By Eric Fetters
Herald Writer
EVERETT – Construction has begun on the largest film and television production lot in Canada, prompting Hollywood to seek new ways to keep the motion picture industry from fleeing north.
But the director of the Everett Film Office says she doesn’t worry much about competing with Canada.
She knows it’s not realistic.
“There’s no way we can be competitive with the incentives Canada offers,” said Lanie McMullin, who oversees the film office as the city’s executive administrator.
“But we would be happy to deal with their leftovers – and we often do.”
The new production center being built in Toronto will bolster Canada’s facilities, but when studios in British Columbia and other Canadian locations are booked, some producers consider Everett as an alternative. The city has the advantage – compared with other cities in the state and the nation – of price and a streamlined permit process, McMullin said.
Unlike Seattle and nearly every other city, Everett does not charge film and television producers for the permits they need in order to shoot scenes in the city, she said. The city asks only that producers spend their money locally and pay for any costs created by filming, such as traffic control by police.
Also, especially compared with Seattle, Everett can offer less expensive hotel and motel rooms and restaurants for production crew members.
During the 1980s, labor unions, elected officials and industry groups lamented productions that left Hollywood to film in cheaper locations, including Washington state. In the past decade, however, more productions and jobs in the film industry have moved to Canada, Australia and European countries, all of which offer big tax breaks.
Tax credits offered by Canada, coupled with that nation’s weaker dollar and crew wages subsidized by the government, can reduce the costs of film production by 25 percent.
More producers are discovering that economic advantage. More than 25 percent of theatrical films shot in North America and released during 2000 were filmed in Canada, according to the most recent report from the Center for Entertainment Industry Data and Research. That was up from 13 percent in 1999.
That represents billions of dollars – industry sources estimate from about $3 billion to $10 billion a year – that otherwise would have gone into the U.S. economy.
While leaders in Hollywood and California are among those most concerned with the exodus, other states that have tried to attract film and video productions seem to have suffered the most.
McMullin’s feeling that Everett cannot compete with Canada for productions is repeated by other film office directors in Washington. Donna James, director of the Mayor’s Film and Video Office in Seattle, said her office instead tries to attract productions that otherwise would go to other American cities.
“We compete with Phoenix, San Francisco and Chicago,” she said.
Notable productions that have used Everett as a base of operations in recent years include the now-canceled TV series ‘The Fugitive” and “Ring,” a film that wrapped up filming late last year.
As of this month, no films are shooting in either Everett or Seattle, according to the film offices.
But this spring, a feature film production from Paramount Pictures plans to shoot scenes in Everett, and HBO is looking locally for possible sites to film a historical documentary, McMullin said. Seattle is scheduled to have productions in the near future as well.
While California is mulling tax credits to keep productions in that state, no similar plans are being considered in Olympia right now, according to the Washington State Film Office in Seattle. The state already offers certain exemptions from sales and lodging taxes for productions that shoot here.
More financial incentives wouldn’t help much anyway, McMullin said.
“One thing we could do is build a nice sound stage,” she said. “I’d love to see one in Everett. I think we could keep it busy.”
You can call Herald Writer Eric Fetters at 425-339-3453
or send e-mail to fetters@heraldnet.com.
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