May 26, 2011  

The bill to renew the Motion Picture Competitiveness program died last night because it never made it to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. While we were confident that there were sufficient votes to pass the legislation on the floor of the House, it was blocked when Speaker Frank Chopp linked the production incentive program to a House bill related to housing and homelessness that needed to be passed in the Senate.  Since the Senate did not have sufficient votes to pass the housing bill, 2SSB 5539 was never brought to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.  And as previously reported, Ross Hunter's amendment taking the annual funding for this program from $3.5M annually to $1.75M per year, continued to be problematic for the livelihood of this program.

Washington Filmworks will continue to commit funds that are available for 2011.  In the coming weeks, the Board of Directors and staff of Washington Filmworks will consider what can be done to maintain the presence of film in Washington State and discuss strategies for the 2012 legislative session.  We invite the film community to participate in this conversation and offer creative input about how we can move the film industry forward by sending an email to Info@WashingtonFilmworks.org.

We want to reiterate that there was tremendous support for the bill in both the House and Senate.  If your elected officials voted for the bill or expressed their support for the legislation, we encourage you to write a note of thanks and ask that they continue to work with us in the future to help keep Washington's film industry vibrant and working. 

We want to sincerely thank the film community for the amazing support during this legislative session.  Washington Filmworks believes that all possible efforts were made to pass the legislation and that your voices were heard in Olympia. 

Stay tuned for additional updates.