Independent Canadian production posted a small increase in 1999, with an approximate $27-million rise in expenditures to $1,727,355, 660 compared to $1,699,766,877 in 1998. While responses from 134 Canadian companies to Playback's 12th annual industry survey show 1999 was a static year for overall volume, animation, television documentary and mows/miniseries all made significant gains.

Animation climbed to $296 million from nearly $185 million in Playback's last survey. Documentary was another top performer, increasing to $107 million from $77 million in 1998, while mows/miniseries rose to $211 million from $184 million.

Playback's survey results are in line with the PricewaterhouseCoopers economic profile of the Canadian film and television industry prepared for the cftpa, which puts cavco certified production at $1.6 billion for 1998/99.

The report, Profile 2000, also records significant growth in the children's and documentary genres.

Broken down regionally, Toronto and Montreal continue to dominate, with Canada's top 10 producers by volume substantially located in the two centres. The top two companies by volume: Alliance Atlantis Communications and Fireworks Entertainment are located in Toronto as are Nelvana (number six) and Sullivan (eight). Montreal has three of the top 10, with Motion International (ranked third of the top companies by volume), Cinar Corporation (fifth) and Telescene (seven). The only exceptions to the top 10 Toronto-Montreal axis are Vancouver-based Lions Gate (number four) and Peace Arch Entertainment Group (ninth), and the sole Atlantic Canada representative in the top 10, Salter Street Films - number 11 on last year's list - at number 10.

Most of this year's top 10 were top performers in last year's survey also, with those in the top seven this year a reshuffling of last year's top six with the addition of Lions Gate, fourth in line this year, which fell considerably lower in the 1998 figuring (number 16). The only other newcomer to the top 10 is Sullivan Entertainment.

1999 was a record-breaking year for Ontario. According to figures from the Ontario Film Development Corporation derived from numbers that reflect money spent by productions utilizing ofdc-administered services, Ontario's film and television production activity injected a total of $934 million into the provincial economy, a new high. The importance of non-domestic production spending is growing: in 1999, domestic production accounted for 53% of production and foreign made up the remaining 47%, in contrast to 1997, when domestic production accounted for 65% to foreign's 35%. Domestic production in '99 increased to $491.3 million from $396.2 million in '98.

More impressive was b.c.'s performance, which for the year 1999 reached $1.07 billion, with a 32% increase on 1998's numbers, which saw spending in the province at $808 million. Dominated by service production, b.c. has nonetheless seen an increase in local work, with Canadian activity coming in at $405 million, a 14% increase over 1998.