In the 2022 legislative session, a healthy $15M state budget allocation was made to enable attracting more film, television, and commercial production of all kinds. Consequently, WA Filmworks (the state’s official film agency office) is now all staffed up and embarking on a renewed mission to lure lucrative projects here to the Evergreen state.
The positive impact for a local community that hosts production shoots range from direct, primary benefits (being directly paid to be the backdrop), through secondary income (providing homes for wardrobe, makeup, catering services and more), to community-wide incidental revenues (lodging, transportation, groceries and more for the entire cast and crew). For a successful production/location pairing (think Roslyn and Northern Exposure or North Bend and Twin Peaks), it can be a gift that keeps on giving for years or even decades…
To capture a slice of this potential windfall, the Bainbridge Chamber and Visit Bainbridge Island combined forces to recently host Washington Filmworks Location Scout Vicky Berglund-Davenport on a multi-location scouting trip across the entire Island.
After a fun day walking through a selection of both the island’s best-known and ‘secret’ spots, 3 things became very clear:
- Bainbridge is an amazing place to shoot films, TV shows & more
- There are valuable revenue streams to be had by both business owners and residents in exchange for playing host to generous film crews
- One day was nowhere near enough time to see all that Bainbridge can offer to potential productions.
All that means we will be bringing Vicky back to the Island again next month, and plan on continuing to do so on a regular basis until she has had a chance to soak in all of what Bainbridge has to offer.