Chris Cook – Forks Forum photo
"Twilight" film director Catherine Hardwicke walks atop a huge drift log at First Beach in LaPush during location scouting for the film in 2008. At the time, Hardwicke said the lack of substantial tax breaks and other incentives from the State of Washington kept scenes from the film from being filmed on the West End.
Luring filmmakers to Forks and other Washington state locations is the aim of a bill approved this week by the state Senate in Olympia.
Senate Bill 5539 was introduced by Sen. Lisa Brown, a Democrat from Spokane. The bill renews a tax incentive that would otherwise expire in July.
Brown spoke about Forks’ Twilight phenom and the number of visitors it was attracting to the West End.
“But imagine the economic impact the region would have seen if the movies had actually been filmed in Forks…” Brown told her fellow senators, according to a KING 5 TV news report.
Brown cited Washington state – and Forks – losing to government-sponsored film incentive programs in Oregon and Idaho, as well as Vancouver, B.C.
The film incentive bill now crosses over to the state House of Representatives where it will be determined if the bill moves forward.
