Bypass New York and L.A. and Start Your Career in Hollywood North!
By Wyatt Elling
Did you know that Toronto is the third biggest production center of film and television in North America? Toronto, located in the Ontario province of Canada, is in a heated battle with Montreal for the title of Hollywood North, and it's winning. Over the last twenty years Toronto has made itself into one of the largest entertainment hotspots, and they've developed arguably the best infrastructure for film and television production in the world.
Obviously, Toronto is a great place to be a working actor, but is also close enough to large cities in the U.S. to allow plenty of flexibility about where you live. The Toronto Office of Television and Film reports that in 2004 they granted permits for 1,502 individual projects, and together those projects shot 7,743 days worth of work. With that much work going on in the entertainment industry there is no shortage of opportunity for an aspiring actor.
There are many reasons why Toronto has become the go-to location for many large Hollywood productions. Toronto is an extremely flexible place to film, as it can be made to look like just about any other location given the diverse environments in and around the city. Just about every movie that takes place in New York City, for example, is mostly filmed in Canada. Culturally Toronto has been a long-time supporter of the arts on every level, and the city government bends over backwards to make production easier. They even assign a special City of Toronto Concierge to attend every production and act as a full-time liaison!
Toronto's generous tax breaks have also lured many productions away from U.S. cities that used to host robust film industries. Many places in the U.S. are just now getting their act together to follow Toronto's example and try and win back some of their former business. Film productions in Toronto, for instance, get a reduction on every dollar paid to the city to $0.78, which is quite a bit when you have multi-million dollar budgets. Toronto also waves expensive rental fees on any property owned by the city, and arranges large discounts at local hotels for the cast and crew. The city has also cultivated a pool of dedicated location scouts that know how to provide just about any kind of area a director could want.
Basically Toronto is a dream for film and television production of every level, and there is a huge demand for actors. Most people in major films outside of the marquee cast are hired in Toronto. The city is also a huge production hub for both American and Canadian commercials, music videos, and has been rated one of the top five cities for independent and student film production. The list of movies and TV shows filmed in Toronto to too long to get in to, but as of this writing Degrassi is in full swing, and has crossed over to American audiences, and Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorf are filming the miniseries XII. Movies filming right now are The Orphan starring Peter Sarsgaard, Grey Gardens starring Drew Barrymore, The Love Guru starring Mike Myers, and Repossession Mambo starring Jude Law.
With so many actors and entertainment professionals around, Toronto also has a thriving live theater scene. Many big-budget stage productions and high-profile musicals debut in Toronto, like the recent Lord of the Rings musical. Disney's cruise line also maintains facilities there to workshop new entertainment, train actors, and recruit talent.
If you can get past the incredibly cold winters in Toronto, you'll find a red-hot scene for aspiring actors and performers of all types.
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