Indigenous Canadian film and television production was down nearly 7% in 2003, the third year in a row overall production volumes have declined. According to Playback’s 16th Annual Report on Independent Production, Canadian prodcos spent $1.51 billion on production and development last year, down from $1.624 billion in 2002.

The figures do not include service production or broadcaster in-house production. Spending information on individual production companies was provided by the prodcos themselves.

The drop is due partly to slowed production among giants Alliance Atlantis (volume down 40%), Corus Entertainment (down 44%, based on a Playback estimate) and Fireworks Entertainment (down 16%).

Another likely factor is federal cuts to the Canadian Television Fund. The fed’s CTF appropriation for 2003 totaled $87.5 million. Its restoration to $100 million for each of 2004 and 2005, should help spending rebound in 2004.

The volume of TV drama production dropped to $745.1 million from $772.8 million in 2002. But while drama series production was down 9% last year, production of MOWs, pilots, miniseries and shorts was up by 18%. Spending on feature films, meanwhile, basically held flat at $293.4 million. Documentary spending was down 10%, while magazine/lifestyle/reality programming recorded a dramatic 64% rise.