Laura Jean Cronin

Seattle Film Commissioner

Position: Film Schools, film programs, or film educators

Appointed by: Mayor

Term: 4/24/23 to 4/23/25

Laura Jean Cronin is known for her work as Production Manager on the Emmy-award winning PBS show Biz Kid$. In 1994, Laura founded Pound Pictures, a motion pictures and film company in Seattle. Under this banner Laura produced award-winning work as writer and director. She received the Audience Award for "Block Party" (2001) from the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival along with Best Girls Short for "One Night" (2009) and Best Local Film for “Leave It!” (2002). Laura also won Best Local Film for "Free Parking" (2006) from Cinema K Children's Film Festival. Laura served on the Board of Women in Film Seattle as Vice President and then President from 2008 to 2018. Laura was a producer and director at B47 Studios, a full-service video production studio in Seattle, managing projects from 5K to $200,000. In the education realm, Laura received her Ph.D -ABD in Comparative Literature and Film from University of Washington, where as a graduate student, she taught film studies courses. Laura went on to teach film studies at the Center on Linguistic and Cultural Democracy for seven years. More recently, Laura was able to combine the worlds of education and production when she took on the role of Lead Producer at Reel Grrls Productions (now known as Remove the Gap Productions), a non-profit offering full-service production services for local businesses, non-profits and government institutions, while giving on-the-job training to young women and non-binary youth. As Lead Producer for Remove the Gap Productions, Laura is helping to usher in a new generation of media makers who have traditionally fallen through the gap. Creating content with the youth in the program allows Laura to wear her producer hat as well as her educator hat. Laura is driven by the energy, excitement, awe, intelligence and creativity that the participants in these programs bring.