TORONTO — Spending on foreign film and television production in Toronto dropped a whopping 40 per cent last year to $299 million — the lowest figure in five years.
This is the third consecutive decrease in foreign production spending.
Foreign productions totalled $439 million in 2013, $518.4 million in 2012 and $530.4 million in 2011, according to a City of Toronto report.
Among the projects in Toronto last year were the upcoming feature films Pixels and Crimson Peak and TV series like Suits and The Strain.
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The good news is that domestic production investment continues to grow in the city, thanks to series like Global’s Rookie Blue.
The report shows homegrown film and television projects totalled a record $652.3 million in 2014, up 21 per cent from the year before.
Foreign and domestic film production investment was $169.5 million last year, down 11 per cent from 2013. Television production, though, was up 3.7 per cent to $757.4 million.
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In all, the film and TV production industry invested $953 million in Toronto last year, a slight increase from 2013’s figure of $948 million but down from $1 billion in 2012.
TV series accounted for 79.4 per cent of the spending last year while feature films made up 18 per cent. The rest came from TV specials and TV movies.
Spending on commercials hit $195 million in 2014 (up from $131 million in 2013) but music videos and animation projects decreased slightly.
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Toronto is expected to rebound in 2015 thanks to big budget feature films like Suicide Squad, the miniseries 11-22-63, and TV series Shadowhunters, The Girlfriend Experience, Damien and Heroes Reborn.
The city is also playing host to My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, the Ricky Gervais film Special Correspondents and new seasons of Rogue, Defiance, Suits, The Strain, Beauty and the Beast and Hannibal.
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