News
October 17, 2014
Weekly Update from Film Ontario, October 17, 2014
Happy Friday! First off, we wish to congratulate OMDC President and CEO Karen Thorne-Stone who was named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Global TV by the Hollywood Reporter. Well deserved!! You can email Karen here. You can read more detail in Kelly's report, below. The City of Toronto's industry team has been working with industry and City departments to ensure our industry's ability to function and service productions in Toronto, during the PanAm Games. We thank them for their continued hard work on this file! They have prepared an industry info piece, to assist you in your production planning, here. Please remember to RSVP: sarah@filmontario.ca to attend our 2014 Annual General Meeting, set for Wednesday, November 5th at the Park Hyatt Toronto. Members only Business meeting is from 5:30 - 6:30pm, with Guest Speaker and cocktails to follow, until 8pm. We are very pleased that our Guest Speaker is The Honourable Charles Sousa, Ontario Minister of Finance. Come out to hear his thoughts on our industry! Please share this with your staff/members; we are looking forward to seeing you all there! Wishing you a lovely weekend, Sarah Ker-Hornell _________________________________________________________________________________________ Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative Variety this week continued the LA-based trades' on-going coverage of California's newly expanded tax incentives and what they will mean for the industry. As reported below, many actors now feel their pleas to stay in L.A. will be heard by producers who need to shoot in a jurisdiction where they can access tax credits. Ireland's Arts Minister is pushing for significant changes to the tax incentives offered to productions who choose Ireland as their filming destination. As reported in the Irish Independent below, a proposal to double the €50m ($72 million Cdn) expenditure cap to €100m ($143 million Cdn) is intended to lure American features to Ireland and create 2,000 new jobs. A bombshell announcement by HBO this week is expected to accelerate the dismantling of bundled pay TV channel packages in which households pay for a wide range of programming, even for channels they never watch. As detailed in the Los Angeles Times below, starting in 2015 HBO will offer its programs directly to consumers over the Internet. Warner Brothers is the latest film and television studio looking to cut costs. As detailed in the L.A. Times, after an uncharacteristically poor summer at the box office, WB will cut its annual overheard by $200 million and is set to embark on a round of layoffs by early November which will affect all divisions of the studio. And finally this week, congratulations to OMDC President and CEO Karen Thorne-Stone who was named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Global TV by the Hollywood Reporter. As detailed below, along with Shaw Media President Barbara Harris, she is feted as setting the standard during what many consider a new golden age for the medium. |