How wonderful that all this is happening in our splendid city, with more to come. It’s a bit confusing, but the list below brings out what’s happening. Last night I went through Johanna Schneller’s lengthy list in The Globe and Mail. It’s quite a whopper.

On the Basin Media Hub $250-million, a complex with half-a-million studio spaces and offices; – Downsview Park Studios have a million square feet opening in 2024; – The U.S. company TPG Real Estate partners bought Cinespace, home to 23 production stages in Toronto and another 33 in Chicago; – These days even Toronto crews are being recognized at the Emmys and the Oscars.

Guillermo del Toro from Mexico lives in Los Angeles but works in Toronto where he’s known for his Academy Award Oscar for fantasy films “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Shape of Water”; – then the streaming services arrive with their entire television series; – the Ontario film and TV industry hosted 340 projects in 2019, took in $2.16-billion; – created 44,540 jobs;

– Netflix made deals early to rent eight ongoing stages at Pinewood and Cinespace – as many as nine productions at a time; – CBS managed getting a long term rental with a studio in Mississauga – another large city next door; – “Right now there is space available for spring and summer, but it’s slow”, according to Justin Cutler, the Ontario Film Commissioner. 50% of production remains domestic.