When unveiling the project on Monday, officials said they want to make North Bay the next major center for film and TV production, like Toronto, Atlanta and London.
We should have approximately half a million square feet of flats built across the North Bay area within five to eight years.
explains the president of North Star Studios, Mitch Ouimette.
To build the new platforms, Mr. Ouimette and his partners bought a 100,000 square foot building located on 4.8 hectares of land that was sold to them by the mining company Epiroc.
The space offered by the land would allow the studio to grow. According to the president, this plan will lead to the creation of up to 1,000 jobs in the film industry and related sectors in North Bay.
To achieve its objective of helping the municipality become a destination of choice, North Star Studios has signed a $150 million agreement with the production company ORWO Group.
” Why couldn’t North Bay be the industry’s next big movie hub? »
According to industry professionals who have already filmed in the north of the province, this project could prove to be the boost needed to attract major Hollywood productions.
North Bay has a bright future
According to director and president of Carousel Pictures, Tyler Levine, it would take maybe a year
before North Bay became a true center for the film and television industries.
Once Hollywood realizes there’s a studio there that allows productions to do whatever they want, they’ll probably spend a lot more time in North Bay.
he believes.
Mr. Levine recently filmed the big screen adaptation of the novel All My Puny Sorrows by Canadian writer Miriam Toews in North Bay.
Tyler Levine preferred Northern Ontario to Manitoba to shoot the film All My Puny Sorrows.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Screenshot
” As long as the money matters to Hollywood, North Bay has a bright future, especially thanks to this new filming space. »
Unlike big southern Ontario cities like Toronto and Hamilton, Levine feels Northern Ontario offers much more affordable options for productions.
He adds that they first want to concentrate their spending on the actors and the staging of a film or series.
Such a studio could make the region even more attractive. Studios in Toronto are almost always busy. There is almost a black market. You have to negotiate to rent the studio four years in advance at an exorbitant price
continues Mr. Levine.
A growing industry
Cambridge director and stuntman Randy Butcher shares the same opinion. He hopes this project will lead to the shooting of several big films.
” Building a studio like this in an area that is already beautiful will capture a lot of attention, »
Over the past few years, Northern Ontario has been able to adapt to the needs of the industry and new productions wishing to shoot in the region.
The City of Sudbury’s director of tourism and culture, Lara Fielding, expects demand from productions for services to continue to grow over the next few years.
The children’s television series, Amélie et compagnie!, is filmed in a house in a neighborhood near Bell Park, in Greater Sudbury (archives).
Photo: Radio-Canada / Benjamin Aubé
Long-running productions like Letterkenny and Shoresy, which have been lured north, demand more of our cinematic infrastructure and services
she says.
Mr. Butcher himself saw changes while his daughter was on a few shoots up North.
[Il y a plusieurs années] the infrastructure was really not up to what she needed as an artistic director. She has since found numerous contacts who have completely changed their services to accommodate the productions.
he says.
The North : a hidden treasure
ORWO Group President Jake Seal says three films starring world-class actors will shoot at North Star’s new studios. The company also wants to shoot television series there.
We fell in love with what the area can do, the impact of the changing seasons and the support of the people there. There is wonderful geography, reliable snow and ice during certain parts of the year and a wonderful summer season
he explains.
This love for the region is shared by several other industry professionals who have worked in the region, such as MM. Butcher and Levine.
I love the North. It’s beautiful, the people are warm, there’s no one I met who wasn’t in the industry that I didn’t love
says Butcher.
I hope that when North Bay becomes a great center that Northern Ontario mentality of being welcoming, kind, generous, optimistic and grateful will not go away
launches Mr. Levine.
With information from CBC’s Christophe Simard, Aya Dufour and Jonathan Migneault
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca