MONTREAL -- Total production activity in Canada rose 12% last year to C$4.4 billion ($2.9 billion), with foreign lensing surging 37% to $1 billion.
The shooting statistics were released Friday by the Canadian Film and Television Production Assn. at its annual conference in Ottawa. Shooting increased in most regions of the country, with the biggest growth taking place out west in British Columbia, where shooting rose 32% to $736 million.
The British Columbia increase was mostly due to foreign lensing, which jumped 49% to $444 million. In the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, there was an increase in production activity of 28 % to reach a total of $201 million.
Quebec, Ontario each at $936 mil
Quebec's production total reached $936 million, bringing it to the same level as Ontario. The Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland hosted $112 million worth of film and TV shoots total.
Total foreign revenues collected by Canadian film and TV producers increased to $1.3 billion, while treaty co-productions decreased 14% to $475 million (mainly due to a record-breaking year of co-productions a year earlier). The Canuck production industry was responsible for creating more than 119,000 jobs last year, some 46,000 directly and 73,000 indirectly.
One of the main motors of production remains the Canadian Television Fund, a mix of private and public money that contributes to the majority of TV productions in Canada. The fund invested $130 million to trigger $413 million in production activity that created 2,065 hours of programming.
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