Washington state film industry feels impact of tech slowdowns

In the last two years, as musicians, producers, dancers and theater techs were without regular gigs while the cultural sector struggled to get back to “normal” from the pandemic shutdowns, Jacob Leander, a Seattle-based freelance video producer, found himself busier than ever.

Tech companies soared, and so did their demand for video. Keynote speeches needed to be filmed. Ads, training programs and recruiting videos had to be shot. Virtual conferences required livestreaming.

“At that point in time, I felt like I could probably get a job anywhere,” he said.

For Leander, the boom time came to a screeching halt last fall, when tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon announced massive layoffs. Since then, he’s only had a few gigs; four projects have been paused, postponed or canceled. Leander is currently using his emergency savings to weather the lull in his schedule. “I’m basically in … survival mode,” he said. 

Leander is not the only film freelancer feeling the ripple effects of the tech slowdown: producers, production studio directors and others say projects have been canceled, paused or slow to come in, leaving them waiting in the wings and (for some) without income. The winter months are usually slow for filming, but commercial and corporate shooting has not picked back up at its usual pace this spring, they say. 

While not easily quantifiable, the slowdown, at least anecdotally, impacts a considerable slice of the local film industry. It’s usually locally produced movies and TV shows that grab the headlines, but many local film freelancers live off corporate and commercial gigs, in part because there isn’t a steady stream of TV or film work available here. 

The downturn comes at a notable time, right when moves designed to boost the film and TV industry — including a large-scale movie studio sponsored by King County, an increased statewide tax incentive, and the Seattle Film Commission — haven’t fully gotten off the ground yet. All while the local film sector at large is still trying to regain its footing after the pandemic upheaval.

The slowdown in corporate gigs, Leander and some others said, stems from the reorganizations and belt-tightening at Puget Sound-based Big Tech firms like Amazon and Microsoft and other local companies. (Amazon did not respond to a request for comment; a representative for Microsoft declined an interview.) 

“The tech companies have slowed down a lot of their … outside spending on vendors or external expenses,” Leander said. And it’s not just a post-boom whiplash, he said: Things haven’t been this slow since the Great Recession of 2007-2009.

“It’s been really quiet. Very, very quiet,” said local producer Kim Schwarzkopf. “And it’s not just me. I have asked around and other people have said it’s been the slowest quarter that we can remember.” 

“I am definitely hearing, ‘Where’s the work?’ as a common refrain from film professionals who are eager to work right now,” said Kate Becker, creative economy director for the King County Executive’s Office and a longtime film industry advocate. “While we don’t have hard data, industry folks are citing a lack of high-wage commercial work connected to less demand for content creation from corporations, seemingly connected to business contraction. So, it’s rough out there right now.” 

As Becker says, the impact on the film industry is difficult to quantify. Freelance work is challenging to track. And because the film industry is relatively small (it employs roughly 5,600 people statewide, not counting freelancers), Washington’s Employment Security Department doesn’t know how many jobs in the film sector were lost, said regional labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman. 

The number of permits issued for filming on public property in Seattle could offer some clues, but the data doesn’t provide a neat answer: City data show that Seattle’s Film Office issued 29 permits for corporate and commercial shoots in the first three months of 2023 (through April 5), on par with last year’s 30. While the numbers could be an indicator, they represent only a slice of the film production in the state and city, as many corporations have their own production facilities or don’t film on public property. And, said Chris Swenson, film program manager with the city of Seattle’s Office of Economic Development, “we have heard anecdotally from local crew and production companies that corporate film work has slowed.” 

Bread and butter 

Conversations about Seattle’s film industry often center on movies and TV series shot here — or, specifically, the lack of such — and the longstanding efforts to draw those productions to Washington state. But it’s lesser known that there is a strong market for commercial and corporate work here. These high-paying gigs are the bread and butter for many workers in the local film industry. 

“Let’s say you’re a production designer and art director, or you’re building sets. You are going to find more corporate clients than broadcast television or film work,” said local director and cinematographer Matthew J. Clark, who owns a production company. “These companies, particularly Microsoft and Amazon, they have … such a need for video. … So it does support a whole community around here.” 

City data backs this up: in the last four years, 40% of permits issued for filming on public property with the city of Seattle involved commercial and corporate shoots. TV and film (both short films and features) made up 18%, documentaries 11%. 

A slowdown in the corporate world also has artistic repercussions, Clark said. “The money that you make on those jobs allows you then to go off and make the passion projects that take up a lot of resources and time, but you don’t have very much money for,” he said. “It’s like you’re being fueled by the Amazons and the Microsofts of the world, essentially. And I think that’s one of the many facets of a downturn that’s tough, is that creative types in the film industry have less resources at hand to go off and do their passion projects.” 

