Washington needs to be center stage again in film industry, Brown says

OLYMPIA – In the 1990s, Washington was at center stage: It seemed that every other movie with a red carpet premiere was filmed, at least in part, in Washington – “Say Anything,” “Singles,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Disclosure,” “Snow Falling on Cedars,” to name a few.

But expenditures on motion picture and video productions in Washington have declined to $13 million currently from $50 million in 2001, economic studies indicate.

A bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, aims to get Washington a lot more “call backs.”

“We live in the most beautiful state in the nation,” Brown said. “But we aren’t doing everything we can to attract the film industry to come here. We need to retain and grow this industry in the face of growing competition from Vancouver, B.C., Idaho and Oregon. By doing so, we can keep creative, young people here and working in Washington state.”

Senate Bill 6558 would create a Motion Picture Competitiveness Program (MPCP), a nonprofit entity administered by a governor-appointed board of directors. MPCP could provide up to 20 percent of the in-state cost of, or investment in, certain film production projects. A contributor of cash of up to $1 million to MPCP would qualify, dollar for dollar, for a business and occupation tax credit.

The total of all tax credits in any calendar year could not exceed $5 million.

The bill, which was heard in the Labor, Commerce & Research Development Committee this morning, awaits executive session. If it passes out of that committee, it will then be referred to the Ways & Means Committee.

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