Last year was disastrous for Toronto service production, due to a threatened Screen Actors Guild strike, an on-par Canadian dollar, and the trend of the city losing out to Vancouver on major projects.

So just how did local producer Don Carmody (coproducer of Oscar winner Chicago) see a bump in the service budgets he handled in 2008 – $102 million, up $32 million from 2007? Simple – he worked mostly out of province.

His service projects included the Warner Bros. horror releases Orphan and The Factory, starring John Cusack, both of which shot primarily in Montreal, the former also clocking a couple of weeks in Toronto. Both are part of an $18-million six-picture stimulation package signed by the Société générale de financement du Québec and Hollywood prodco Dark Castle Productions, with which Carmody has had a longstanding relationship.

Carmody also coproduced Amelia, the Fox Searchlight biopic of aviatrix Amelia Earhart, starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank. Production was divided among Toronto, Nova Scotia and South Africa.

The volume of Carmody’s proprietary production was also up last year – $18 million, up from $11 million in ’07. Titles include Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the sequel to his 1999 straight-to-video cult hit about vigilante twins, which he hopes to see in theaters on Nov. 1. He was also a producer on Denis Villeneuve’s controversial Polytechnique.

This year he’s done no service work, because, as he tells Playback, ‘I’m busy with my own stuff.’

In addition to finishing up Boondock, he plans to go back to the well of video-game adaps for a fourth installment in the Resident Evil franchise (he passed on number three) and a sequel to Silent Hill.