News
January 15, 2018
January 12th News Report from your Los Angeles Representative
Happy Friday everyone,
Awards season in Los Angeles is getting into full swing and if the Golden Globes last weekend are any indication, it's going to be a very good season indeed for Ontario. Many congratulations to everyone who helped bring both The Handmaid's Tale and The Shape of Water to the screen - all your hard work is earning international accolades for our jurisdiction.
Hearty congratulations are also in order to SideFX Software. I learned last week that this Ontario company's home-grown Houdini 3D software has been selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to receive two Academy Awards in 2018 – the Scientific & Engineering Award (Academy Plaque), and an Award of Merit (Oscar Statuette) – for demonstrating a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.
Congratulations and thank you SideFX for being an inspiration to all of us to work towards achieving goals and making a lasting contribution to our industry.
Back here in LA, "peak TV", as well as the surge in content from streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix and Hulu, is credited with creating a trickle-down effect through the L.A. production industry. A prominent LA Times story this morning also says expanded state film tax credits are giving producers ever more incentives to shoot closer to Hollywood.
http://beta.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-fi-ct-tv-production-boom-20180112-story.html#nt=oft03a-1la
A leadership shake-up at Warner Brothers Studios announced this week made headlines amid telecom giant AT&T attempts to complete its $85 billion acquisition of studio parent Time Warner. As detailed in The Wrap below, Toby Emmerich was promoted to chairman of the motion picture group after sleeper hit “It” was one of the most profitable movies of last year, taking in $700 million worldwide on a $35 million budget.
https://www.thewrap.com/warner-bros-leadership-shake-toby-emmerich-run-studio-sue-kroll-steps/
There have been several headlines the last few weeks regarding changes to the board of California's Film Commission. I included the article from Deadline below because, in addition to announcing a new board chair, it contains interesting information about the structure and makeup of the board.
http://deadline.com/2018/01/california-film-commission-names-michael-nyman-chair-1202236863/
Finally this week, Playback had a wide-ranging story about the continuing studio space challenges in Toronto. The story, which I do not believe has been picked up state side (yet), cites a November FilmOntario report that said Toronto studios turned away between $130 million and $260 million in business over the previous 12 months.
http://playbackonline.ca/2018/01/09/is-torontos-studio-crunch-at-a-tipping-point/
Warmest regards,
Kelly
Kelly Graham-Scherer
Los Angeles Representative
Toronto/ Ontario Film Office