“There’s lots of work going on in the background right now to make sure that we’re ready to welcome all of those productions when they come back,” Karen Thorne Stone, president and CEO of Ontario Creates, tellsWith Hollywood as a key future growth driver, Ontario Creates saw record production activity across the province before the latest industry shutdown caused by the dual strikes, and Ontario has been busy building out its infrastructure with more new studios coming on stream, a larger and...
Assuming the Hollywood strikes are resolved, the Americans will get on flights to Toronto and resume film and TV production in Ontario. What preparations have been made for that return? We’ve heard a lot about major studios and streamers in Hollywood tightening their belts when it comes to their original content spending. Does that mean the Americans will spend less when they return to Ontario, or could return in bigger numbers to exploit available tax credits and other cost savings?
Cutler: One more thing. We’ve done a lot of work in Ontario to develop the municipal film offices and they’ve really come a long way to be able to support productions in a better way, which means partnering with suppliers and vendors to make it easier to do business in those communities, which in turn makes difficult locations very easy to access. And I think that that’s going to be another cost competitive advantage.