Washington's latest Motion Picture Competitiveness Program report shows the state is competing in a difficult market.
Four years after Washington dramatically expanded its film incentive program, the state is approving more productions and reporting more jobs for local cast and crew. A neighboring film office says Washington is competing for projects again.
But a full-scale return of feature filmmaking has not happened. In Seattle, feature films and episodic television accounted for just 9% of permitted productions last year. Commercial work remains a much larger part of the local industry, and city economic development officials see it as the strongest near-term opportunity for production jobs.
Into that changing industry came Friend Thing, a new independent feature filmed across Seattle this summer. The coming-of-age drama is set in 1996 and comes from Seattle-raised writer and first-time feature director Harry Calbom. For Calbom, shooting here was important from the beginning.
“There would be some advantages to shooting it in another country,” Calbom told KOMO News. “But I don't think, sort of spiritually, I could have made it anywhere else. I never considered anywhere else. Shooting in Seattle was part of the plan all along.”
Producer Bryce Cyrier called it “a homegrown story.” Calbom grew up in Seattle and drew from some of his own experiences in developing it. The production filmed on streets he knew growing up and even at his former school.
The filmmakers also had to recreate Seattle three decades ago. Location manager Kristy Wylie said crews cleared modern cars from parts of the University District, brought in 1990s vehicles and a double-decker Metro bus, and recreated the old Tower Records storefront on University Way.
“One of the big things is just the textures of the Pacific Northwest,” Cyrier said. “There are also so many places here that were kind of ready to go.”
But location wasn't the only factor that made shooting here possible.
In 2022, state lawmakers increased the annual funding cap for Washington's Motion Picture Competitiveness Program from $3.5 million to $15 million. The legislation also extended the program through 2030 and expanded incentives for some rural productions and projects telling stories from historically underrepresented communities.
Washington Filmworks, the nonprofit that administers the program, provides financial assistance to qualifying productions based on eligible spending in the state. For Friend Thing, that assistance mattered.
“It was helpful in raising money,” Calbom said. “We felt like we had a really good shot at the enhanced incentive. We ended up getting approved for that. So that was incredibly helpful.”
Calbom also said Washington's program has limitations when productions get bigger.
“For a movie our size, it works great,” he said, adding that it can be “limiting for bigger productions. For us, it was awesome.”
Washington Filmworks says the larger program is producing results. The organization told KOMO News that since 2022, approved projects have increased by 600% and jobs for local cast and crew have increased by 272%. Those figures cover Filmworks-approved projects and should not be read as a 600% increase in feature films specifically.
Washington's latest Motion Picture Competitiveness Program report also shows the state is competing in a difficult market. The report cites industry research showing global production remained 11% below 2022 levels, with international locations increasingly competing for projects through lower costs, infrastructure and incentives.
There is another indication that Washington's larger incentive is being noticed: Oregon.
The Oregon Film Office told KOMO News that Oregon had previously been the first stop for many productions considering the Pacific Northwest. Since Washington expanded its program, Oregon Film says Washington is again being considered for projects.
Oregon officials did not characterize that as entirely negative. They said increased production in Washington can strengthen the larger Pacific Northwest film industry, helping support the crews, vendors and infrastructure productions need throughout the region.
Recent Washington projects include Train Dreams, which filmed in Eastern Washington, and now Friend Thing in Seattle. Cyrier said his experience here made him interested in returning.
“From my perspective and based on my experience here, it's been entirely positive in terms of the level of expertise and professionalism with the crew and the support that we felt around the city,” he said. “There is absolutely a thirst for more production to come back, and I'm motivated to come back as well.”
He said more consistent work would also help Washington develop and retain younger crew members.
“I know there are many willing hands to work on many more projects,” Cyrier said.
The statewide numbers show growth. Seattle's numbers show why the industry's recovery is more complicated.
The Seattle Film Office issued 360 Master Film Permits covering 621 filming days in 2025, with productions reporting 4,096 local cast and crew hires. Feature films and episodic television accounted for only 9% of permitted productions, while the city's broader commercial category accounted for 54%.
Seattle issued permits for 10 feature films in 2025, compared with 14 in 2024, six in 2023, and eight in 2022. The figures cover productions requiring city film permits and are not a count of every production made in Seattle.
That mix of work is important because the city isn't relying on feature films to drive near-term industry growth. The Seattle Office of Economic Development identifies commercial production as the clearest near-term opportunity for growing production jobs and businesses. Its analysis describes narrative film and television as a contracting national business facing job losses, offshoring and growing competition among jurisdictions offering incentives.
For Seattle crews, that means the less glamorous work can be the more consistent work. Wylie sees that firsthand.
“We do a lot of commercials in between,” she said, “but it's been amazing having this project here.”
Commercials can keep local crews working between longer narrative projects. Features can provide sustained employment while also bringing more visible production activity into neighborhoods and businesses.
For Wylie, both matter.
“We do know that people want to film in Seattle and want to film in Washington, and the incentive really does make it possible,” she said. “So we're really thankful for that. The crews appreciate it. It's about keeping film and jobs here.”
The movie itself centers on teenagers navigating friendship, loss and identity.
“To me, the heart of this movie Friend Thing is friendship,” Cyrier said. “It's about young people experiencing life, the ups and the downs, and learning what it means to be a true friend.”
Cyrier said the production itself became difficult at times, making the final day particularly meaningful for the people involved.
“It has been a difficult journey, but one that we're all incredibly proud of,” he said. “This story of friendship, of love and loss, I think has been embodied in the making of it, and we feel really proud of what we've been able to accomplish together.”
For Washington's film industry, Friend Thing is one project, not proof of a broader feature-film resurgence. But it does illustrate what the expanded incentive is designed to do: help a production choose Washington, spend money here, and hire people here.
The larger test will be whether Washington can turn the recent increase in approved projects into consistent production work and whether it can compete for larger features while maintaining the commercial work that already employs Seattle crews.
For Calbom, Friend Thing started with a simpler calculation: He had a Seattle story, and he wanted to make it here.
