TV drives Canuck prod'n increase
Overall numbers up 4.8% to $840 mil
Total revenue for the Canadian film and TV biz increased 4.8% to C$1.3 billion ($840 million), with the growth almost entirely due to a 10% increase in production revenues, which rose to C$967 million ($625 million).
Film and TV exports rose 12.7 over the past year to $234 million, with television programming accounting for approximately two-thirds of the export total.
Roughly 15% of the Canadian export revenues came from theatrical features, according to the data supplied by Statistics Canada. At the same time, nonproduction revenue -- including revenue from the rental of production facilities, post-production services and distribution of other producers' product -- declined 8.3% to $205 million.
Province by province
Ontario continued to dominate the production scene in Canada, increasing its market share significantly. Ontario-based producers accounted for 63% of the overall production revenue, up from 57% the previous year.
Ten of the 20 largest producers in the country are based in Ontario, and its dominance of the Canuck export market is even more pronounced: Ontario-based companies, the majority based in Toronto, generated 81% of the export revenues.
Quebec is the second-largest producer of film and TV products, but it only generated 25% of overall production revenues and 22% of total revenues. Further, Quebec only garners 15% of the Canadian export revenues in large part because the Quebec producers continue to focus most of their attention on the domestic market. Roughly 95% of the indie production in Quebec is shot in French.
British Columbia, which has an enormous amount of foreign production, accounted for only 4.9% of the Canadian production total last year.
The four Atlantic provinces (Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick), Saskatchewan, and Manitoba produced 3.8% of the production total.
Employment in the film and TV business increased 13.5% to 18,742 employees and the industry paid out $183 million in wages.
Operating revenues for the post-production industry in Canada grew 4.1% to $325 million.
