The more film and television projects come to the Washington area, the easier it will be to attract others, officials and Hollywood insiders said. That’s because frequent and steady shoots help develop a stable corps of local crew members whose presence can help cut costs for production companies because they won’t have to drag crews from Los Angeles.

“If Washington had a huge sound stage and working productions, then it could develop the type of crews that attract more productions,” said Joe Martin, a D.C. resident and location scout who worked on “The West Wing,” among other productions. During the mid-2000s, D.C. and Maryland built up those crews with “The West Wing” filming in the District and HBO’s “The Wire” shooting in Baltimore, he said. Since those shows wrapped, though, some of the crews have left, many heading to Louisiana to work on HBO’s “Treme,” Martin said.