The City of Toronto must step up in support of its production studios. Not just some, but all.

Toronto’s municipal government does not have a sparkling history when it comes to contributing to the city’s soundstage infrastructure. Meanwhile, Vancouver and Montreal have been able to open large, purpose-built studios with the aid of municipal and provincial tax breaks and sweetheart real estate deals.

The result? Well, just look at the latest North American box-office charts. Twentieth Century Fox’s Fantastic Four, the top movie in the land, chose to shoot in Vancouver. It’s the kind of top-drawer Hollywood blockbuster that hasn’t been Toronto’s way since X-Men, which shot in Hogtown back in 1999/00. And the city is not likely to see another high-spending production like it until the long-awaited opening of the megastudio in the Port Lands area, which will be able to accommodate an FX-laden action film of this scope.

To be fair, both city and Ontario officials have recently demonstrated that, yes, they recognize that a healthy film industry is a strong contributor to the local economy. The province led all others in raising its production tax credits back in December, and the impact has been immediate.

While last summer saw moderate summer guest film activity in the province, this summer the streets of Toronto are bursting at the seams with Hollywood shoots.

Adding to this good news is the fact the megastudio is reportedly on track to open its doors in 2006/07, spearheaded by Toronto Film Studios, which is finalizing its lease deal with the Toronto Economic Development Corporation, which controls the Port Lands. Meanwhile, the massive Great Lakes Studio is retrofitting an old power station on Lake Ontario and is also eyeing a launch date next year.

TEDCO has made some concessions to get the megastudio off the ground, granting TFS head Ken Ferguson a non-competition clause in the Port Lands area.

This bodes well for local crews, service providers, post shops and ancillary businesses, and it interestingly coincides with the city’s plans for waterfront revitalization. Part of the fallout of this latter initiative is that some of the existing studios and production service companies located on the lakeshore will have to leave. Cinespace Film Studios, for one, has known for a while that it is going to have to relocate, while Showline Harbourside Studios, which hosted X-Men’s biggest action scenes, expects an eviction notice.

Several of the affected businesses are plenty angry about these developments, and understandably so. Not one month ago, at a City Hall meeting of stakeholders, TEDCO sidestepped questions about whether or not TFS had a non-competition clause. They were also asked whether the fact that other lakefront studio owners’ leases had gone to month-to-month was an indication that they were about to be given the boot. Mayor David Miller told the room, ‘This facility will not cause anyone to be evicted anywhere.’

Fine, it’s not the megastudio, but rather the waterfront revitalization that is forcing these other studio owners to leave, but the end result is the same. Does the city not see that it nonetheless looks like it is giving preferential treatment to the megastudio while leaving the others hanging out to dry? The other studio owners are not even able to move forward on relocating their facilities, as bankers are reluctant to provide financing until they have a greater grasp of what the megastudio’s impact on the local industry will be.

Studios such as Cinespace and Showline have played a crucial role in building Toronto’s guest production business over the years. This summer alone, Cinespace has seen or will see the likes of Hollywood projects The Sentinel, Truth, Justice and the American Way, Zoom, Solace and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

Some stakeholders have suggested that the best thing these displaced studios can do is to all move into one area along with service providers, creating a municipal hotbed of film production. Not only would such a neighborhood increase efficiencies, but it would also provide physical evidence to Hollywood that all its production needs can be met in town.

So, the question now is: just as TEDCO has offered up a favorable deal to TFS for the megastudio, what is the city going to do for the other studio owners? City Hall has not been forthcoming on this and it must clarify the situation. Hollywood executives will be monitoring these events.

Even if the megastudio was to host X-Men 4 or Fantastic Four 2, Toronto seems poised to attract mid-range Hollywood films, which have been the backbone of its service business since the 1990s, for years to come. If the city focuses all its efforts on attracting the blockbusters at the risk of losing the many mid-ranged productions, then in the end it will not have profited at all.