After the SARS outbreak last spring, production spending in Hollywood North went south, dropping 18.5% from $1.06 billion in 2002 to just $864 million, according to numbers recently released by the City of Toronto. Feature film and television spending fell to roughly $723 million, down 18.4% from the previous year, while commercials, music videos and other small shoots also dropped, down 20% and 3%, respectively.

‘Not one non-U.S. foreign production filmed on location in Toronto after the month of April,’ when the epidemic broke, according to the six-page report from the city’s department of economic development, culture and tourism.

Location production spending in Toronto was on the rise in 2002, but as the number of SARS cases grew, foreign production faced a downturn.

The rising Canadian dollar also slowed production in Toronto last year, but business picked up again by fall. In 2003, the city hosted 214 major productions – down 30 from the previous year – of which 38 were U.S. productions and two were from other foreign countries.

The report notes that foreign production appears to be on the rise again for 2004.