New CBS Canada Production Facility Adds Six Sound Stages, TV & Film Services To Toronto Area

Greg Evans

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CBS Corp has opened CBS Stages Canada near Toronto, a multi-use production facility that includes six soundstages, production offices, support facilities, and auxiliary services for large-scale television and film production.

CBS says the new facility marks the first “branded production entity” opened in Canada by a major US media company. The opening comes a year after CBS Corporation announced plans to establish a 260,000 square-foot space located in the city of Mississauga, 18 miles from downtown Toronto.

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“CBS is a global company that has had a storied history and broad footprint throughout the provinces, both as a producer and distributor,” said Armando Nuñez, president and chief executive officer, CBS Global Distribution Group. “With the addition of the new studio space, we will be able to diversify and expand in ways that were not previously possible.”

Nuñez was among the execs attending an opening reception today for provincial and local representatives, including the mayor of Mississauga and Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Also attending were local broadcasters, industry executives, Toronto-based production teams and representatives from Canadian film and television unions.

CBS Stages Canada is designed to provide additional production space for CBS Television Studios’ expanding roster of television programming across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. The Studio currently produces more than 70 series for CBS Television Network, The CW, CBS All Access streaming service, as well as programming for networks and platforms outside of CBS, including several throughout Canada.

Toronto shoots for CBS Television Studios currently include Star Trek: Discovery and In The Dark. Other productions in Canada include Charmed and Nancy Drew reboots.

David Stapf, President of CBS Television Studios, said the studio has been producing “premium programming” in the province since 2002, “and we came to the realization that we not only needed additional production space, but that Mississauga, with its strong production infrastructure and long history of crafts expertise, was the perfect location for our international expansion.”

In addition to Nuñez and Stapf, execs attending today’s opening included John Orlando, EVP, Global Government Affairs for CBS Corporation; and John Weber and Frank Siracusa, CBS’ Toronto-based executive producers on Star Trek: Discovery and co-executive producers on In The Dark. Weber and Siracusa have overseen the development and management of the new property.

Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie called her city the “second-busiest filming location in the province,” and said that the new facility “will not only bring hundreds of highly-skilled jobs to our city, but will put us on the international map for film and television.”

 

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