Production was healthy across Canada in 1995 with some more remote areas gaining new activity and some established areas fighting off union battles and other obstacles to keep the numbers close to 1994’s record-breaking level.

Foreign production was up significantly in the three key areas of production activity – Quebec, Ontario and Vancouver. Indigenous production was down due to government cuts and a lengthy delay in the introduction of the new federal tax credit, yet there were some highlights in domestic activity.

Manitoba series

Manitoba, for the first time, was host to the production of a tv series, Jake and the Kid, produced by Toronto-based Atlantis Communications and Credo Entertainment of Winnipeg. In mid-December, production began on Newfoundland’s first Canadian series, Gullage’s, directed and written by Bill MacGillivray for the cbc.

Regionally, Ontario has once again come out on top, albeit with a 1% decrease from 1994. Last year, $495.5 million was spent locally on long-form production activity, not including in-house broadcast production, commercials, industrials or music video production.

According to data compiled by the Ontario Film Development Corporation, 25 Canadian features, 20 series, and a total of 41 mows, tv specials, miniseries and docudramas were shot in-province to the tune of $338.9 million. Comparatively, 28 Canadian series, 23 features and 35 tv productions were shot in ’94.

Foreign production rose to $156.6 million in 1995, up about $15 million from 1994. Although there was a total absence of foreign tv series in Ontario, mows and tv specials were up significantly to a total of 27. Eight features were shot here, including Universal’s film about Bill Lishman, Father Goose, and TriStar’s Mrs. Winterbourne, which shot from late May to August.

Film business in b.c. rallied in the last quarter of 1995, despite persistent predictions the year would fall short of 1994 volume tallies.

b.c. recorded 88 productions last year, up from 85 in ’94, according to b.c. film commissioner Pete Mitchell. Final numbers are pending, but direct spending in the b.c. economy in 1995 will likely match the $402 million spent in 1994. (Total value of production budgets was not available at press time.)

Mitchell says 90% of production in b.c. is either u.s.-based or Canadian-content shows produced mainly for the u.s. market while only 10% is truly local.

Commercial production, meanwhile, ballooned to $80 million from $50 million in 1994.

Quebec hits $315 million

In Quebec, certified film and tv production and foreign location shoots represented $315 million in production last year.

sodec certification delegate Andre Veronneau reports the agency issued advanced rulings for purposes of the Quebec refundable tax credit on productions with combined budgets of $286 million for the calendar year 1995. The figure for the agency’s fiscal year, which starts April 1, is expected to be higher. The comparable figure for calendar ’94 was $237 million. The cumulative value of the tax credit, which typically makes up 18% of a certified budget, was $51 million in ’95.

According to figures from the stcvq, Quebec’s freelance film technicians union, salaries earned by members totaled $25.8 million for the first 10 months of the year. Union director Pierre Lafrance says the ’95 total will surpass the ’94 total of $28.8 million.

Growth sectors for technicians last year were commercial shoots and Quebec features. Wages from tv series and coproductions showed a combined decline of $2.7 million in the first 10 months.

The overall Quebec figure of $286 million in ’95 includes domestic film and tv production, coproductions and coventures, but does not include foreign locations shoots, estimated to be in the $30 million range, nor does it include in-house production by broadcasters, or commercial and industrial shoots.

Meanwhile, in Alberta, producers of 10 features, mows and television series such as Lonesome Dove, and 12 commercials spent $59 million in the province in 1995, states the Office of the Alberta Film Commissioner. Overall, the industry added $118 million to the province’s economy.

In Saskatchewan, Saskfilm supported 20 productions in 1995 and didn’t track the volume of other independent and commercial production. Total production budgets for the year reached almost $13 million, while total monies spent in Saskatchewan topped $10 million. There was no foreign production in the province in 1995.

Manitoba series

In Manitoba, the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association estimates production in the province at about $25 million. The Manitoba Film and Sound Development Corporation supported eight productions in 1995, including one dramatic series, two mows and four short films.

The value of those production budgets in the year reached $14.5 million, with a ‘gross benefit’ to the province of $27 million. Foreign production took the form of commercial production and totaled $700,000. There were 166 shooting days in Manitoba in 1995.

In Nova Scotia, the combined budgets of foreign and indigenous production shot in-province was $31.7 million. Of that, $16.7 million – double 1994’s total – was spent on local production of two tv specials, five documentaries, one tv pilot, one feature film and a handful of short films.

Foreign budgets were cut in half in 1995, from $29 million in ’94 to about $15 million, a figure Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation head Roman Bittman says is in fact more reasonable for the region.

Locations were used for three foreign features, including Morgan Creek’s upcoming Two If By Sea, and a number of smaller television projects including commercials.

Says Bittman: ‘What we’re seeing is what I like to see, continued steady growth in domestic production in-province.’

with files from pamela cuthbert in Toronto, leo rice-barker in Montreal and ian edwards in Vancouver.