Fueled by a high volume of both foreign features and indigenous commercial production and a low Canadian dollar, business for film studios in Toronto has rarely boomed louder than this summer.

But that doesn’t mean that a bevy of new studios and facilities should be built to accommodate the current overrun of production, says Peter Lukas, principal of Toronto’s Showline Studios and chair of the Ontario Film and Television Studio Owner’s Association.

‘What is required is controlled growth,’ says Lukas. Lukas is not alone in the sentiment that although things are prosperous right now, a significant slowdown and/or recession could be right around the corner.

‘It’s been a good year, and we’re surviving but we can’t forget the past,’ says Nick Mirkopoulos, principal of Cinespace Studios, which has four stages at its Marine Terminal facility and two at its Kleinburg studios.

‘Building a studio has to make good economical sense,’ says Mirkopoulos, who adds that he and other studio owners, who have weathered the business fluctuations without government support, are strongly opposed to the building of any new facilities that would access government funds.

Government survey

There have been rumblings that both the municipal and provincial governments have been exploring the possibility of helping to finance the construction of new facilities in Toronto but no concrete plans have been announced. A mega entertainment complex at the old Downsview airport site reportedly has some 600,000 sq. ft. set aside for studio space.

The possibility of a u.s. studio being part of the Downsview property deal or building its own facility is among the concerns of Toronto studio owners.

‘I could put $2 million into the construction of a new sound stage, but I’m not sure what competition is coming through these potential new stages,’ says Eric Mischuk, co-owner of Lakeshore Studios, which rents its one stage almost exclusively to the commercial industry.

Lukas says the government is considering doing a study because it perceives there is a studio shortage, but he feels that a new studio would result in an oversupply of space.

‘That (shortage or surplus) varies from year to year,’ he points out. ‘This has been a bumper year but the only way that anyone could afford to do a major complex would be with the use of public funds. When you start using our tax dollars to compete with us, that tilts the playing field substantially. It’s unfair competition. We have built studios for 25 years using our own money and conventional financing.’

Rental rates and activity

For Lukas’ Showline Studios, which now includes a stable of seven stages in the gta, the biggest change has been Showline’s reacquisition of Trinity Studios from the City of Toronto. Lukas says the facility is earmarked to be used primarily by commercial production, which accounts for between 50% and 65% of his overall business. And although a commercial crew was the first to use the facility when it reopened, Trinity was most recently home to the u.s. feature Bride of Chucky (Universal).

The brunt of Showline’s remaining studio rentals go to big-budget u.s. features. Lukas says that Canadian features and series productions usually end up renting warehouse space because they generally don’t have the budget to pay his rates, which he admits are the highest around. But Lukas says that his last rate increase was in September 1996 due to renovations and improvements.

‘You can’t buy a Jaguar [at] a Chevy price,’ he says.

‘People have come into a more realistic rate.’ There has been a moderate increase, he adds, but in New York and l.a., the cost of production has increased overall by 30% to 35%.

Mirkopoulos says his rental rates have increased by about 7% over the last four years but that he has added improvements worth much more, including installing air conditioning in all of his facilities recently.

‘Five and six years ago, I used to rent offices at $1.10 a square foot per month, and even though taxes have gone up, I rent them at the same rate today,’ says Mirkopoulos, who notes that only office rates at the Marine Terminal have increased by 7%.

During his 11 years in business, Mirkopoulos says that 414 feature films have used his facilities and that American features make up 90% of his business. His studios have recently housed productions including Three To Tango, Storm of The Century and Good Will Hunting. Canadian productions rarely use his facilities, he says, because they lack the budget.

Under new management

A new player at an old address in the studio game is the Toronto Film Studios, which under new management and ownership has embarked on a major upgrade campaign in a bid to create public awareness about the improved facility.

Housed at 629 Eastern Avenue, the 15 shooting studios, ranging from 1,500 to 24,500 square feet, are now owned by publicly traded real estate parent company The Rose Corporation. It bought the property in January from the cibc which was running the facility after taking it over from Mirkopoulos, the previous owner .

‘We’re open for business and we plan to serve our tenants in the same fashion that we do in other ventures,’ says Ken Ferguson, vice-president at Toronto Film Studios.

With $500,000 worth of renovations completed and another half-million’s worth expected by the end of the calendar year, Ferguson says tfs plans to cater to the clients’ needs in a way that will be new in the studio business. The civil engineer sees the synergy between studio rentals and hotels, which account for much of The Rose Corp.’s business. ‘We’re not film people, but we understand serving short-term tenants and that’s why we bought the property.’

Fifty percent of tfs’ facilities are currently being used by Atlantis’ Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict, which has a two-year lease. tfs is also housing the Atlantis pilot Justice. The rest of the facilities are generally rented to u.s. productions including an hbo period piece Vendetta, which is also renting some upgraded office space.

Improvements already completed include an overall cleanup, upgraded power, air conditioning as well as office space, with plans to pave the facility’s large parking lot and add fencing to increase the level of security.

Clark reports that while rental fees are currently stagnant, he expects an increase next year.

Although nothing is definite, Ferguson says that tfs is talking to some major u.s. studios about long-term lease agreements or a potential equity investment. tfs is also in discussions with the owners of adjacent properties exploring expansion plans. Ferguson reports that the studio is also considering constructing a broadcast television studio facility that cooking and magazine shows could rent.

One tfs asset that appears to already be paying off is the permanent stage of an interior airplane cabin. tfs bought the cabin from the 20th Century Fox production of Pushing Tin and now rents it to a variety of clients.

The interior can be shot from a number of angles and includes color corrected lights. The cabin can also be shot from the exterior and was most recently used by the Pebblehut production of My Father’s Shadow.