The Canadian commercial production industry cranked out about $207-million worth of spots this year.

The total figure represents the amount of spot work going through production shops and indicates roughly a 6% increase from last year’s total volume of $195 million.

At the same time, the total number of days spent shooting commercials in the country was about 3,587 and the number of spots produced about 2,683. Last year, the industry reported 3,517 shoot days and 2,523 spots produced.

This year’s figures indicate that about 671, or about 19% of the shoot days, originated outside Canada, as did roughly 414, or 15%, of the spots. Last year, work originating outside Canada accounted for about 15% of shoot days and 9% of spots.

Figures were derived from an industry survey conducted each year in conjunction with Playback’s Top Spots Awards. Production companies were asked to provide a summary of their activity for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 1998, including total shooting days and total spots produced, the number of days and spots originating in Canada, and a tally of total production budgets for the year. Where no total budget figure was provided, one was assigned using estimates of the cost of a high-, medium- and low-end shooting day, based on total known budgets.

In addition, shops were asked to provide spot cost averages, breaking out the costs of 15-, 30- and 60-second commercials in the high-, medium- and low-end categories. This year, returns indicated that the average 30-second, medium-end spot, before agency markup, cost about $92,000, almost even with last year’s average of $91,100 for the same type of spot.

The ’98 figures represent a similar basis for comparison from last year’s results, with this year’s figures culled from a slightly smaller sample of shops.

This year, 34 companies completed surveys. The list reflected the addition of new shops like Navigator and a new entry by Big Film, as well as a few subtractions, including companies like Cactus Productions and Magic, both of which no longer exist in those incarnations.

The list of top producers remained similar in composition to last year, with The Players Film Company newly cracking the top 10 and The Partners’ Film Company landing atop the heap once again with a reported total of 416 shooting days, down slightly from last year’s total of 442.

Rounding out the list of Canada’s 10 most prolific shops were Radke Films, reporting 248 days; Apple Box and Cinelande, both reporting 202 days; Circle Productions with 200 days; Avion Films with 198 days; Imported Artists with 170 days; Jet Films with 164 days; Players with 150 days; and La Fabrique D’Images with 119 days.

Many industry players reported a very busy year; but whereas last year proved quite consistently busy, this year provided more highs balanced by flatter periods.

For the producers of commercial animation and special effects it was also a productive year. Collectively, this segment of the industry produced roughly 1,474 spots versus 1,379 last year for a similar sample size. Of the spots, 741 were all-in, completely animated/cg jobs, and 733 consisted of spots for which partial elements were created.

In 1998, about 15% of the work came from outside Canada versus 20% last year.

In all, for the sample of 17 facilities, about 838 minutes or 14 hours of commercial work was done, outside of the hours of animation done by shops like Cuppa Coffee Animation for long-form series work.

It was an eventful year for the industry as a whole which saw the birth of new companies like Industry Films and the decline of existing players, changes in name (Kessler Irish to Blink Pictures) and changing affiliations.

For Players, the year represented substantial growth, with the company emerging as one of the most prolific producers in the country, coinciding with an overall raising of the quality level in the industry, says Players’ Philip Mellows.

‘It’s been a busy year for us,’ he says. ‘And the amount of good creative out there has been impressive, particularly when I compare it to the boards I see coming out of the u.s. I find that the bar is pretty high for what we’re doing here, in terms of not only execution but the level of creative as well.’

Mellows says his company has almost doubled in size, which he attributes largely to the addition of local talent. ‘I find the willingness to work with Canadian talent is as high as it’s ever been,’ he says.

Mellows points to the emergence of a number of strong new directors as an indicator of the overall quality existing in the industry.

‘If you look at the reels that came out of the [Saatchi & Saatchi/Playback] First Cut Awards; that the Stephen Scotts, the David Cowderys, the Adam Masseys and the Eddy Chus were developed in such a short time says a lot about the production community here – about the people who are supporting local talent – and a lot about the level of creative.’