Toronto Turning Into 'Hollywood North' As John Tory Meets With Netflix, Apple And HBO

With all the limitations that Canadians seem to face when it comes to big-name networks, such as Netflix, many of us wish that these networks could be a little closer to home. Movies and televisions series being filmed in the city that we've all grown to love would be amazing to see on the big screen. In hopes of making this dream a reality, Mayor John Tory is meeting with a variety of major networks this week in his two- day 'trade mission' which is aimed at turning and expanding Toronto into 'Hollywood North'.

Tory is expected to meet with executives from a variety of networks such as Netflix, Apple, and HBO to promote Toronto's film and television industries. Today, Tory has planned to meet individually with these companies before hosting a reception for about 150 industry stakeholders later in the evening. 

Tory told CP24 that we are the 'Hollywood North' and it is important for us to keep film and television productions coming to the city. He states, "We have to keep the film, television and digital productions coming because we are in the midst of a huge expansion of studio space prompted by the fact that we are doing so well and we are the Hollywood North,". 

According to CP24, Toronto saw $1.96 billion of investment in the film and television production in 2018, something that mayor Tory wishes to continue to grow for the city. 

At the beginning of the year, Narcity reported on Netflix planning to open a hub in Toronto. This came after the five-year pledge that Netflix made to spend $500 million over five years to fund Canadian productions, and Toronto is the perfect place for this promise to be made. 

CBC has since that released that Netflix is already setting-up two production hubs in the city in hopes to provide new opportunities for local talent. These studio spaces will be located in the downtown industrial waterfront area. 

Netflix has also stated that these studio spaces will provide jobs for 1,850 Canadians a year and will bring in more Canadian content to their streaming channel. Projects that were already set to film including the film 'Let it Snow' and a horror series 'Guillermo del Toro Presents Ten After Midnight'. 

With John Tory's hopes high for the film production industry of Toronto, he hopes that this two-day trade mission will put Toronto on the list for future projects within these big name film industries.