Proving once again to be one of the fastest growing sectors of the Canadian economy, the film and television production industry is looking healthier than ever with a 12% growth to $4.4 billion in 2000.

As announced at the recent CFTPA/ APFTQ conference in Ottawa, Profile 2001, compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, reports that Canadian-certified production increased to $1.8 billion nationally in 2000.

Non-certified productions and in-house production represented activity exceeding $1 billion. Broadcasters’ in-house productions counted for $785 million, an annual growth rate of 3%.

Total foreign revenues collected by Canadian producers increased to $1.9 billion, with foreign location shooting posting an annual growth of 37% to $1.5 billion.

Treaty coproduction activity declined by 14% over the year to $711 million.

The production industry employed 119,000 Canadians in 1999/00, creating 46,000 direct jobs and 73,000 indirect jobs.

Regional tabulations revealed that all production centres experienced growth last year, except Ontario, where production activity declined by 5% to $1.4 billion, mainly because of a 26% decrease in Canadian certified production.

While British Columbia enjoyed a 32% increase overall, reaching $1.1 billion mainly due to a 49% increase in foreign location shooting, Quebec emerged as the real winner last year with the largest amount of Canadian production.

Quebec reached $850 million, or a 21% growth rate, in Canadian certified production, more than Ontario and B.C. combined. Total production activity for the region reached $1.4 billion.

With B.C. leading the pack, production activity in the regions as reported by the respective commissions (i.e., excluding in-house production figures and tallies for the CBC/SRC), also increased across the board.

Production in B.C. topped the $1-billion mark for the second straight year and set a new standard for the ninth year in a row. A total of $1.18 billion was spent on 192 productions in the province last year, up from $1.07 billion spent in 1999 – an increase of more than $100 million, or 10%.

‘The industry is still benefiting from the strategic advantages B.C. offers American productions, but it’s the stable growth of our domestic production that is so encouraging,’ says Small Business, Tourism and Culture Minister Gerard Janssen.

Foreign activity accounted for $760 million of spending in B.C. in 2000, up from $664 million a year earlier. Eighty-four productions were filmed in the province in 2000, including 29 feature films, 37 television movies, miniseries, and pilots, and 15 television series.

Canadian productions accounted for almost $420 million in economic activity in 2000 – up from $405 million last year. That volume was made up of 27 feature films, 11 television movies, miniseries and pilots, 21 television series, eight animations and 41 documentaries.

‘We have succeeded in developing the domestic film and television industry through partnerships among government, the film and television producers and the industry unions,’ says Janssen. ‘Foreign-produced films remain important, but encouraging the growth of B.C.’s domestic industry is our priority.’

The B.C. film industry directly and indirectly employs about 35,000 people.

While B.C. is becoming less and less dependent on foreign production, with domestic activity soaring over the last five years, Ontario’s domestic production, for the first time, accounted for less than half the value of the provincial sector in 2000.

With a record-breaking $1.01 billion production economy in Ontario, up 8.3% from 1999 figures, the domestic sector actually contracted by almost 5% to $468.2 million, while the foreign portion of the industry grew by 22% to $543 million.

‘What needs to be understood is that this is not just a domestic issue,’ says Adam Ostry, CEO of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. ‘Small and medium-sized indigenous companies may be suffering the most anemic growth rates, but they are also the companies that are servicing the foreign industry. Without them, the province is less appealing to foreign production and the whole industry is liable to collapse.’

The discrepancy can be explained by a 21% drop in the value of television series produced in the province, to less than $268 million in 2000 from almost $340 million in 1999. But since the number of series produced in Ontario increased to 50 in 2000 from 44 in 1999, the drop in production spending signifies a major decrease in average series budgets.

Specialties, for example, are acquiring more magazine-format and reality-based content, which with relatively low budgets, pay significantly lower licence fees.

As impressive as the overall expansion of production was for 2000, it was significantly less than in previous years. In 1999, Ontario’s film and television production industry increased by 26% from the previous year, and in 1998, it grew by 20%.

While the domestic industry represented 68% of the province’s total sector activity in 1995, it only represented 46% of the whole in 2000.

‘The pie has more than doubled.’There’s a decline in the ratio [of domestic production and the overall provincial production activity], which is a policy issue that must be dealt with by the province and the federal government as well,’ says Ostry.

Over the past five years, however, the province’s domestic production performance has come full circle. After shrinking by 18% between 1995 and 1996, the domestic sector grew by 49% in 1997, only to drop by 4% in 1998, expand again in 1999 by 24% and contract 5% in 2000.

‘The decline in ’95/96 was because of the OFIP elimination, then it grew because the CTF came on stream. Any number of government actions could have affected the cycle, but also the purchasing patterns by broadcasters,’ says Ostry. ‘All of a sudden Traders stopped, and Riverdale stopped. And the new series happen to be made somewhere else, like Barna Alper’s DaVinci’s Inquest [B.C.].’

Within that five-year period, domestic production grew by slightly more than 40% (from roughly $334 million to approximately $468 million), but foreign and service production grew by almost 250%.

Over the past 18 months, the Ontario government has made significant changes. Among them are the removal of the 48% cap on eligible labor, the introduction of a regional bonus for domestic producers shooting in Ontario outside the greater Toronto area, the enhancements of provincial tax credits and a new focus on convergence. Ostry says the changes could translate to improved numbers in the next year or so.

In 2000, 22 domestic feature films were shot in Ontario, leaving $63.3 million in the province. In 1999, 17 features were shot domestically, contributing $36.7 million to the Ontario economy, while 23 were shot in 1998, leaving behind $58.2 million.

MOWs, miniseries, specials, pilots and docudrama totaled 40 and generated $102.4 million in 2000, a steady increase from the two previous years.

Eight animated projects were produced domestically in 2000, leaving $34.9 million in the province. In 1999, five animated projects were produced, leaving $28 million, and in 1998, six were produced, leaving $22.4 million.

On the foreign side, 24 feature films were produced in the province in 2000, leaving $239 million behind. In each of the two previous years, 21 foreign features were produced in Ontario, leaving $214.6 million behind in 1999 and only $176.3 million in 1998.

Fifty-nine foreign MOWs, miniseries, specials, pilots and docudramas were shot in the province this past year, leaving $232.9 million behind. In 1999, 58 were produced, adding only $177.8 million to the economy.

Indie film and TV activity, according to the Montreal Film & Television Commission, was $829.4 million in 2000, a 14% increase over 1999. Production included 44 feature films, miniseries and made-for-TV movies.

U.S. productions in Montreal grew dramatically last year, numbering 12 and representing production spending of $337.3 million, a 58% increase over the $213.4 million spent in ’99. According to the commission, ‘Each dollar spent directly on production generates equivalent spin-off, meaning that the economic benefits of film and television shooting in Montreal reached $1.8 billion in 2000.’

The city’s film office says it worked on 687 shooting projects and issued 4,550 permits for the use of public property, including 154 complete street closures in 2000. *

– With files from Ian Edwards and Leo Rice-Barker

-www.omdc.on.ca