A database of 700,000 photos that for 12 years has helped producers scout locations around Ontario and, especially, in Toronto could be lost when Absolute Location Support Services closes its library on April 1.

Absolute managing director Paul Kenyon blames the steep fall in Ontario film and TV production in recent years for the decision to shutter his photo lending library service.

Kenyon says he has only one offer for his photo database, from Toronto-based location broker Content, which reps a host of city-wide office buildings willing to rent their space out for movie and TV shoots.

The Ontario Media Development Corporation, which has maintained a rival locations library service with 8,300 files for 10 years, recently declined an offer to purchase the Absolute database and merge it with its own.

The government agency in a statement said half of the Absolute location images were already in the OMDC database, that hiring a software company to merge the two digital libraries would be costly, and that Kenyon’s asking price was ‘significant.’

It is also understood that the OMDC would face additional costs for data cleanup and legal requirements as an Ontario government agency.

Kenyon hopes another player will step forward to buy his database, otherwise it will be lost to the industry forever.

‘If Content buys [the database], it will serve me well, but it will serve the industry poorly,’ he says.

Kenyon says he doesn’t favor location brokers as they add to industry costs. Typically, commercial real estate developers, not wanting to deal individually with film scouts, recruit a broker like Content to arrange location shoots on their property in return for a sizable finder’s fee.

Under Absolute’s business model, possible locations pay $250 for photographs of the site to be taken and added to its location database. Film scouts then pay a nominal subscription fee to access the database. Kenyon then made real money by renting support vehicles, portable potties and other equipment to producers.

Absolute last year moved its database operation, with one librarian, to a smaller downtown Toronto facility to save on operating costs. But the production downturn means the Absolute database no longer makes business sense for Kenyon.

He adds Absolute could continue to run the location database on a service contract to ensure wide accessibility for the local film and TV industry.

‘I don’t want 12 years of hard work and 7,000 location files to go to waste,’ he says.

___________________________

This story has been corrected. The database consists of 700,000 photos, not 7,000 as originally reported. There are roughly 100 photos for each location.