Pinewood Shepperton introduced itself to the Toronto studio market with equal part swagger and reserve, as befits a British studio giant. ‘Our role is to use the experience that we’ve gathered over 75 years and work with the management team and skills in the Toronto market to bring as much production as we can to Toronto,’ Pinewood Shepperton CEO Ivan Dunleavy said as he unveiled a five-year management pact with the newest investors, including the City of Toronto, at the former Filmport complex.

Dunleavy stressed Pinewood Shepperton’s long history with marquee properties like the James Bond and Harry Potter franchises to underline the muscle it will bring to marketing the rebranded Toronto Film Studios facility in the U.S. and elsewhere internationally. As part of its sales and marketing deal, Pinewood Shepperton will earn fees based on the revenue it generates by filling the studio’s seven soundstages.

Pinewood Shepperton named Edith Myers to run Pinewood Toronto Studios as its managing director, reporting to chairman and minority investor Paul Bronfman. The British studio giant will also use its London-based sales and marketing team to help market the Toronto studio. Myers and her team replace outgoing Filmport president Ken Ferguson, who has sold his stake in the studio.

Dunleavy said his three British studios have around 310 equipment and service suppliers on their lots, and that Pinewood Shepperton envisions a similar clustering of suppliers and jobs at its Toronto studio.

Dunleavy danced around the question of whether Pinewood Shepperton may take an equity stake in the Toronto studio. ‘We have a sales and marketing agreement now. I don’t rule out or rule in how that may change, and I think our task right now is to bring as much film and TV production work as we can into the Toronto market,’ he said.

It didn’t take long for Pinewood Shepperton to land in the political briar patch that has long surrounded the high-end Toronto studio.

‘Cinespace welcomes competition but wonders how local studios are supposed to compete against a taxpayer-subsidized studio,’ Steve Mirkopoulos, president of the competing studio, said as Pinewood Shepperton rode into town.

But Dunleavy insisted the rising tide that Pinewood Shepperton aims to bring Toronto will lift all boats.