Manitoba film industry saw revenue rebound following shutdowns: Statistics Canada

Manitoba’s film and television production industry rebounded quickly following pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

The numbers show that the province’s film, television and video production revenue was just over $159 million in 2021, which is nearly $2 million more than in 2019.

“We’ve got great crews and we’ve got an amazing tax credit, so it’s leading folks to come up here and do business,” said Rod Bruinooge, interim CEO of Manitoba Film and Music, in an interview on Thursday.

This revenue increase came after the pandemic forced productions across the country to shut down from March to June 2020. By summer 2020, the government started to lighten restrictions and allow filming to resume; however, resumption was slow.

Statistics Canada said the industry was back on its feet by the end of 2020, and there was a lot to be done with the backlog of delayed projects, increased demand for streaming, and the introduction of new projects. These factors resulted in an unprecedented number of projects being filmed in Canada in 2021, which boosted the industry past pre-pandemic levels.

Bruinooge said he doesn’t see this film and television boom ending any time soon in Manitoba.

“We think we’re going to stay in an excellent range where we are producing hundreds of millions of dollars in content every year,” he said.

“Of course, we think the industry could grow to $1 billion in the next 10 years…We are on track to grow over the next half-decade in big ways.”

Statistics Canada reports that Canada’s film and television industry generated $11.3 billion in operating revenue in 2021 – a 20.2 per cent increase from 2019. Ontario had the largest provincial share, generating $4.2 billion, followed by British Columbia and Quebec.

- With files from CTV’s Charles Lefebvre.