· 1 min read
Production transport in Toronto: talent, crew and the schedule
Hollywood North runs on call times. What a production actually needs from ground transport, and where TIFF is different from a normal shoot.
Toronto shoots a great deal of film and television, and production transport is its own discipline. It is not a series of airport transfers — it is a moving schedule where the cost of being late is measured in crew hours.
Call times are not suggestions
A 5.30am call means the car is at the hotel before 5.30am, in winter, in the dark, with no discussion. That means the chauffeur is briefed the night before and the vehicle is warm when the door opens.
Talent transport is a discretion job
Unmarked vehicles, chauffeurs under signed confidentiality, and no conversation about who was carried where. For anyone recognisable, the pickup point matters as much as the timing, and it is often not the main entrance.
Crew movements are a volume job
Different problem entirely — Sprinters and mini coaches, base camp to location, repeated through the day. What matters is capacity, reliability and a driver who knows where to park a fourteen-seat vehicle on a residential street without becoming the production's problem.
TIFF is its own event
During the festival, downtown Toronto changes. Streets close, venues cluster within a few blocks, and the gap between a car being useful and being stuck is a single wrong turn. Festival work is booked well in advance because every good vehicle in the city is committed.
What we ask for
The schedule as early as you have it, even in draft. Production schedules move — we know that — but a draft lets us hold the right vehicles rather than scrambling. See group and event transport and monthly programmes for longer engagements.
