A  significant increase in domestic production has led to another record-breaking year for film and TV production in Ontario.

The province saw $3.15 billion in production spending across 419 productions during 2022, according to statistics provided by Ontario Creates. This marks the second year in a row that Ontario has seen record-breaking production dollars spent after it attracted $2.88 billion in 2021.

One key difference? While 2021’s production boost was attributed to an increase in foreign-owned service productions, 2022 marked a notable increase in domestic projects.

The number of domestic film and TV productions increased by 25% in 2022, according to Ontario Creates, coming to 316 total projects compared to 274 in the previous year. Total production spend came to a record-breaking $1.2 billion, up from $965.4 million in 2021. Domestic projects accounted for approximately 38% of total film and TV production in 2022.

The last time domestic production spend came to more than $1 billion was in 2019, which held the previous record of $1.04 billion across 261 projects.

Ontario film commissioner Justin Cutler tells Playback Daily there’s no definitive data on why domestic production saw such a boost in 2022, but he pointed to a number of potential factors. They include the province’s competitive tax credits, the continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the expansion of studio space.

Domestic television productions largely drove the increase, according to the statistics, with 155 in production in 2022, compared to 115 in 2021. The production spend for homegrown TV projects in 2022 was $891.5 million compared to $707.2 million the previous year. Ontario TV productions include CBC’s Essex County (First Generation Films) in North Bay and Crave’s Shoresy (New Metric Media) in Sudbury.

While the number of domestic film projects only increased by one between 2022 and 2021, coming in at 52, production spend increased to $161.5 million, up from $115.3 million in the previous year. Canadian features shot in Ontario in 2022 include the upcoming BlackBerry (Rhombus Media, Zapruder Films), SXSW world premiere Bloody Hell (Nice Picture), and Sundance world premiere My Animal (Les Films Band With Pictures, Good Movies).

“Ontario has a dynamic roster of domestic producers, directors, writers, performers, technicians, and heads of department who all live and work in Ontario, and they’re producing fantastic content that’s being exported worldwide,” says Cutler. “I think that that reputation has really been cemented with international distributors to buy this content and to trust Ontario filmmakers with making this work.”

Ontario currently has 3.8 million square feet of stage space, which is expected to grow to approximately 6.2 million square feet by 2026, says Cutler. That growth has led to a continued push from Ontario Creates to work with unions, guilds and associations to increase the labour pool in the province, and expand opportunities outside of the Greater Toronto Area, he says. Ontario Creates works with approximately 80 regional film offices in the province to support local productions.

Regions outside of Toronto have already shown significant growth, with Ottawa, Hamilton, and North Bay all reporting record production years, according to Ontario Creates. Ottawa previously reported a 37% increase in local economic activity for live-action production, and a total $130 million production spend.

Hamilton saw a 16% increase in the number of productions in 2022, coming to 177 projects total with a reported $72.8 million in production spend, a spokesperson for the City of Hamilton told Playback Daily. Series shot in Hamilton include CTV and Roku Channel comedy Children Ruin Everything (New Metric Media) and Prime Video original The Boys.

North Bay hit a record 20 productions in 2022, according to a spokesperson for the city, generating approximately $40 million in local spend. Local productions include Prime Video’s The Lake (Amaze).

Foreign production spend saw a slight increase to $1.95 billion in 2022 from $1.92 billion in 2021. However, the number of projects decreased to 103 in 2022 compared to 120 in the previous year. Notably, the production spend for foreign-owned limited series, pilots, specials and TV movies decreased to $61.9 million, compared to $169.6 million in 2021.

Animation production saw a similar pattern, with Ontario Creates reporting a decline in the number of projects for both domestic and foreign — 10 for domestic in 2022, down from 13 in 2021; and 18 for foreign production, down from 21 in 2021 — but an increase in production spend. Domestic animation spend came to $107.4 million in 2022, up from $85.2 million the previous year, while foreign animation spend was $162.4 million, an increase from $113.4 million in 2021.

The province also contributed to VFX work for high-profile productions filmed outside of Canada, according to Ontario Creates. They include Netflix’s Wednesday and Apple TV+ series Foundation.

Ontario Creates noted that the total production spend does not account for commercial or in-house productions from broadcasters, which it estimates comes to $1.4 billion total. That would roughly bring the province’s total production spend to $4.6 billion.

Ontario’s Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport Neil Lumsden said provincial tax incentives and other programs have fueled “a thriving film and television production industry” in a statement, calling the local sector “a strong economic driver in the province.”

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