Toronto is known as “Hollywood North”. Our film and television industry contributed $928 million to our economy at its peak in 2001. Unfortunately 9/11 and SARS put an abrupt end to the boom and the industry has been in a downward spiral ever since. Now we have no outside forces to blame for our troubled industry. A strike by 21,000 members of ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) which began on January 8^th has all but ground production in the city to a halt. At issue are wages and compensation for Internet use. It is estimated that Toronto may have already lost over $400 million in production revenue as a result of the strike, which is not showing any signs of resolution. Of course the stronger Canadian dollar hasn’t helped any. Nor has the fact that other regions eager to capture some of the market have been offering very enticing tax credits in order to lure business away from Toronto. However the belief is that once our labour problems are resolved that U.S. and foreign production will return to Toronto.

To read more about our film and production problems follow the link below.

http://www.thestar.com/artsentertainment/article/181471

Do you think that our film and television production industry will ever return to its former glory? Or do you think that this strike is the kiss of death?