Toronto’s Portlands and Great Lakes Studios may have resolved their face-off just in time to find another mega-studio staring them in the face only 40 minutes west.

Hamilton Film Studios is a $30-million, 500,000-square-foot facility near Hamilton Harbour that will be open for business in the new year. Principals include president Steve Pelosini, VP Sei Ki and partner Michael Corrado.

When the studio’s opening was officially announced Dec. 9, 75% of the proposed facilities were already fully functional, says Susan Coverdale, business development consultant for the City of Hamilton Film Liaison Office.

‘[It is] in such an advanced stage of construction that once the industry starts to peak in April, absolutely every facet of the studio will be open,’ says Coverdale.

Financial backing for HFS comes from Ki, Pelosini, Corrado and additional Hamilton-based funders that HFS principals would not name.

At press time, representatives from the Toronto studios had limited information on HFS, but were unconcerned about increased competition. This summer, Great Lakes, a joint effort from Paul Bronfman’s Comweb Group and partner Paul Vaughan’s Studios of America, was revamped to specialize in FX-heavy production, helping to quash fears that competing mega-studios might be more than Toronto production volumes could handle.

‘I don’t think it’s going to be a problem,’ says Bronfman, co-CEO of Great Lakes. ‘Choice and options for producers are a good thing, so I don’t see the Hamilton studio as competitive, really, with anything in Toronto.’ Great Lakes is expected to open sometime in 2004.

Jeffrey Steiner, president and CEO of the Toronto Economic Development Corporation, which is spearheading the Portlands project, says Hamilton is far enough away from Toronto that HFS will not be a direct competitor.

Updating the Portlands development, Steiner says that five groups have submitted proposals and are currently being considered to develop and operate the studio: Castlepoint Developments has teamed up with the U.K.’s Pinewood Shepperton Studios; Olympia and York Properties has joined forces with the Comweb Group; and Giffels Design Build has partnered with Raleigh Enterprises of Raleigh Studios in California. The Rose Corporation, which owns Toronto Film Studios, has also submitted a proposal, as has Toronto’s Cinespace Studios. According to Steiner, the successful proposal will be announced in early January.

Beyond being ready for business, HFS offers producers the additional incentive of a 10% regional bonus on Ontario labor expenditures for indigenous producers and 3% for foreign.

‘I wouldn’t want to take second place, but I think there’s room for everyone in this industry,’ says Pelosini.

Production volumes in Hamilton have been growing steadily and Coverdale says the city is attractive to producers not only because it is a cost-effective alternative to Toronto, but also because it provides easy access to a variety of urban and rural exterior locations that haven’t been overshot.

Twenty-six productions with a total of 176 shoot days shot in Hamilton in 2001. In 2002, there were 58 productions with 834 shoot days, and as of Oct. 31 this year, the city had hosted 46 productions with 566 shoot days.

In the past, most productions shooting in Hamilton have looked to Toronto for studio space. For example, Paramount Pictures’ yet-to-be-released Against the Ropes, starring Meg Ryan, shot in Hamilton’s Copps Coliseum, but was based out of Toronto Film Studios. Now HFS offers producers the option of staying in Hamilton for studio shoots.

HFS is housed in the old Studebaker building near Burlington Street and the Hamilton Harbour. Pelosini says working with an existing building has been a huge advantage, and one of the main reasons the project has come together so quickly. Ki and Pelosini say they started thinking about a studio in Hamilton two years ago and spent a year looking for the right location.

The facility is large enough to handle big-budget features, but will also target smaller productions, including commercial and television series work.

In addition to a permanent 130- x 30-foot green screen, motion-capture and CGI studios, HFS will also offer a variety of on-site amenities, including edit suites, a specialty set-construction company, as well as equipment and lighting rentals. There will also be a private CGI college on site, which Pelosini and Ki will run with Brent George, formerly of Toybox in Toronto.