News
January 9, 2017
Janaury 6th News Report from your Los Angeles Representative
Happy New Year everyone.
The year 2016 has been one of the best ever for Ontario stakeholders in the screen-based industries and there is every indication that 2017 is going to be equally prosperous. Thank you all for making my job an easy one - the quality and variety of work that is being done in the province continues to stoke admiration and interest among potential clients and partners in Los Angeles.
The loss of a Toronto film industry icon this week made headlines around the globe and especially here in Los Angeles. Deadline Hollywood below remembers Toronto Film Festival co-founder Bill Marshall.
http://deadline.com/2017/01/tiff-co-founder-bill-marshall-dies-at-77-1201877462/
An article distributed by the CBC last week is an interesting look at how 2016 was a confusing one for those trying to predict industry futures. As detailed below, Hollywood doomsayers have pointed to a number of troubling trends, including an eroding star system, higher ticket prices, and increasingly tough competition from streaming services to woo audiences. http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/hollywood-industry-in-flux-1.3915726
There is no doubt that in 2016 the lines continued to blur between films for the big screen and shows for the small screen, as TV enjoyed a surge in critical prestige and cultural cachet that used to be reserved for movies. As detailed in the Los Angeles Times below, the lines are about to get fuzzier with the announcement that Imax Corp. has partnered with Marvel and ABC Television to make the upcoming superhero series Inhumans hit the cinema weeks before it appears on TV.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-imax-tv-20161219-story.html
As the distribution of content over the Internet has exploded the last few years, unions and guilds have struggled to update collective agreements negotiated in the days when projects were produced for either film or television only. As reported in the LA Times this week, the Directors Guild of America has reached a new agreement that will augment residuals from shows on streaming services such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and Hulu and more than triple residuals for members working on original content for the biggest streaming companies.
http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-dga-amptp-contract-20161229-story.html
As those streaming services expand globally, so does their fierce competition for markets worldwide. An article published last week on www.documentary television.com was the best analysis I've seen of how the competition between Netflix and Amazon is playing out across the globe. http://www.documentarytelevision.com/amazon/amazon-prime-video-undercuts-netflix-worldwide-rollout/
Finally this week, the City of Toronto is debating whether a dedicated page on popular industry web site IMDB is in the cards for 2017. As detailed by the CBC below, the page, which is being debated by the Toronto Film, Television & Digital Media Board, would de dedicated to details about the city's film industry. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-film-industry-imdb-1.3920222
Warmest regards,
Kelly
Kelly Graham-Scherer
Los Angeles Representative
Toronto/ Ontario Film Office