Though Spokane-based North by Northwest Productions Inc. has yet to sign the final contract, company partner Rich Cowan says the Syfy TV network plans to pick up a third season of the zombie television series Z Nation.

North by Northwest is a digital studio that produces video content for film, television, and the Web. It’s headquartered at 903 W. Broadway, near downtown Spokane.

Cowan says North by Northwest’s pending contract isn’t directly with the SyFy network, but with a Los Angeles-based film production company that hired North by Northwest to produce Z Nation’s first two seasons. However, Syfy’s agreeing to a third season of Z Nation doesn’t automatically guarantee that it will be filmed and produced in Spokane.

“We haven’t signed the contract, though it is very promising,” Cowan says.

North by Northwest, founded in 1991, also has a production office in Boise, Idaho, and employs about 50 people companywide, most of them here, Cowan says.

The fictitious Z Nation series is set three years after a zombie virus has infected the country. “A team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood,” reads the shows bio description on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

Though the show’s setting is frequently dark, Cowan says the economic impact of filming and producing Z Nation to Spokane has been bright.

“The immediate, direct economic impact of Z Nation injects about $10 million to Spokane each season the show airs. This is a labor-intensive production with a 200-person workforce,” Cowan says.

Tim Robinson, the senior director of marketing and communications with Visit Spokane, says quantifying the overall economic impact of the film industry to Spokane is difficult to track.

“It’s a slippery bit of data that’s hard to get one’s hands on,” Robinson says, “What I do know is that what is unique about North by Northwest’s presence is that it employs local people who earn good wages that largely stays here.”

Says Cowan, “These are good family wage jobs in Spokane.” He estimates the average hourly wage for those in the production of the show ranges from $20 to $25 an hour with pension and health benefits.

Jobs provided by Z Nation encompass nearly all parts of the film industry, ranging from technical positions such as videographers to costume and makeup designers, says Cowan, who declines to reveal specific annual revenue figures for North by Northwest.

Amy Lillard, executive director of Washington Filmworks, a Seattle-based nonprofit that manages the state’s film and production incentive programs, says the organization works to create economic development opportunities for both local and national filmmakers.

Lillard says from 2007 to 2015, 25 of 115 “incentivized projects” were shot in Eastern Washington, generating $128 million in economic activity. The film industry generated 5,500 jobs for an estimated $21 million spent on wages and benefits. She says each season of Z Nation represents about four months of work for film crews in Spokane.

Cowan says, “In Spokane, we’re in a commutable distance for different locations that include mountains, lakes, deserts, forests, and wheat fields. We’ve produced seven full-length feature movies and every one of them was essentially in a different location. You can get away with a lot of different looks here.”

In its 25th year, North by Northwest continues to diversify departments and content, Cowan says. For example, he notes that the company’s commercial division put together the video for Seattle-based rapper Macklemore off the song “Downtown,” shot in downtown Spokane earlier this year.

North by Northwest’s nonfiction division also produces content for the TV program “Washington Grown” that airs on Northwest Cable News and KSPS. Cowan says “Washington Grown” was just picked up for a second season.