North Bay was well represented at Northern Ontario Film Symposium this past weekend in Sudbury.
Mayor Al McDonald took part in the two-day event in Sudbury which was about supporting and promoting the growing film industry in northern Ontario.
McDonald was there promoting the city in hopes of continuing to see movies filmed in the Gateway City.
McDonald says films bring jobs to more than just actors and the camera crews. He believes North Bay is getting a reputation as a tremendous filming location.
“When producers start hearing that films made here in North Bay are being successful because they can find all the right mixture of parts that they need to put a film together and that it’s all here, definitely attracts more of them,”said McDonald about the event that took part at a new film studio built in the old Barrydowne arena in Sudbury.
“If you look at the economic impact, they drop millions of dollars into our community at any given time when they are making movies. Also, it creates jobs. So if we could get four or five films or six or seven films in a year that basically gives people year round employment for people in that industry.”
Jim Calarco, the founder of North Star Talent Agency based in North Bay, also attended the symposium.
He says it was a first for the north as the Sudbury symposium brought in a mixture of film crews, directors and producers, as well as representatives from acting and director unions all under one roof in northern Ontario.
“They realize just how film-friendly the city is and Mayor Al is just a tremendous ambassador for the city,” Calarco said.
“He was walking around talking to several different people explaining what North Bay has to offer and I think he opened up a lot of eyes. It was good to see and it’s nice to see our mayor out there pushing and bringing work into the community, especially in my area because I’ve got 92 actors who like to work and if he brings a movie in, a lot of them get jobs.”
Calarco believes the continuing financial support from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund continues to be a huge incentive for film crews.
He hopes symposiums like this one are another indication the film industry is still on the rise in the north.
“I think we have three or four more films coming up before the end of December in northern Ontario, that’s from Parry Sound to Sudbury to Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay so that’s pretty darn good I would suspect,” said Calarco.
