David Ellison, the scion of the tech giant Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and whose Skydance Media has produced $100 million plus budgeted films in the Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Blade Runner and Jack Reacher feature film series, was also on hand and chatted briefly with DESIBUZZbc founder R. Paul Dhillon.  "I've always dreamed big and when I decided to go into the film business – it was not going to be any different," Ellison told DESIBUZZbc.

By PD Raj

SURREY – Hollywood is finally here in Surrey with Billionaire film financier David Ellison bringing his Skydance Film Studios to the old Vancouver Sun printing press building with a grand opening Tuesday afternoon.

The massive studio near 120 and 88th Avenue will house 5 large sound stages and a City Street for their inaugural production based on Richard K. Morgan's novel Altered Carbon, which is set 500 years in the future when the human mind can be digitized and souls can be transferred from the from one body to the next.

Netflix has already ordered the first season 10 episodes which will begin filming this month and will continue till next July.

David Ellison, the scion of the tech giant Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and whose Skydance Media has produced $100 million plus budgeted films in the Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Blade Runner and Jack Reacher feature film series, was also on hand and chatted briefly with DESIBUZZCanada editor-founder R. Paul Dhillon.

Dhillon asked David about why he went into the Big budget actioners while his sister Megan Ellison does the mid budget Prestige pictures like American Hustle, True Grit and Zero Dark 30 under her Annapurna Pictures company.

David, a tall and handsome figure, said it's not by design but that he always loved the big event pictures and that's why he decided to go Big including taking on this massive, big budget Altered Stares series (according to reports the budget comparable to Game of Thrones) and Megan does the kind of cinema she loves.

"I've always dreamed big and when I decided to go into the film business – it was not going to be any different," Ellison told DESIBUZZbc.

Dhillon himself was on cloud nine, describing the opening as a great day for not only Surrey but himself since he got to meet two huge figures in the world of cinema.

"Today as I got to meet one of my favourite Screenwriters Laeta Kalogridis and a film financing billionaire all right here in our sunny Surrey," Dhillon said. "Sometimes you don't need to go to Hollywood – the big guns come right down to where you are! Love it!"

There is an Indo-Canadian connection to the big Skydance Studios as retired engineer Baljinder Sandhu and businessman Anup Loodu are part of a group that owns the building and land which houses the studio thereby making them the landlords of Billionaire Ellison.

The Beautiful opening was attended by Surrey mayor Linda Hepner and BC Liberal cabinet minister Amrik Virk along with a whole host of civic and provincial politicians.

Altered Carbon, a Sci-if genre show, stars Joel Kinnaman, who starred in the rebooted Robocop film. And also attending the opening was screenwriter-producer and show creator Laeta Kalogridis, who also co-wrote the script for the Martin Scorsese directed Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The newly converted building allows for more than 75,000 square feet of production space and houses one of the world’s longest and tallest sound stages at 460 feet long and 50 feet high.

“With so much production work occurring in Surrey, it is only logical for Skydance Media to make the City of Surrey a home rather than a destination,” said Mayor Linda Hepner. “With the opening of Skydance Studios in Newton, the media company will have direct access to our local professionals who work within the film and television industry. The City of Surrey along with the Metro Vancouver region will benefit from the $100 million dollars a year and the 400 jobs that Skydance Studios will inject into our local economy.”

Formerly the printing press building for the Pacific Newspaper Group, Skydance Studios has transformed the 13.8 acre site into a state of the art production facility with five sound stages. A unique feature is the ability to make it rain – on demand – inside one of the five stages.

“As we are focused on expanding our operations and increasing our film and television output, the establishment of Skydance Studios is an important milestone both for our Company and for the City of Surrey,” added Skydance Media CEO David Ellison. "We are incredibly excited about putting down new roots in Surrey and becoming a part of the community’s future growth."

“We recognize that a vibrant film and digital entertainment industry creates long-term stable jobs in B.C., which is an important driver of our #BCTECH Strategy, ” said Amrik Virk, Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services. “ Skydance’s new studio is a major media production and will further our reputation as a growing cluster for visual effects and digital animation.”

About Skydance Media

Skydance is a diversified media company founded by David Ellison in 2010 to create high quality, event-level entertainment for global audiences. The Company brings to life stories of immersive worlds across platforms, including feature film, television, and interactive. Its feature films include Star Trek Beyond, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Terminator Genisys, World War Z, Star Trek Into Darkness, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Jack Reacher, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, and True Grit. Skydance’s upcoming film slate includes Jack Reacher: Never Go Back on October 21, 2016, Life on May 26, 2017, and Geostorm on October 20, 2017. Skydance Television launched in 2013. Its current slate includes Emmy-nominated Grace and Frankie on Netflix, Altered Carbon on Netflix, Red Mars on Spike TV, Jack Ryan on Amazon, Condor on DirecTV, and Ten Days in the Valley on ABC. Skydance Interactive launched in 2016, following the acquisition of leading game developer The Workshop Entertainment, to create and publish original and IP-based virtual reality experiences and video games.