January 27, 2021

Burnt out but booming: Canada’s TV and film sector plows ahead during the pandemic (cbc.ca)

For Debi Drennan, the film business is a family affair. The Toronto-based makeup artist has been working in the industry before the days of The Littlest Hobo. Her sons, Christian and Tyler, followed her into the business, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re all as busy as ever.

Christian, a key grip, just wrapped The Man from Toronto starring Kevin Hart. Key rigger Tyler recently jumped from working on Netflix’s Sex and Lies and is now on Station Eleven.

Drennan herself was one of the first to return to work after Ontario’s first coronavirus lockdown, as part of CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries.

By: Eli Glasner

Continue Reading at cbc.ca

COVID-19 pandemic causes 25-year low in L.A. filming (latimes.com)

A boost in production in the fall was not enough to keep 2020 from being one of the worst years for filming in Los Angeles in a generation.

On-location filming in the L.A. region produced just 18,993 shoot days in 2020, down 48 % from 36,540 shoots days in 2019 — the lowest level in over 25 years, according to a new report from film-permitting group FilmLA.

During the fourth quarter, production picked up considerably, reaching 7,348 shoot days, but was still down 25% compared with the year-earlier period, the report said. A shoot day is defined as one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during a 24-hour period.

By: Anousha Sakoui

Continue Reading at latimes.com

Cincinnati has become a bona fide place to see the stars — and we don’t just mean at Mount Lookout.

Cincinnati came in at No. 13 on MovieMaker Magazine’s 2021 Best Places to Live & Work as a Filmmaker list, making it the fourth straight year the Queen City earns the honor. The city moves up one spot from its No. 14 showing in 2020.

The magazine highlights Cincinnati’s downtown skyline, low cost of living and Ohio’s 30% motion picture tax credit as chief among the reasons for the city’s emergence as a stalwart that has lured films such as 2015’s Carol, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; 200’s Traffic, starring Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro; and 1988’s Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.

And of course, Cincinnati’s would-be honorary movie mascot is actor Bruce Willis, who has filmed at least four times in the Queen City. Willis was on location for 2020’s Hard Kill (billed as Open Source during the shoot), 2019’s 10 Minutes Gone, 2018’s Reprisal and 2016’s Marauders.

By: Allison Babka

Continue Reading at citybeat.com

Networks focus on Augusta for filming locations (augustachronicle.com)

Filming is expected to start in Augusta next week for part of a network production that took nearly a year for local representatives to negotiate.

“We have every reason to believe through some very final contractual obligations, and negotiations that they’re doing with a local location, that they should begin production at any time,” said Jennifer Bowen, vice president of destination development for the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Bowen serves as the liaison between the bureau’s film office and companies scouting locations for movies and TV shows.

Meeting with the CVB’s Board of Directors on Wednesday morning, she apologized for having to “sort of speak in code” because producers said they “require a certain confidentiality at this time, so I can’t really mention all of the details.”

By: Joe Hotchkiss

Continue Reading at augustachronicle.com

Moviemaker magazine ranks Calgary 10th on list of ‘best places to live and work’ (thechronicleherald.ca)

Moviemaker magazine has ranked Calgary the 10th best place to live and work for moviemakers in its annual Top 25 list, touting the city’s “sound stages galore, great crews and production services that are ready when you are.”

It’s the first time Calgary made the list in Moviemaker, a leading industry publication that comes out quarterly and offers “profiles, advice, insider tips and product reviews.” According to a news release from Calgary Economic Development, its rankings are based on surveys, recent productions, personal visits to locations, a study of the city’s business environment and its quality of life.

The list puts Calgary ahead of Toronto and just behind Vancouver and Montreal among Canadian cities. It also ranks higher than Seattle, Kansas City, Washington, D.C., Portland, Baltimore, San Diego and Dallas, among others. New York City and Los Angeles were not included in the Top 25, earning the top two “hall of fame” spots on the list.

By: Eric Volmers

Continue Reading at thechronicleherald.ca