It was great to open The Seattle Times and read Rob Owen's excellent article about Washington's movie industry and the miracles Amy Lillard and her team at Washington Filmworks have been pulling off year after year with very little funding ["Hollywood producers snubbing Seattle; here's why," Television, Aug. 12]. It's clear that tax incentives work here and that the program should be expanded.
With more funding and a larger staff, Washington Filmworks can also flip another economic lever — local production investment. The team can educate local financiers on how to evaluate and fund Washington-based production companies. They can help pair investors with producers and increase the probability of producing successful, revenue-generating movies.
Then, instead of the revenue going out of state, it stays here to help create more jobs and more business opportunities.