Seattle-based production company sets up in downtown Spokane to film tire commercial

May 31-Washingtonians living east of the Cascades know this side of the state has a lot to offer in the ways of historic architecture, natural beauty and small -town fare.

While Eastern Washington landmarks are less recognizable to out-of-towners than those in more populated areas, a Seattle-based production company took notice.

"It's a beautiful city and we wanted to showcase that," said Paul Riordan, location scout for the project freelancing with Motion State Studios.

The production company headed east to film promotional materials for Firestone Tires, including a scripted commercial that takes place in downtown Spokane.

For several hours on Saturday and Sunday, an 85-person crew closed some streets in the city center as all kinds of camera contraptions whizzed through downtown, following cars bearing the soon-to-be-released Firestone tires.

One 30-second package opens with a drone shot of a car driving over the Monroe Street Bridge at sunset, glistening with artificial rain crews sprayed across the asphalt, filmed Saturday. Interspersed with computer-generated clips of the tires in action, the car whips down Riverside Avenue in a shot filmed Sunday, turning tight at Monroe Street with The Spokesman-Review Tower's 135-year-old brick exterior in the background.

"Most of us are based in Seattle, so it's nice to get out of the city and highlight these smaller towns; this is so epic and beautiful," said Honna Kimmerer, producer with Motion State Studios. "Seattle's changing so much, like, we are losing this cool, old infrastructure."

The campaign spans across Eastern Washington. After they leave Spokane, the 85-person crew will make their way to Pullman to film Palouse scenes of cars driving wheat-field -lined highways and Washington State University's campus. Other filming locations include Steptoe Butte and downtown Walla Walla.

Though the ads highlight Eastern Washington, they'll be shown nationally.

It's not the first time film crews have set up shop in Spokane. Kimmerer was last here in 2015 to shoot the music video for Seattle-based rapper Macklemore's "Downtown." Oscar-nominated film "Train Dreams" was filmed in and around Spokane in 2024, with scenes featuring downtown's Davenport Hotel and The Spokesman-Review Tower. Who could forget the 1985 movie "Vision Quest," set and filmed in Spokane with a memorable opening scene of actor Matthew Modine's character jogging across the Monroe Street Bridge, also the backdrop in the Firestone ad.

Riordan said as a location scout, he'd like to feature Spokane more.

"This city has so much potential," he said. "Every time I come to Spokane, it gets better."

The campaign is shot with what Riordan calls "the coolest toys in the Pacific Northwest," including a first-of-its -kind, custom -built black Rivian SUV sporting an enormous 14-foot crane-like camera arm that whizzes alongside the cars in the commercial.

The vehicle carries four people, each tasked with a specific job managing the equipment. A driver maneuvers the massive rig alongside what they're filming while another crew member operates the arm. The director sits in the car to stabilize and move around the camera itself while the fourth teammate crams himself in the back of the rig to control camera details like the lens' aperture and shutter speed.

Other gadgets include a device called an Agito, a short camera mounted to an RC car that operator Ross Beck controls with a remote. It sits at tire level, filming close -ups of the tire's tread as the car moves. Beck also flies the drones that capture sweeping footage of downtown, including a prominent shot of the Spokane River.

As dusk set in Sunday, crews gathered around the intersection of Riverside Avenue and Stevens Street downtown for the final scene shot in Spokane. In the shot, the car appears to drive through a deluge against the terra cotta tiles of the U.S. Bank building. Water caught beams from the crew's many floodlights erected in the intersection, but it was not organic rainfall, rather sprinkles that fell from several rain towers set up in the street.

Riordan declined to share the budget of the endeavor, but "it's a lot of money being spent," he said. He compared the cost of overall production to that of one day on a $10 million to $15 million movie set.

The 85-person team booked 140 nights in Spokane's hotels, said Kate Hudson with Visit Spokane. Visiting crews buying food and entertainment further aids the city's economy.

Riordan said as a location scout, he's looking to pitch Washington as a scenic setting for movies, TV shows and ad campaigns.

The production is aided by cash incentives from nonprofit Washington Filmworks, which works to bring filmmakers to the Evergreen State. Since 2007, the organization has partially sponsored 126 projects generating an estimated $381 million indirectly in Washington economies where crews set up shop, according to its website.

"Any filming here, it's basically free press for the city, internationally and nationally," Riordan said. "But the biggest thing is permitting."

Riordan advocated for some sort of streamlined filming permit with the city. He said Spokane officials were accommodating and managed to pull the tricky planning off within a month of him reaching out: navigating periodic road closures, pausing filming as Spokane Transit Authority buses continued on their regular routes and herding curious pedestrians.

He said a police presence would aid in this work, making it easier for more film crews to showcase Spokane.

"This town has a lot that it has to offer that Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, they can't offer," Riordan said. "It'd be cool to bring a lot more work out here."

Elena Perry's work is funded in part by members of the Spokane community via the Community Journalism and Civic Engagement Fund. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 11:37 PM.