Written by on Jul 7, 2011. Posted in Incentive News

Washington State ends filming incentive

The filming incentive in Washington State has been ended after local politicians decided the 30% cash rebate programme wasn’t having a big enough economic impact. More than 20 projects received collective incentives worth USD5.4 million through the course of 2010, with nearly USD20 million being channelled into the economy.

Amy Lillard, Executive Director at Washington Filmworks, said: “We become a quintessential fly-over state. We are between two very aggressive jurisdictions. If you’re a producer and a business person, it doesn’t make sense to come to Washington.”

We are between two very aggressive jurisdictions. If you’re a producer and a business person, it doesn’t make sense to come to Washington.

Amy Lillard, Washington Filmworks

Washington lies between Vancouver and Oregon, which are much more established as production hubs around the north-west US and the Canadian border. Washington’s profile has been heightened by films like the Twilight franchise, but although set in Forks much of this was filmed in Oregon.

Political pressure to reduce state deficits continues to be cranked up across the US. With filming incentives still widely perceived as only benefitting the wealthy media industry, they’re an obvious target for state lawmakers.