Nordicity is proud to announce the release of our latest economic profile on Ontario’s screen-based production industries on behalf of Film Ontario, focusing on the period between 2014-2017. The study’s primary research objective was to assess the net fiscal benefit of tax credits supporting screen-based production in Ontario in support of Film Ontario’s advocacy to retain the tax credit.
Ontario Creates film and television production statistics show that the production volume of Ontario’s independent media producers grew by 23% ($1.6 billion) from 2014 to 2017, which supported GDP of $2.3 billion and the employment of 32,740 full-time equivalents in Ontario. In examining the impact of tax credits on Ontario film and television producers, Nordicity estimates that the economic activity supported by tax credits generated slightly more tax revenue than the value of tax credits awarded, yielding a positive net fiscal benefit. Moreover, case studies on competing jurisdictions, the report determines the economic impacts of tax credit enhancement and tax credit removal.
During this engagement, Nordicity worked closely with Ontario Creates to ensure consistency of this work with the agency’s internal economic impact methodology. In so doing, Nordicity ensured that Film Ontario’s position was built on evidence that is consistent with the government’s own analysis.
The full report includes the following research findings:
- Production volume (i.e., direct production spending) in Ontario, by type of production;
- Ontario share of national production volume;
- Employment supported by the screen-based industry;
- Gross Provincial Product (GPP) contributed by the screen-based production industry;
- Provincial and national fiscal (tax) impacts associated with production spending; and
- Tax credits awarded to the screen-based production industry in Ontario.