OTTAWA – Canada’s screen-based production industry grew from $5 billion to $5.5 billion between the fiscal years of 2010/11, according to a new report.
The report, Profile 2011: An Economic Report on the Screen-Based Production Industry in Canada, is an annual economic report published by the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) in collaboration with the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ), and the Department of Canadian Heritage. It provides a statistical overview of the three main screen-based production sectors in Canada – Canadian independent production (including television and theatrical), foreign location and service production, and broadcaster in-house production. These sectors helped sustain 128,000 full-time jobs in 2010/11.
A 24.3% rebounding of foreign location and service production boosted overall production activity in Canada by 9%, according to the report. Broadcaster in-house production rose by 10.3%, and increases in fiction series, lifestyle and factual programming contributed to the growth of Canadian television production by 1.9% to $2.08 billion.
However, an 11% decline of Canadian theatrical production contributed to the drop in overall Canadian independent production activity by 1.4% to $2.39 billion, the report continues. Both Canadian theatrical and television production were impacted by decreases in documentary, and children’s and youth programming. Television animation production fell by 38% to a ten-year low of $136 million due to fewer projects and lower average budgets.
For the first time, the annual report includes a chapter on convergent interactive digital media (IDM) production. The total volume of convergent IDM production was $27.6 million in 2010/11.
