The state tax incentive for film productions in Washington is set to expire at the end of the month, and it’s uncertain if it will be renewed.
There is concern that if the tax incentive is not renewed it could cost jobs in Spokane, where the Z Nation series is produced. The series airs on the Syfy network and features a post-apocalyptic world, complete with Zombies.
Democratic Representative, Marcus Riccelli has sponsored the bill to extend and expand the tax incentive that has been in effect since 2002:
“The film community in Spokane and across the state has come out and talked about the positive return on investment and drilled down on the economic value of keeping the film industry here, and I think a number of my colleagues want to see the bill I sponsored passed, and the funding to go along with it, to make sure at the very least don’t see this incentive go away. We’re losing dollars all across the country and we want to film industry to remain active and vital and helping our economy.”
That House bill currently sits in the Finance Committee. The companion Senate bill waits in the Ways and Means Committee. Both have strong bipartisan support.
Those bills await an agreement on the state’s 2017-19 operating budget. The Legislature is in its second special session trying to reach that agreement.
Z Nation, which will start shooting this summer and continue through October, employs about 200 people in Spokane.
