Marsha Ann Tate is a freelance researcher and writer focusing on Canada’s film and television industries. She is the author of several books, including Canadian Television Programming Made for the United States Market: A History with Production and Broadcast Data and Wisdom: How to Evaluate and Create Information Quality on the Web, to be published in fall 2008.

When the Filmport studio complex officially opens in Toronto’s Portlands in early June, it will be just the latest in a burgeoning number of new soundstage facilities around the world vying for blockbuster feature film projects. But studio president Ken Ferguson believes his complex’s focus and its cutting-edge technology will help separate it from the pack.

Toronto’s dearth of large-scale studio facilities is frequently cited as the predominant reason for the city’s failure to become a destination for big-budget Hollywood productions. And while Filmport will undoubtedly provide Toronto with much-needed leverage in its quest for more expensive films, the availability of bigger soundstage space alone will unlikely guarantee that the city will achieve its goal.

Toronto faces formidable competition from an eclectic array of cities on most every continent similarly intent on capturing their share of blockbuster shoots. Like Toronto, these communities’ aspirations are principally tied to the construction of new studio facilities, or alternately, the renovation of existing facilities.

Eastern European cities, in particular, are counting heavily upon the construction of studio facilities to spur economic development. Recent major studio projects in Hungary alone include Korda Film Studio, situated on the site of a former missile base near Budapest, and Stern Film Studio and Media Centre, located in Pomaz, a village also in the vicinity of Budapest.

Beyond new soundstages, Hungarian and other eastern European governments also provide generous tax incentives to local and foreign producers who avail themselves of the studio’s services and amenities.

Escalating production costs in North America make eastern European and other overseas studio facilities an increasingly attractive choice, especially for Hollywood producers. In addition, eastern Europe and sundry other foreign regions can provide technical expertise comparable to that available in North America, together with lower overall labor costs and favorable exchange rates.

Major feature films that have recently been lured to this part of the world include The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and G.I. Joe, which shot in Czech Republic, and Eragon, which went to Hungary.

Interestingly, Canadians are playing important roles in several eastern European studio projects. For example, the father-daughter team of Robert and Amy Szabados are principal stakeholders in Hungary’s Stern Film Studio and Media Centre.

However, while owners of such facilities might feel bullish on the state of the production business based on recent international box-office tallies, this can be misleading.

According to 2007 Theatrical Market Statistics, published by the Motion Picture Association of America, worldwide box office reached an unprecedented high of US$26.7 billion last year. But only a small fraction of the total feature films released worldwide each year qualify as ‘big-budget’ productions – ones with price tags of $100 million and more. Consequently, the already stiff competition among studio facilities for these scarce productions will inevitably only intensify over the coming years.

Filmport’s Ferguson acknowledges the difficulties Toronto’s production industry has faced in recent years. Nonetheless, he is confident that once Filmport is up and running, it and the city ‘will become a destination’ for feature films.

He feels that while some of the world’s new studios are looking to be part of more general entertainment centers that aim to attract tourists, Filmport will be more focused on production, which he believes will ultimately be more appealing to Hollywood decision-makers.

‘It really is a practical film and television environment, and the types of companies that will locate around it are all people who are connected with film and television,’ he says.

He points to post-production house Deluxe Toronto looking to relocate outside the studio gates, and the potential influx of lighting, grip, wardrobe and camera companies as well.

He does say that the studio operators will likely introduce ‘some entertainment and restaurants and things like that,’ but the focus is on creating ‘a community specifically for businesses that have similar clients and where there can be these synergies.’

Ferguson also cites Filmport’s state-of-the-art fiber-optic network as another factor that will help distinguish it from ‘people who are just throwing up a box somewhere.’ The studio has been designed to meet the needs of digital-age filmmaking, with extensive fiber-optic cabling throughout the complex that will allow producers to transmit their footage ‘directly either to post-production or to be streamed live’ to other facilities within the complex, the city, or across the globe.

While acknowledging the mounting international studio competition, Ferguson predicts that Vancouver, Montreal, Los Angeles, New York, London and Australia will remain the chief rivals for Filmport and Toronto over the next decade, while other locales are ramping up their infrastructures.

‘Places like Louisiana, New Mexico, Massachusetts – they’re trying to get to where we are,’ Ferguson remarks. Nonetheless, he estimates that process takes 10 years or more. ‘So, right now, even though there are a lot of places that are throwing big tax credits at films, our competition at Filmport, I think, is going to continue to be those areas that have a reputation and bench strength.’

He regards the launch of Filmport as more than merely the arrival of a film studio complex. It also signifies a turning point for Toronto’s production industry. In an era with a growing emphasis on reality television, a high-flying loonie and an increasingly competitive international audiovisual marketplace, Ferguson maintains that Toronto must ‘move up a notch’ from its ‘MOW queen’ status of bygone days.

‘We need to take a step up and take on the next tier of feature films, which is…large feature films, blockbusters – stuff that they can’t do in Louisiana or Massachusetts,’ he contends. ‘Give up that cheap-and-cheerful budget stuff to those other markets and we’ll take on the real filmmaking.’