Hamilton film business booming despite Pan Am shutdown

[projekktor id=’19806′]

When the Pan Am Games begin, athletes and tourists won’t have to worry about film shoots closing streets in Hamilton’s downtown core. That’s because no filming will be permitted downtown for the duration of the games.

But as Adam Atkinson reports, the city’s movie business is still booming this summer.

Simon Winterson is being thrown behind bars. Not because he’s dangerous, but because he’s creative. “Originally we were asked by a production company to build jail cells for them, we actually built the whole cell block.”

It’s one of Digital Canaries’ studio sets. It also has a police station office, evidence room…and countless props. “As far as things shot at 272 sherman, there’s Murdoch Mysteries. If you look at Robocop, the bike chase, you see him booting around here.”

It doesn’t look like much on the outside, but the old cotton factory on Sherman Avenue North houses one of the largest production studios in Hamilton with over 20,000 square feet of space. Anything from movies, television shows and music videos can be filmed here.

“It was the ‘google’ of cotton factories…at the time it was one of the best places to be.”

And so is the city of Hamilton when it comes to filming. Jacqueline Norton is from the Hamilton Film Office. “Hamilton is one of the oldest and largest cities in Ontario. We’ve got industrial backdrop, and a lot of old buildings.”

A shoot for the movie Goon 2 will wrap up tomorrow at the Corktown. That’s just one of at least a hundred productions expected to be shot in Hamilton this year.

“Hamilton is everywhere” says Simon Winterson “if you tilt your camera up you get blue sky…if you’re in Toronto and tilt the camera up what you get is condos cranes or building sites.”