TORONTO — Miami is investing in a proposed massive studio complex that could lure east coast film and television production away from Toronto and Montreal.
The $250 million Miami Ocean Studios would eventually include 900,000 square feet of sound stages, offices and post-production resources on about 135 acres of land.
Plans call for 10 sound stages of various sizes and, according to a spokesperson, facilities “that don’t exist on the East Coast,” including one indoor and three outdoor water tanks for filming on and under water.
The complex would challenge Toronto’s 750,000 square-foot Cinespace (home of shows like Reign and Beauty and the Beast) and Pinewood, which has 12 soundstages ranging from 10,000 to 46,000 square feet. It is home to TV series like Orphan Black, The Strain as well as movies like Pacific Rim, Total Recall (2012) and RoboCop (2014).
No one at Pinewood was available for comment.
Eric Jensen, manager of the Toronto Film and Television Office — which oversees the city’s billion-dollar production industry — told Global News he’s not concerned about new competition.
The city, he said, boasts state-of-the-art facilities and a lot experienced people to work on productions.
Generous provincial tax incentives and a typically favourable exchange rate also give the city a competitive edge. (Florida’s production subsidy program is slated to end in 2016.)
Plus, Jensen says, it will be years before Miami’s proposed development is fully operational, “and who knows where we will be in development” by then.
In Montreal, La Cité Du Cinéma offers 18 sound stages ranging from 1,200 to 36,500 square feet at four different locations. Movies like 300, X-Men: Days of Future Past and The Smurfs 2 have been shot there.
Another development in South Florida, Miami Entertainment Complex, is scheduled to be operational next summer with two 15,000-square-foot sound stages.
The city already has production facilities at Greenwich Studios and M3 Studios.
TV shows like Burn Notice and films like Pain & Gain have recently be shot in Miami.
Other east coast production facilities include a 150,000-square-foot studio in Wilmington, N.C. and 138,000 square feet of space in Atlanta — as well as studios in New York and New Jersey.
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