Jake: WA’s film tax break is a great idea — now apply it everywhere

Seattle wants to lure Hollywood. Smart move. Now apply that same logic everywhere.

The Seattle Times recently reported that Washington is eyeing tax incentives to attract film and TV productions — and honestly, it’s about time. Too many productions flee California’s sky-high costs, cruise straight through Washington, and land in Vancouver, B.C., where the production budgets make sense.

Washington has stunning locations and real production potential. It’s been leaving money on the table.

If jobs follow incentives, use that everywhere

Here’s how broken Hollywood’s cost problem has become: The Floor, Rob Lowe’s Fox trivia game show featuring 100 simultaneous contestants on a massive game board, isn’t filmed anywhere near the Fox lot in Los Angeles. It’s cheaper to fly Rob Lowe, the entire production crew, and 100 contestants to Dublin, Ireland. Dublin. Let that sink in.

So yes — tax incentives to make Washington competitive for film and TV production make complete sense. The economic argument writes itself: production moves in, jobs follow, local businesses boom. Catering, hotels, equipment rentals, location scouts — the ripple effect is real.

But here’s my question for lawmakers: why stop at film?

If the logic is “make it cheaper to operate here and the jobs will come,” that logic doesn’t belong exclusively to Hollywood. It applies to aerospace, manufacturing, tech, coffee, or any industry weighing whether Washington is worth the cost of doing business.

Washington already knows how to win industries — Boeing built the backbone of this state’s economy, as did Microsoft, Starbucks, and Amazon. The film push shows that policymakers understand how incentives drive location decisions. That’s the right instinct. The mistake would be treating it as a one-industry idea.

Make Washington the place where businesses — all businesses — can afford to succeed. The jobs and tax revenue will follow just the same.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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