Proposed multi-million dollar studios promise to take northern film industry to the next level

There are now several different plans to build film and television studios in northeastern Ontario. 

All are confident there is enough business to go around.

But Edith Myers, a film industry consultant who has worked on the Freshwater Production Studios being planned for Sudbury, says there is no magic number of productions a city needs to attract to justify building a multi-million-dollar studio.  

"You know, film studios are a bit like Field of Dreams: build it and people will come," said Myers, the president of CEI management.

"When I first heard about this project, I was a little bit sceptical, but I've become a proponent for this idea. I think Sudbury is ready for a film and television studio now. It's sort of the next step."

The plan would see a $36 million, 116,000 sq. ft. studio built on vacant land off the Kingsway. 

Myers says this kind of studio would attract more TV productions in the $30-40 million budget range, that would help drive business to some of the smaller studios already operating in Sudbury.

That includes the Northern Ontario Film Studios, which has leased the old Barrydowne Arena from the city since 2012 and first promised to make the film production a year-round business in the region.

Tammy Frick, the executive director of Cultural Industries Ontario North and Cinéfest, says that small space "moved the marker" for the industry and now it's time to move it even further.

Frick and Myers will be at Sudbury city council Tuesday afternoon to present their plans and ask the city to explore ways it can support the project, while not requesting any tax dollars.

The plan is to begin construction as early as mid-2023 and open the doors in the next two years.

"Not that we have to rush, but I think we do have to get ourselves on the map," said Frick. 

Myers says in the industry, studios are infrastructure like "roads and sewers" that "allow the business to go on."

And she adds she's confident that there is enough business to go around for all the studios being proposed in the north.

That includes plans for the former CTV building in Sault Ste. Marie and a former manufacturing plant in North Bay that is being converted into North Star Studios.

President Mitch Ouimette says the 68,000 sq. ft of warehouse space and 26,000 sq. ft. of office space is becoming a production facility at a total cost of $26 million. 

But he says renovations have been delayed because companies like Amazon are eager to get in there and shoot before it's fully refurbished.

 "We have a nearly fully complete slate for the next four years consuming all the space within the facility," Ouimette said.

"So before it's even opened, it's nearly 100 per cent sold out, which is a great problem to have."

He says North Star doesn't plan on lobbying for public dollars at this point because "government funds tend to slow down the process."

With the Ontario film industry currently worth $4 billion and growing, Ouimette thinks there'll be more than enough business for all the studios planned for the region. 

"None of the proposed film studios are even at a point where they're competing with one another, because there's such a high demand to come in."