Toronto Venues Facing Major Hit from Striking Film Festival No-Shows

Etan Vlessing
·4 min read
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When Hollywood A-listers raise a glass at the Toronto Film Festival to toast their latest movie, whether at pre- or post-premiere parties or dinners, it’s usually Charles Khabouth that will have set the table and ensured the best champagne and food and tablecloths and glassware for private events at TIFF.

So the Hollywood actors and writers strikes and the prospect of quiet red carpets in Toronto has Khabouth, who operates 18 restaurants and nightclubs in the city as part of his INK Entertainment Group, feeling the pain.

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“This morning we got a whole bunch of cancellations confirming the fact that the actors or most of the actors will not be coming to these parties and events,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. That’s because Toronto’s film lineup is star-studded heading into the Sept. 7 to 17 event, but its red carpets will mostly go without Hollywood celebrities beyond big-name film directors and pop stars.

During the Hollywood actors strike, SAG-AFTRA restrictions bar performers from promoting any film that’s from a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, meaning any streamer, major legacy studio or a specialty division such as Sony Pictures Classics, Searchlight Pictures or Focus Features (which are owned by Sony, Disney and Universal, respectively).

SAG-AFTRA has talked about giving waivers to certain independent movies being distributed by non-AMPTP members, but little has been made public on that front for TIFF titles and that doesn’t help the likes of Sony Classics, or Searchlight or Focus Features.

Khabouth said Hollywood party planners removed holds on his venues around Bell Lightbox like Byblos, Figo, Clio, Rebel and Patria precisely because Hollywood A-listers are key drivers of the glitz and glamour of TIFF events that his longstanding movie industry clients host. And their absence will not be replaced by directors, producers and other creatives still expected in town to support premieres, or even local Canadian and international talent.

“It’s a financial loss, but more importantly for us and for the city is we’re going to lose that big push that Toronto as a whole gets each year with all the celebrities, because it’s the only time of the year we get that global recognition, with the eyes of people everywhere on Toronto during TIFF. There’s no other time of the year,” Khabouth argued.

More cancellations are expected for local businesses that transport, feed and honor Hollywood celebrities in the lead up to TIFF elsewhere in the local economy.

“Fingers crossed,” says Rob Iafrate of A Celebrity Limousine Service in Toronto, “We’re currently still in limbo, still awaiting confirmations. Should the strike continue, it would be a great disappointment, although nothing we can’t overcome,” he told THR.

That resilience is shared by Khabouth, whose business of 40 years has grown up around the Toronto Film Festival. He’s confident the annual global cinema showcase will return next year bigger and better than ever, and with its usual army of Hollywood A-listers to tout movies returning to the city.

But it’s the food and alcohol suppliers, limo drivers and extra wait staff Khabouth hires on each September for TIFF, specialists installing drapery, lighting and red carpets, who will miss out on work next month when Hollywood actors don’t show up to support the festival’s otherwise star-studded lineup.

“A lot of people will have less work and less exciting work, because there’s work we all do because we have to, and TIFF and everything around it is always more exciting, whether you’re a waiter or in production or a driver. Sadly, a lot of these people won’t be needed,” he added.

Another potential loser from the Hollywood strikes due to absent American stars are TIFF gifting lounges that stuff VIP swag bags with sponsored make-up, hair, fashion, food and beverage products.

GLO Communications principal Jessica Glover told THR that her Bask-IT Style swag bags — filled with Victoria Beckham-branded fashion and Marc Anthony’s hair products, among other items — will be delivered to celebrities through participating hotels.

Explained Glover, “We will be working with our partners to gift talent that are coming to the festival — international and Canadian.”

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