Breakthrough year 

The slowdown comes at a pivotal moment for Washington’s film sector, which has been trying for years to gain a competitive edge over busy film production hubs like Portland and Vancouver, B.C. 

Last year, three crucial developments signaled that maybe it was finally prime time. 

In the spring, the Legislature passed a bill that increased funding for Washington’s Motion Picture Competitiveness Program — aka the film incentive — from $3.5 million a year to $15 million. The program hopes to lure production companies to Washington state with financial incentives like tax breaks. While $15 million is still below Oregon’s incentive ($20 million) and relatively modest compared with the incentives in states like California (currently $330-$420 million), New Mexico ($110 million, to increase up to $160 million in the next 5 years) and British Columbia (no cap), the increase marks a leap for the state’s competitiveness. 

Then there was the soft opening of Harbor Island Studios, a sprawling, King County-owned warehouse turned movie studio. The complex is meant to help attract bigger movie and long-term TV productions to the state by filling the need for a large-scale production site where production companies can come in with trucks and sets (or build them there) and house offices plus costume and prop shops. 

And in September, Seattle passed a measure that created the long-awaited Seattle Film Commission, meant to cut red tape and make it easier to film in Seattle, plus “advise Seattle city leaders on ways to bring film back to Seattle and serve as a conduit between the city and the film industry,” according to a City Council news release.  

But if this were a movie, the happily-ever-after finale would still be a ways off. 

While Harbor Island Studios is open for local business and welcomed multiple indie productions this spring (including one short film, a music video and a video game trailer), it’s not quite ready for major motion picture productions as it undergoes much-needed soundproofing and other facility improvements. The brand-new 11-member Film Commission is expected to hold its first monthly meeting soon. And as of this writing, one year after the bill’s passage, the incentive’s 2023 application window has not yet opened. Amy Lillard of Washington Filmworks, which operates the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program, said the application window will open this spring, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The incentive wouldn’t apply to corporate work — only film, TV and certain commercials if they’re smaller-budget or filmed in rural areas of the state, as well as other types of content like virtual reality and animation. It’s too soon to tell whether it would help shift the balance and make the local sector less reliant on corporate work.

Sarah Crowe, an executive producer who works for a major local tech firm, is hopeful about the incentive’s possibilities. “It is [a] start,” she said. No one program is enough, but together, the incentive, Harbor Island when fully operational, and local commercial work could form a robust industry that allows people to make a living and stay in Washington, she said. 

But, she added, “in order to truly grow, we have to build our crew/talent base and have enough growth opportunities so they stay living and working in Seattle,” Crowe said. “At this time, if there are two feature films happening at the same time, we start running out of key crew.” 

Still, many in the local film industry say they are hopeful about the incentive. The city of Seattle reported a slight increase in the number of movie productions on public property in the first three months of the year (through April 5) compared with the same time last year, and Swenson with Seattle’s Film Office said he expects the number of film and TV productions to grow thanks to the incentive. 

And, Lillard of Washington Filmworks pointed out, the incentive also will help emerging local filmmakers by specifically supporting smaller-budget movie productions under $1 million. Washington Filmworks will debut a new education and mentorship program for Washington-based directors and producers later this year as well. 

“I am hopeful and optimistic,” Melissa Purcell, prop master and northern business agent with IATSE Local 488, the union representing film, TV and commercial technicians, said about the increased incentive, Harbor Island Studios and the new film commission. “Everything is aligned, pointed in a super positive position, more so than we have been for years.” 

“At the same time,” she added, “I had hoped that we would have had some long-format work [like movies and TV] confirmed by now, and we don’t.” Purcell noted that the industry is also concerned about a potential strike of the Writers Guild, which could impact the timelines for major movies and TV series, including larger-budget projects that could come our way from Los Angeles or New York. “We’re sort of in a watching period,” she said. 

That’s true for those who work in the commercial film industry, too. Crowe says she expects things to settle in a few months: “I think it’s just taking a little bit of time to bounce back from layoffs,” she said. “But I do think that all of these businesses are likely to bounce back.” 

Local director and cinematographer Clark anticipates the turbulence lasting potentially through the rest of the year, and while he’s worried, he said the sector is uniquely accustomed to the ebb and flow of work: “I just know that the film industry is pretty resilient.”

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This coverage is partially underwritten by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. The Seattle Times maintains editorial control over this and all its coverage.