Ontario film and TV industry players have returned from a four-day whirlwind visit to Los Angeles to woo future work by American senior production executives and FX supervisors to the province.

“What we heard from the studios makes us think 2011 will be a very good year,” Kristine Murphy, the director of industry development at the Ontario Media Development Corp., told Playback Daily.

The January 10 to 13 marketing mission, sponsored by Film Ontario, the city of Toronto and the OMDC, took place as Hollywood studios and U.S. indies shoot fewer movies on lower budgets, but are helping fuel a rebound in foreign location shooting in Ontario.

What’s more, Columbia Pictures’ $200 million Total Recall movie is to shoot in Toronto from May 15.

“We’re confident. It’s a range of productions that we believe Ontario will be home to this coming year, whether a potential tent-pole, or TV or digital. We can deliver across the board, regardless of the size of production,” Murphy added.

OMDC manager of film Donna Zuchlinski said the production mission touted the familiarity and permanence of Ontario’s all-spend film and TV tax credit, compared to the instability of tax credits in rival U.S. states like New Mexico and Michigan.

“We talked about how we deliver on our promises in Ontario. We will tell you the truth. If there’s a challenge, we will say that up front. The industry is working together to deliver a first class product,” Zuchlinski said, recalling the Ontario industry pitch last week to Hollywood players.

The Ontario contingent held a breakfast business forum in Los Angeles, and made sure to have Ontario producers and other players currently doing business stateside on hand.

And the production mission held a panel discussion in front of around 100 Hollywood production representatives to also pitch Americans on Ontario’s production and post facilities.

Photo: Nserrano.