards to $100 million. We want to be well-financed so we’re not having any difficulty building, phase after phase.’

Ferguson is referring to a potentially larger Filmport project that could cost up to $700 million. However, there are no actual dates planned for a second phase.

‘We’ll follow the market,’ Ferguson explains. ‘There is not a phase two that’s carved out. We’ll see what we need more of. It will be an ongoing program.’ Ferguson says the partners have no plans to seek a public offering.

In a separate deal last September, Rose sold some of its primary TFS studio land at 629 Eastern Avenue (117,900 square feet of soundstage space) to SmartCentres (a land developer connected to box stores including Wal-Mart). TFS, currently housing the production of The Incredible Hulk, leases the lands and buildings from Rose and SmartCentres. A request for rezoning of the land is before the City of Toronto, and producers want assurances that Filmport will open before TFS closes down.

‘By the time Filmport opens, we expect that all new productions will strongly prefer to be at Filmport, not 629 Eastern,’ says Ferguson. ‘As productions wrap at 629 Eastern, they may simply not be replaced. It depends on demand for space.’

Skinwalkers producer Don Carmody voices the opinion of many when he states: ‘Filmport had better be open before Toronto Film Studios closes.’ Carmody is preparing to shoot a feature called The Echo in Toronto at Cinespace’s Booth Avenue studios.

Meanwhile, U.K. giant Pinewood Studios Group announced in April that it also plans to build five stages in Toronto. However, officials did not return calls for comment.