WITH ONTARIO REVENUE FROM TV AND MOVIES SET TO GROW IN 2016, TORONTO MAYOR HEADS TO HOLLYWOOD.
Toronto mayor looking to boost city’s film revenue
John Tory, the mayor of Toronto, is set to announce Monday that he will travel to Hollywood in advance of the Academy Awards, to drum up more business for Toronto’s booming film and television industry.
Given Tory’s buttoneddown demeanour, the trip will likely be less wild than the previous trip by a Toronto mayor to Los Angeles. Two years ago Rob Ford made a splash on both sides of the border when t he t hen- mayor, dogged by a scandal about smoking crack cocaine, showed up on Jimmy Kimmel Live around the time of the Oscars, dressed in a black suit, black shirt and red tie. “Why are you dressed like a magician?” the host joked.
Tory’s trip to Tinseltown comes as Toronto, partly spurred by the l ow Canadian dollar, i s breaking records for film and television production. On top of a great deal of domestic Canadian production, Toronto has a slew of U. S. television shows shooting right now, including Reign, a CBS historical fantasy romance about the early years in France of Mary, Queen of Scotts.
Sources say Tory will use the castle in west Toronto where crews shoot Reign as his backdrop to announce his trip to Hollywood. Toronto film industry players including Jim Mirkopoulos, whose family owns Cinespace, will join Tory on his trip to California.
On Thursday Tory plans “an Evening with Canada’s Stars” at the Four Seasons Beverley Hills, with a red carpet and reception, followed by a supper. The invitation to supper reads, “Please j oin our Toronto Film Famiglia as our special guest at a private dinner hosted by Mayor John Tory, 7: 30-10 p. m. at Terroni West Hollywood on Beverly Boulevard.”
Sponsors f or t he dinner include Canada Film Capital, Technicolor, the Shangri- La Hotel Toronto, William F. White and Pinewood Toronto Studios, the city of Toronto and others.
Mirkopoulos in an email praised Tory’s efforts for Toronto’s film and television industry.
“I would say, in his relatively short time as mayor, he has shown our industry more care and attention than any other previous mayor, and this trip to Los Angeles is designed as being far more sales and appreciation-oriented than any previous mayor’s trip.”
Guillermo del Toro, the Mexican film maker, has made Toronto his home in the past few years and produced in the big science fiction film Pacific Rim in the city. Del Toro is now in the third season of a horror drama show for TV’s FX channel, called The Strain, also shooting at Toronto’s Cinespace.
Domestic and foreign film and TV companies spent $1.3 billion in Ontario last year, even though the Ontario Liberals cut the industry tax incentive from 25 per cent to 21.5 per cent in the 2015 budget. Mirkopoulos thinks that the industry here will probably surpass that total for production in 2016.
Michele Alosinac, the film sector development officer for the Toronto Film, Television and Digital Media Office, confirmed in an email that, “the Mayor will be heading to LA. There will be a press announcement on Monday afternoon .”
Sensitive labour negotiations with the city’s unionized employees have affected the mayor’s comfort with announcing the L. A. trip. The city reached a tentative deal with 5,400 outside workers on Friday.
Bloomberg News reported recently that foreign production spending in Ontario rose to $ 503.6 million in 2014. In British Columbia, spending for the year ended in March eclipsed $ 2 billion based on the latest tax credit applications, surging almost 40 per cent from a year earlier.
HE HAS SHOWN OUR INDUSTRY MORE CARE AND ATTENTION.