CURTAINS?!

Just read the Toronto Star. The headline read, "Curtain rises on Toronto's new plan for film industry". Already drooling at the mouth by this point I decided to dive into the article. Peter Finestone, Toronto's acting film commissioner outlines this "plan". What? How is "reminding" filmmakers about Toronto's production possibilities a "strategy"? It will take a hell of a lot more than simple reminders to get outsiders to shoot and post-produce their productions in Toronto. The fact is the Canadian dollar is far too strong to make any tangible difference when a foreign film producer is trying to decide whether to shoot in Toronto to save a few bucks; "geez, should I film in Austin, Texas, or Toronto?" Toronto, Canada, needs a film and television industry of some sort. You cannot depend on outside producers to pay the bills and keep our movie people busy (which there are way too many of I might add). There is no industry here because it is a welfare state: When film and television program grants are dispensed those few times a year it's like chickens running for the corn! Grants are great and very important to the arts, but you need a perpetual motion machine to match if you are going to claim you have an 'industry'. The article goes on to reveal that this plan "has been in the works for about two years". They're joking, right? It took these yahoos two years to figure out how to 'remind'. Also noted is the fact the actual cost is secret at this point. No doubt it will cost a fortune... as soon as they figure out how to add various numbers together to get a final answer. The upbeat nature of the grand plan even promotes the fact that those producers who don't necessarily sit down and shoot their pictures in Toronto will want to sit, put their feet up, and do their 'post' in the great city. Gimme a break, they will do their post with geographical considerations. Why shoot in Des Moines or Memphis and do your post 'way up' in another place? Certain folk are getting excited that 'T.O.' is getting this new super-studio; one by the name of 'Filmport'. Hey, is that like an 'Airport'?... You know, where people come in, pick up others and then take off again -- leaving just a smoky trail?