TORONTO – Production of one season of the American legal drama Suits helped to inject more than $25.7 million in total spending into the province of Ontario, according to a new report commissioned by Motion Picture Association – Canada.
The report, conducted by Canadian chartered accountancy and business advisory firm MNP LLP, examines the most recent season of production to assess the economic impact of the production over the first five seasons. The series has been produced in Ontario with filming centered in and around the Greater Toronto Area.
The analysis found that Suits supported 2,304 full time equivalent jobs (FTEs) and was responsible for $102.8 million in direct production expenditure in Ontario. In Season 5 alone, the production spent an estimated $25.74 million on crew, labour, and a range of Ontario businesses including production facilities, catering companies, hotels, vehicle and equipment rentals, retailers, cleaners, landscapers, storage companies, professional service firms and automobile shops.
The investment provided by the Government of Ontario is estimated to have resulted in economic benefits that include $8.36 in economic output for every dollar of Ontario tax incentive received by the production of Suits, continues the report.
“A number of NBCUniversal’s most popular and high end television projects have been produced in Ontario,” said Universal Cable Productions EVP physical production Mark Binke, in the report’s news release. “The incentive regimes established by the Government of Ontario have been a catalyst for our direct investment in the Province, and we love working with the great crews, quality talent, sophisticated production infrastructure and resources that Ontario has to offer.”
The television series Suits premiered on June 23, 2011 on the cable network USA and is currently in its sixth season of production. The series, which airs on Bell Media’s Bravo in Canada, tells the story of a talented college dropout who, despite never attending law school, is hired by a top corporate law firm in New York City.
