'Room to grow' Thunder Bay's filmmaking industry: CEDC

Despite a thriving local, independent community, the City of Thunder Bay has struggled to attract filmmakers from outside of the city, due to its distance from larger filmmaking hubs like Toronto.

But the Community Economic Development Commission is hoping to change that.

"Our feeling is that we certainly have potential to grow," said Paul Pepe, manager of Tourism Thunder Bay, which falls under the CEDC. "It's just looking at what is that sweet spot in the industry that Thunder Bay could take advantage of, given that North Bay and Sudbury have such well-developed infrastructure for film hosting, and their proximity to Toronto in terms of moving equipment and gear and trailers and everything very efficiently."

There are certainly challenges when it comes to building a film industry in Thunder Bay, however, with the aforementioned-distance from major Canadian film hubs like Toronto being a major one.

"You have to remember, Sudbury is only four hours away from Toronto," said Jessica Graham, a part-time instructor at the Confederation College film school. "That's a huge advantage."

Thunder Bay doesn't have, for example, any equipment rental houses, meaning filmmakers would need to transport gear from Toronto or other larger centres, Graham said.

And without a film industry in the city, there's no incentive for supports like film equipment rental companies to open up in Thunder Bay.

"Other than our epic, beautiful nature, and key locations that could be filmed in, like Fort William Historical Park and that type of thing, there's nothing really pulling people up here," Graham said. "There's no incentive to come this far north unless there's a specific story reason."

Eric Weller, coordinator of the college's film school, said while the program is always willing to help as much as possible, there are some caveats there, too.

"Most of the time, for any serious big project, they would have to bring everything with them," he said. "And when you're two days' drive from Toronto, that's a four-day round trip, paying full price for equipment rental."

Added Graham: "The other thing is we're outfitted to do short films."

"Things like transport trucks full of lighting equipment, and generators that are the size of cube vans, we just don't have the infrastructure."

But there are some advantages to filming in a place like Thunder Bay, as well, Weller said.

"All of the advantages Thunder Bay has as a film location have to do with the geography, and all the wonderful things we have to offer in such a short distance," he said. "If you live in Toronto, just to drive from one place to another can take you all day."