Dundas is 'closed for filming'

Dundas is "closed to filming."

That message was sent out to the Ontario Media Development Corporation's mailing list, hitting the inboxes of film location scouts across Ontario after Ward 13 councillor Arlene VanderBeekused a bylaw provision toshut the town down to filming for three years.

The issue was never put before council, leaving Morton Dorrell and the production team for the Good WitchT.V. series unable to try tofind a compromise before their fall shooting schedule.

"We probably would have gone somewhere else if we'd known this was coming," Dorrell said. He added that no one from the city notified or announced the change, but he became aware of it two weeks earlier, when he wasasked to leave a town hall meeting on the subject by the councillor.

VanderBeek did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

BIA chair: 'A series changes it up considerably'

The OMDC "In the Loop" newsletter distributed to film industry managers cited "over-filming" and upcoming construction projects in 2016 and 2017 as reasons for the ban.

Dundas BIA chair Phyllis Kraemer also hinted the fact that Good Witchis a series and not a "one off" movie, as reasons behind the push for a ban.

"Doing a series really changes it up considerably," said Kraemer.

VanderBeek hosted thetown hall meeting on the possible ban two weeks ago,so residents could voice their opinions freely. Between 12 and 14 residents were there but Kraemer would not provide names of any businesses who have complained about filming in Dundas.

Because of the three-yearmoratorium, the Good Witchproduction company is looking to other parts of Hamilton and as far as Guelph to recreate the fictional town for the series. The original film,which was later turned into a series on the Hallmark Channel, was filmed in Dundas.

Location scout: 'There's a chance we'll never come back'

Dundas has been used a set for a classic small American town for the final season of the West Wingand Robin Williams' Man of the Year.Other productions such as Incredible Hulkand Murdoch Mysterieshave also used the town as their backdrop.

Kraemer said Dundas accommodated two productions in 2012, eight in 2013 and 16 in 2014.

The filming ban impacts all of Ward 13, despite Kraemer's suggestion that most of the incidents are to do with business impacts on King Street West the town's main commercial streetand production trucks damaging adjacent parking lots to the point, Kraemer said, that they're "sinking" under the weight.

She added that with the construction projects to the University Plaza and Governors Road, cars will be forced to use the side streets production trucks also park on, and cause traffic in the valley town.

Both Kraemer and Susan Monarch, manager of Tourism Hamilton, stressed their organizations were not behind the push for a ban.

Monarch said VanderBeek is trying to be proactive, but location manager Quincy Morgan believes it's a push to ban filming all together.

"Whoever's behind it is kind of saying 'we hope you go away forever,'" Morgan said.

"There's a chance we'll never come back because we'll find something else."

Location scouts want case by case decisions

There has been some pushback to the ban by residents online. Since news of the moratorium broke, a petition has been started to reverse the councillor's decision.

"Dundas has just lost a BIG part of its identity," says the petition, which has 185 signatures Thursday afternoon. "We now also run the risk that production companies will look to film elsewhere, NOT ONLY during this moratorium but even after it is lifted."

While it may have significant impact at the local level, and disrupt at least one ongoing set, the local moratorium won'thave an impact on filming in Ontario.

"On the larger scale, I would guess it would be minimal unless there was a location that was specific to Dundas and unavailable anywhere else," said Donna Zuchlinski, Ontario film commissioner with the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC).

She said Dundas has some "wonderful" and "unique" looks, and that it is not uncommon for an area to be "over filmed" and take a break from the industry.

Home and business owners can list their properties for films to shoot through the OMDC's website, which has more than 9,000 listings for Ontario. Those listings in Dundas now have a red flag noting the filming moratorium, and the limitations it would bring to crews who could still film but not park their production vehicles on municipal property.

Looking at the construction schedule, Zuchlinski interprets the moratorium as two years, and not three, which, she said, is abnormal.

"Two years is a long time I will admit," she said.

Dorrell said the Good Witchteam will need to rebuild studio sets to match the new town, and had hoped they would have had issues dealt with head on, instead of what he called was "heavy-handed action" by the councillor.

"It should be I think, dealt with on a case-by-case basis," Dorrell said. "These are things that we can work around."