does Seattle have a thriving indie film scene? (Vancouver: rentals, house)

[Cinema Cat]

I live in Los Angeles, which means I have access to a huge talent pool and infrastructure if I want to shoot an indie film. Lots of highly trained yet unemployed (i.e., they work cheaply) actors and technicians. Lots of businesses serving the film biz (camera and prop rentals, studio space, etc.).

If I moved to Seattle, as I'm considering, what's the indie film scene like? Would I have a large pool of TRAINED actors and technicians to hire cheaply?

One Seattle filmmaker (shot one low-budget feature, and some shorts) told me that Vancouver, Canada drains a lot of talent and production dollars from Seattle. Companies that want to locate a story in Seattle, or anywhere in the Northwest, often shoot in Vancouver. And many talented people move up there for the work -- or come to L.A.

When I think Seattle, I think IT. I'm sure I can find great CGI workers in Seattle, but what about actors, cinematographers, and sound technicians?

[Kalex]

my impression is no. There seems to be very little that actually films here. My SO is a producer, but hasn't filmed anything here yet. Just been kinda watching the scene. They just shot a feature in Armenia last month -didn't have a ton of luck with resources here, so pulled everything domestic from NYC. hopefully I'm wrong on this but that's been our impression so far

[Rcsligar]

There are definitely a lot of independent movie Theatres around, but I couldn't tell you that much about seattle based production.

Northwest Film Forum :: Cinemas

[Ira500]

Large pool maybe not, but there are actors and technicians around Seattle. There's an always expanding school, the Seattle Film Institute. And a lot of screenwriters. But it's not LA or Vancouver. Seattle Film Festival is still one of the best in the country. They have their own movie theatre. The industry was a larger scene when there were more state subsidies. But I'd say do it. LA gets old, doesn't it?

[beautifulseattlehomes]

I know this genre is a bit different, but our neighbor, a documentary filmmaker who left Brooklyn for a more affordable and greener place to raise his children, now finds himself back in NYC all the time because the resources just aren't here to get the movies finished! He is frustrated and surprised that Seattle doesn't have what he needs to get it done!

[Kalex]

Originally Posted by beautifulseattlehomes

I know this genre is a bit different, but our neighbor, a documentary filmmaker who left Brooklyn for a more affordable and greener place to raise his children, now finds himself back in NYC all the time because the resources just aren't here to get the movies finished! He is frustrated and surprised that Seattle doesn't have what he needs to get it done!

agreed. SO just returned from NYC yesterday for that exact reason. They're moving much of the post-production to LA so he does less cross-country flying. His opinion is that they don't shoot any of the book-based movies that are set here, in Seattle bc of the lack of an industry and people to hire. Everything goes to Vancouver

[Cinema Cat]

I'm surprised Seattle doesn't have more of a film production scene. It does have some film schools, I know that.

But I'm also surprised that people would travel to New York or Los Angeles to get what they need. Wouldn't it make more sense to go to Vancouver, Canada?

I know it's another country, but I hear Canada is aggressive in attracting American film production dollars. Thus, I'd think it'd be easier (and perhaps cheaper) to go to Vancouver to spend money.

Probably not as easy if an American wanted to work in Canada, but easy if an American wanted to hire Canadians.

[Kalex]

I can only speak for SO but he's from NY, we went to school there and his director is there. The post house is the same they've been using for a decade, their crew on this feature was pulled from prior shoots and school connections, etc. They plan to move post to LA for the next film, but for the past year it was just easier to not start from scratch. Hiring from Canada would have added another layer of complexity to a really tricky shoot in Armenia where they were already dealing with all the customs and permitting issues there.

in general I think that's why all "local" production ends up in Vancouver. 50 Shades of Grey will shoot there, Twilight was shot on the Island, etc.