London Inc. September 2024 - 12

Upfront Events
HITTING A MARK
A cornerstone component of the
Forest City Film Festival, the Ontario
Screen Creators Conference focuses
on fostering industry opportunity
and connections
WHEN YOU THINK about film and TV production in
Canada, do you think about London? Dorothy Downs,
founder of the Forest City Film Festival (www.fcff.ca) and
the Ontario Screen Creators Conference (OSCC), believes
the answer should be a resounding yes.
" The film industry has grown so much in Ontario that it
has burst out of the seams of Toronto, " she says. " Toronto
has become extremely expensive to shoot in, to live in,
to stay in, and so domestic production struggles to keep
up with that. Having alternatives in cities like London is
really important. "
Downs' work organizing the FCFF (founded in 2016)
has been a big part of the effort to put London on the
filmmaking map, but since 2021 the festival has been making
a more concerted effort to reach out to industry professionals
via OSCC, which this year runs from October 24 to
26 (the festival itself runs from October 19 to 27).
While FCFF has always included industry sessions
and a focus on developing filmmakers, Down says when it
returned from a Covid hiatus the decision was made to spin
out the industry sessions into a standalone conference,
12|londonincmagazine.ca|SEPTEMBER 2024
Forest City Film Festival founder and executive director
Dorothy Downs
held during the final week of the festival.
" This is a place where the filmmakers will all gather to
talk and to learn and to meet each other. We recognized
that for our region to gain more depth in the film industry
we have to bring the industry here to see what fantastic
locations we have, to see the talent we have and to also give
opportunities for filmmakers to connect on a new level. "
One of the primary selling points for the conference is
its aim to bring together a wide array of disciplines within
film and TV production. " In Canada, there are conferences
for film and TV, there are some screenwriting conferences
and there are other very narrow, siloed conferences, "
Downs explains. " Ultimately, we are building a conference
that is crossing over all of these silos, creating intersections
where creativity, skill-building and professional
development can happen. "
In planning this year's OSCC, Downs focused on
growing connections in those varying facets of film and
http://www.fcff.ca
London Inc. September 2024

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