2022 was a year of continued recovery for Seattle’s film industry and investment in film for the City of Seattle. Last year brought unprecedented opportunity for alignment with our longtime State and County film partners, with Washington’s film incentive program increasing from $3.5M to $15M, and a King County warehouse space dedicated exclusively for film production.
Sponsored by Councilmember Sara Nelson with a 9-0 City Council vote, Mayor Bruce Harrell signed into law legislation creating the Seattle Film Commission. The Seattle Film Commission will be a diverse selection of film industry representatives, whose collective mission will be to advise the City of Seattle on policy and initiatives to support and grow Seattle’s film businesses, crew, and industry. Seattle Film Commission members will be seated in 2023 by the City Council and Mayor following a public nomination process.
The 16th Annual Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Film was awarded to Tom Skerritt, for his 50 year career in film on screen and behind the scenes co-founding The Film School, and EVERGREEN, a pacific northwest lifestyle media content channel, that shares content of local filmmakers to nearly 10 million viewers.
We had the good fortune to host City Councilmembers, Deputy Mayors, and City Department Directors on locations for many productions including Sex Lives of College Girls (episodic series), Penelope (feature film), and major commercials for Hyundai and Schweitzer.
The Office of Economic Development coordinates and issues Master Film Permits for productions working on public City property. While permitted productions are only a slice of all the film production work happening in Seattle, film permit data is our window into the health of the local film industry! In 2022:
- 344 Master Film Permits for 755 filming days were coordinated for productions which reported hiring 4,725 local cast and crew
- 45% of all filming was produced by Seattle-based companies, while 39% were produced by companies from outside Washington State
- Commercial and corporate shoots continue to rein with 55% of all productions in 2022, while feature and episodic productions claiming 14% of productions
- 49% of productions filmed in one of Seattle’s Parks, and 33% filmed on streets and sidewalks or reserved street parking spaces
- District 7 (downtown, Queen Anne, Magnolia) continue to be the most frequent filming neighborhood locations, followed by Districts 2 and 6
Learn more about 2022 Film Permitting data:
