Keeping Film in Washington

On Monday, March 18, a group of SAG-AFTRA members and staff joined their film industry peers in important advocacy work for the Washington State Motion Picture Competitiveness Program. The program is overseen by the Washington State Film Office and is known as Washington Filmworks. Film Day is our annual advocacy event in Olympia.

SAG-AFTRA Seattle Local President Rik Deskin was joined by fellow SAG-AFTRA members Cynthia Geary, Peter Tiemann and SAG-AFTRA Portland Local Secretary Harold Phillips, as they had face-to-face conversations with their legislators. They talked about how the work we do creates jobs, drives economic activity and makes Washington state a great place for filmmakers and creatives.

While we did not have a bill in play this year to raise the legislative cap on the annual $3.5 million program, it was important to be in Olympia to cultivate relationships with state senators and representatives, some re-elected and some freshmen. It is important to continue this dialogue for many years, and not just on Film Day.

Washington Filmworks was proud to announce the kickoff of its new Local Lens program. Local Lens is meant to fund projects that are creatively driven by Washington residents. Approved projects must hire a minimum threshold of Washington resident cast and crew and require a minimum number of production days in Washington state.

To learn more about the specific eligibility requirements, please see the full guidelines and criteria here. Check out the filmmaker fact sheet on the new program here.