Last night (March 29, 2012) Governor Gregoire signed E2SSB 5539, the bill that renews the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program.  Several members of the film community were in attendance, along with representatives from Washington Filmworks, our lobbying team, legislative staffers, and bill champions Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Representative Phyllis Gutiérrez Kenney and Representative Ed Orcutt.  This action reinstates the program that ended last year and establishes a new sunset date in June of 2017.

Renewal of the Motion Picture Competitiveness Program will allow Washington Filmworks to once again raise 3.5 million dollars per year to help bring film production to our state.  The phones are already ringing off the hook and staff is fielding inquiries from projects interested in filming here this summer.  As a reminder the new law will not go into effect until June of 2012.

We wanted to take a moment to let you know what to expect in the interim period.  Washington Filmworks’ board and staff are working diligently to implement this new legislation.  There are exciting program updates ahead and we will share them once those are confirmed.  We are also planning a series of informative and celebratory events to take place across Washington.  More details to come soon.

Great things are in store.  We will share more as we are able. Congratulations, Washington!