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Over the last few years the online retail giant Amazon has been experimenting with a controversial new business model for producing original content. Amazon Studios was created to gather scripts, test projects, and determine whether audiences found those to be commercially viable. The studio claims they offer opportunities for new voices and promote the platform as open to anyone. However opponents accuse Amazon of developing a system that takes advantage of green writers, holds their intellectual property hostage, and eventually strips them of valuable rights to their material.

Washington Filmworks is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved funding assistance for eight national commercials since the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program was renewed during the 2012 legislative session. These eight commercials spent an estimated $2.2M in Washington’s statewide economy in five short months. Production took place in diverse locations throughout Washington State, including Anacortes, Port Angeles, La Connor, and Seattle.

Washington Filmworks reached out to one of our incentive alumni Producers, Colin Plank, to pen a guest post about lessons learned through the process of making a feature. Colin is a Producer at Centripetal Films based in Seattle. His film, Eden, will be released in theaters in early 2013. Eden is his first feature film.

Next Tuesday, Nov. 6, we vote on several political offices and initiatives. There are many factors that can inform your vote for an elected official and we hope that a candidate’s support of your livelihood is one of them.

The industry has been buzzing this year about the growing sport of marathon television watching, popularly coined as binge viewing. Binge viewing is defined as consuming three or more episodes of a television series in one sitting.

Washington Filmworks invited Kathleen McInnis to pen a guest post designed to help filmmakers think strategically about working the film festival circuit. McInnis has guided films through their festival premieres at Toronto, Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Galway and San Sebastian film festivals among many others. She has been a festival programmer and director at such festivals as Seattle, Slamdance and Palm Springs ShortFest.

Word out of Los Angeles is that the film industry is packing its bags. According to Film L.A., the non-profit organization that coordinates permitting for entertainment shot on location in Los Angeles County, many filming categories they track are in decline, some experiencing severe losses.

Haven’t had the opportunity to catch all the recent Washington-produced films yet? No problem. October is a great month to watch several of these movies through your local cable provider, stream them online, rent on DVD, or catch them in theaters.

Don’t miss this opportunity to meet with policy makers who can directly influence the growth of our state’s creative industries. Join us tonight, 10/3/12, from 5-7 p.m. at the Film Music and Interactive Happy Hour in Seattle.

This guest post is from Ben Andrews, independent filmmaker and co-founder of Evil Slave LLC. His passion lies in creating a truly viable and robust film industry in the state of Washington. Ben is one of the organizers of the Seattle Film Summit, which will be held at the Northwest Film Forum this Saturday, Sept. 29th, in conjunction with the Local Sightings Film Festival. The summit is a day-long, participant-directed conference, where attendees and speakers address the tough questions of the local film business.