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Harbor Island Studios
On April 3, 2021, King County Executive Dow Constantine unveiled Harbor Island Studios. This newly renovated warehouse, previously underutilized, has been adapted into a film production facility. Several hundred film professionals in union wage jobs were hired for the studio’s first production. Currently, Harbor Island Studios is closed for further improvements, and will reopen in April 2023.
Owned by King County, this studio will continue to provide a facility for local, living-wage jobs in the film industry. Fifteen film professionals serve on the Executive’s Film Advisory Board, offering their insights and experience to inform the development of this much needed addition to our film industry infrastructure.
Learn more about opportunities in the Creative Economy here, including job opportunities, grants, new projects and more.
Growing Our Local Film Industry
Harbor Island Studios is a key economic development project that will strengthen King County’s creative economy. Under the leadership of Executive Constantine and his Film Advisory Board, the new film production studio will provide our film industry with infrastructure it has lacked for decades and support the growth of local film industry jobs.
Harbor Island Studios can accommodate a wide variety of projects – from feature films to commercials – many of which pay union wages to local carpenters, electricians, prop masters, costume designers, and other trades. The Studios will prioritize productions that hire our local crew members with family-wage jobs.
Transforming the Facility
In 2021, King County crews and contractors re-wired and built interior sound-proof walls, transforming an unused building that was once a flour mill into a working production studio. This massive waterfront warehouse was purchased by King County in 2002. The renovations that transformed this space into a production studio cost about $1.5 million and have already attracted several creative economy tenants. With the support of King County Council, Harbor Island Studios continues to be renovated.
Learn more about the soundstages and inquire about filming at Harbor Island Studios
Executive Constantine’s Film Advisory Board
Film advisors
- Peter Barnes, Operations Director, Formosa Interactive Seattle
- Tony Becerra, Director, DGA
- Vicky Berglund-Davenport, Location Manager/Producer, LMGI
- Buzzy Cancilla, Commercial Producer
- Michelle Flowers-Taylor, Actor, Producer
- Cheo Hodari Coker, Producer/Showrunner/Writer
- Cynthia Geary, Actor
- Megan Griffiths, Director
- Susan LaSalle, Director/Producer, DGA
- Lacey Leavitt, Producer/Director
- Mindie Lind, Actor/Casting
- Melissa Purcell, IATSE Local 488 Northern Business Agent, Prop Master
- Eddie Rehfeldt, Producer/Location Manager/Studio Developer
- Jazmyn Scott, Langston/Seattle Black Film Festival
- Nasib ‘CB’ Shamah, Producer/Director
King County team
- Dow Constantine, King County Executive
- Kate Becker, King County Creative Economy & Recovery Director
- Tony Wright, Director of King County Facilities Management
- Mark Zandberg, King County Real Estate Film Liaison
- Martine Kaiser, King County Performance, Strategy & Budget
- Shannon Braddock, King County Executive Deputy Chief of Staff
- Ashton Allison, King County Economic Development/Economic Recovery Director
- Brooke McConnaughey, King County Economic Development Equity Manager
- Andrea Greenstein, King County Economic Recovery Project Manager
Frequent questions about Harbor Island Film Studios
OEOCE and Harbor Island Studios are not involved with hiring for individual film productions.
All available King County positions are posted at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/kingcounty.
OEOCE positions are also shared via @KingCountyCreative on Instagram and Facebook.
There is a sliding scale pricing arrangement at Harbor Island Studios. Multiple factors influence the price.
Four incentives are built into the pricing scheme:
- Hiring local cast and crew
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Green filmmaking
- NextGen opportunities
To initiate a conversation about pricing at Harbor Island Studios:
Please fill out the Harbor Island Studios production inquiry form
- Harbor Island Studios does not have post-production or editing facilities at this time.
- Harbor Island Studios has a limited amount of office space adjacent to a small catering kitchen with refrigerator and microwave. There is additional non-ADA-accessible office space on the 2nd floor.
- If you are not shooting at Harbor Island Studios and you are seeking short-term film production office space, our colleagues at the City of Seattle Office of Economic Development are offering tiered-cost rentals at the M5 Creative Building at Seattle Center. M5 is available to the community through March 31, 2025.
Harbor Island Studios’ focus is on creating opportunities for living-wage film industry jobs, and on being a supportive and accessible facility. We invite everyone: major studio feature films, commercials and advertising, independent and experimental creators, music videos, nonprofit, corporate, interactive/tech/gaming, and more.
- Availability of facility during requested time, or flexibility of applicant’s schedule
- Feasibility (physical/technical/safety) of production within the facility
- Living wage and union-aligned job creation
- Local filmmaker/cast/crew
- Institutionally under-represented filmmaker/cast/crew/audience
- Climate-conscious (“green” or “sustainable”) production process
- NextGen opportunity for new PAs, film students, mentees, etc.
This is currently decided by OEOCE staff and the Executive Film Advisory Board.
Decisions are heavily subject to space availability during the requested dates; having flexibility around your timing may increase your odds of availability.
No, King County/OEOCE do not have film crews.
Please consult the Washington Filmworks Production Directory.
The PowerPA Course maintains a directory of newly trained PAs.
Yes! The intent of King County’s investment in Harbor Island Studios is that all filmmakers in King County will find the studio to be accessible. Note that we are balancing limited space and time/availability with numerous requests.
OEOCE does not provide cash grants. 4Culture provides artist grants on behalf of King County.
We recommend researching additional local grant-makers such as:
- Washington Filmworks
- 4Culture
- City of Seattle departments
- Other cities within King County and adjacent counties
- Arts WA
- ArtsFund
- Washington Department of Commerce
- Artist Trust, and
- National and international grant-makers like the National Endowment for the Arts.
We are grateful and excited about any and all support you would like to provide! We can accept cash and in-kind donations up to $2,000.
Please contact creativeeconomy@kingcounty.gov to discuss your contribution to Harbor Island Studios, or any other program/project within OEOCE.
OEOCE monitored the strikes closely. We are elated that mutually agreeable resolutions have been implemented. Activity at Harbor Island Studios during the strikes abided by the terms of the strikes.