In a world where a state called Washington is forbidden by its constitution from granting credit to businesses; where film productions run away to Vancouver, British Columbia; where 30 states, including Oregon, grant attractive tax incentives to film producers; Washington’s film-making industry has steadily declined — until now! This summer, get ready for a tax credit mechanism that will encourage film-making in Washington — Second Senate Substitute Bill 6558.
Actually, 2SSB 6558 passed last summer. But because my opening paragraph is meant to parody film-trailer clichés, I couldn’t resist sending up my favorite overused film-preview-utterance — this summer.
In any case, the bill was primarily sponsored by Sen. Lisa Brown (D) of Spokane. The legislation was conceived and organized by a new trade association, the Washington Entertainment Industry Players Association, inspired and led by Don Jensen, president of Seattle’s Alpha Cine Labs, and by Seattle entertainment law attorney Lance Rosen of Rosen Lewis, PLLC.
The new legislation created a motion picture competitiveness program, now known as the WFW, or Washington Film Works. The WFW is a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization, whose sole purpose is to revitalize Washington’s “economic, cultural, and educational standing in the national and international market of motion picture production by recommending and awarding financial assistance for costs associated with motion pictures in the state of Washington.”1
The WFW awards its financial assistance from the contributions that it receives from Washington companies. For these contributions, the bill allows a company to claim — against its business and occupation tax — a dollar-for-dollar tax credit. For the tax year, the contributing company cannot receive more than $1 million of tax credit. And no more than $1 million of financial assistance may be received by each film production.
Additionally, the film production must spend at least $500,000 in Washington to be eligible for the program. Thus, a production company that makes a film in Washington for $10 million could end up receiving a rebate of up to $1 million of the amount spent in-state. (Television programs and commercials are also eligible for rebates, but with different conditions.) Lastly, for any given tax year, the WFW can only accept a maximum of $3.5 million from donors to offer as rebates.
The idea is to attract production money into Washington that otherwise would be spent elsewhere. Any funds that the WFW does not award in a given year are added to the total WFW funds available for the next year.
In less than three months after the program’s initiation in October, WFW received $2.8 million in donor contributions, none of which was allocable to productions in 2006 because application protocols were still being developed. Protocols are now in place and applications are coming in. That means that the total amount the WFW may award this year is $6.3 million.
But who decides to give this money out? The WFW has a board of eight members who are appointed by the governor and represent different interested entities: the production industry (Jennifer Roth); the postproduction industry (Don Jensen); unions affiliated with the motion picture industry (David Robinson and Abby Dylan); visitors and convention bureaus (Harry Sladich); the tourism industry (Becky Bogard); the restaurant, hotel and airline industries (Craig Schafer). Until his untimely passing, Mark Charles Paben of K&L Gates served as WFW’s co-chair, along with Bogard. For more information on the WFW, go to http://washingtonfilmworks.org/home.html.
In order to excite you about the prospect of increased film-making in Washington and Seattle, here is a selected list of films shot on location in Seattle that make the city an integral part of the story: The Night Strangler (1972), Harry In Your Pocket (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), McQ (1974), The Changeling (1980), Frances (1982), War Games (1983), Trouble In Mind (1985), House of Games (1987), American Heart (1992), and, of course, Sleepless In Seattle (1993). [Ed. Note: Let’s not forget It Happened at the World’s Fair (1963) — it was Elvis, after all — and Singles (1992), featuring Seattle’s rock scene and an unforgettable shot of the old Food Giant in Wallingford.]
Dedicated to Mark Charles Paben
August 27, 1955 – March 3, 2007
Matthew Rovner is a recently admitted attorney. He volunteers for the Seattle Community Law Center, KCBA Kinship Care Program and the Washington Lawyers for the Arts. He also works as a contract attorney for the CASA program.
12SSB 6558, 2006 Leg. (Wash. 2006).
