2018 in Seattle Film

The Office of Film + Music coordinates permissions for film productions to operate on public City of Seattle property by issuing Master Film Permits. A strong Seattle film industry is at the center of the local creative economy.

Scroll through our Instagram snapshot of the numbers from 2018:

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2018 was an amazing year for #filminseattle! Filmmakers, let’s take a look back at what you achieved: . . . 🎞 537 permits issued – a 10% jump over the last 2 years! 👩🏽‍💼5,610 local cast + crew hired 💰56% of all permits were Commercial Productions – year after year, commercial work takes up the bulk of productions in Seattle 🎥 21% of all permits were for Feature Film or Episodic Content, including “Language Arts,” a feature film which was filmed completely in Western Washington over the course of 30 days in the Summer of 2018 🎬 The remaining 23% were for other content including student films, web series, music videos, PSAs, VR/AR projects, and more 🏬 312 out of the 537 permits issued in 2018 were to production companies that defined themselves as a small business 🏞 95 of Seattle’s 485 beautiful public parks were used for filming in 2018 – and parks were used 520 times across all permits ☀️ The top 5 most frequently filmed parks were Gas Works Park, Kerry Park, Volunteer Park, Discovery Park, and Golden Gardens Park 🏙 42% of all permits were from production companies within Seattle 🏔 19% of permits were from production companies within the rest of Washington State ✈️ The other 37% of permits were from national and international production companies – largely Los Angeles and New York – but also England, Singapore, and Australia . . A strong Seattle film industry is at the center of the local creative economy. Cheers to the great work in 2018, we can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2019! #wecanpermitthisforyou #seattlefilm #filminwashington

A post shared by Seattle Office of Film + Music (@seattlefilmandmusic) on Jan 15, 2019 at 5:13pm PST

2018 in Special Events

The Special Events Office operates within the Office of Film + Music, coordinating Special Event Permits for large or impactful public or private events (e.g., Seafair, Rock’n’Roll Marathon, Capitol Hill Block Party) and constitutionally protected free speech marches and rallies (e.g., Womxn’s March).

Here’s a snapshot of the numbers from 2018:

• In 2018, 521 Special Event Permits were coordinated
• This included 426 Special Event Permits, 82 valet permits, and 13 charter vessel permits
• Total attendance at special events in 2018 was estimated at 2.3 million by event organizers
• The most popular neighborhoods for special events were Downtown, Queen Anne, Pioneer Square, South Lake Union and Capitol Hill
• 50% of events were free and open to the public
• 55% of events occur during the summer months – June through September
• There were 62 free speech events in 2018
• 19 events used public waterways
• 1,662 street segments were used for events
• There were 64 run/walk/cycling events throughout the year

2018 was an amazing year for film and special events in Seattle. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2019!