The Film and Music Industries in Seattle Are Losing
While Seattle has never offered the same film and music industry benefits as cities like Los Angeles and New York, until recently, it did have enough opportunities to allow for a reasonable living in a city that was more affordable and livable. Which made it worth the extra fight that had to be made to carve out a living here as freelance film technicians, club musicians, or any number of jobs and businesses that are the infrastructure and backbone of these industries.
Unfortunately, this is no longer true. The incredible economic tech bubble Seattle is experiencing is pushing out film and music jobs and companies. As people have had to make the hard choice to leave town to pursue their careers, Seattle is also losing that sense of a creative community that once made it worth all the other struggles.
In 2011, Seattle began losing film crew to the city of Portland, where episodic TV shows provided consistent union wage work with benefits. Some retained homes in Seattle and traveled back and forth, while others moved outright and bought homes in Portland. With technology changes, advertising budgets changed. In Seattle, where commercials and web content make up the bulk of the film work, the working relationship between ad agencies, production companies, and post-production companies continues to change and be challenged, often resulting in less work for fewer people.
As local media outlets like The Stranger, KEXP, and the Seattle Times have noted, the music industry has also suffered. Six music venues have either closed down or been scheduled for redevelopment, and countless full-time musicians have packed up-and-out. This is just a fast and simple illustration of a larger trend that has been going on in Seattle in recent years.
Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/11/11/41939087/the-film-and-music-industries-in-seattle-are-losing