“So, Why Make Movies in Rural Oregon? And Why La Grande?”
It’s a perfectly fair question for H. Nelson Tracey, whose directorial debut Breakup Season was shot entirely in La Grande, Oregon. Especially considering Nelson’s background: he’s from Denver, Colorado, and has lived in Los Angeles since graduating college.
“I was going to find a way to direct my first feature one way or another. It’s so hard to make a movie to begin with, and I was looking everywhere for pathways to plausibility. The potential support I saw available in Oregon presented what appeared to be the clearest lit path, and I was proven right through every stage of development and production on Breakup Season.”
So, how did Nelson find his way to La Grande? And what were those pathways to plausibility? In this case study, Nelson takes us from inception to production, walking through the years it took to bring a debut indie feature to life.
This is the first of three scheduled case studies, which break down the process of developing, producing, and releasing an independent feature in the modern landscape.
Written by H. Nelson Tracey. Presented by Oregon Film.
Part 1: Project Origins & Development
Picture Jasper: The Beginning of It All
In the summer of 2018, I was invited to the Oregon/Idaho border to shoot footage for a project which eventually became Picture Jasper, a 20-minute documentary I directed about mining in the Northwest. Shot on federal land outside Jordan Valley, Oregon, it became a catalyst for my love of Eastern Oregon.
The film was accepted into the Eastern Oregon Film Festival (EOFF) in October 2019, and I traveled to La Grande for the very first time, where it played to a standing-room-only audience. It was here that I met festival director Christopher Jennings, and took an immediate liking to the town and its festival, which I likened to a model train village.
The 2025 Eastern Oregon Film Festival is now accepting submissions through July 4th: https://filmfreeway.com/eofilmfest
Eastern Oregon Film Festival Residency
In October 2020, with the pandemic shifted the Eastern Oregon Film Festival to a virtual format. During a virtual happy hour, Christopher casually mentioned, “We’re thinking about starting a filmmaker residency, what do you all think?” I jumped at the opportunity and quickly reached out to express my interest.
In May 2021, the festival officially launched its Residency program, and I was honored to be one of six filmmakers selected. Over four weeks, we worked in La Grande, writing, exploring, and developing projects with the goal of bringing a production to the region.
During this time, in addition to the creative work, I learned about OMPA (Oregon Media Production Association) and the Oregon Tax Rebate Program – resources that would later play a significant role in making Breakup Season a reality.
A Brief Take On Screenwriting Your Debut Feature
If you’re looking to write and direct a feature, it’s essential to study existing indie features to learn how to make a great movie with fewer resources than a Hollywood production. Luckily, there are hundreds of them to explore!
While there are more extensive screenwriting resources out there, here are three core principles I believe make for a winning debut feature:
- Personal to You: What’s a story you feel like you can tell with a degree of confidence? It’s best to tell a story that you feel confident you can give some authority to (without writing an autobiography). For me, a relationship drama about people in their early 20s was one area where I felt I had total understanding of what I could say, and add to the cinematic conversation in a way I hadn’t previously seen.
- Enticing Premise: Indie films face a steep competition for audience attention, especially on streaming platforms. To stand out, your debut feature must have a clear, enticing premise. Make sure you can deliver a concise, compelling elevator pitch that draws interest from the logline alone. And a great title certainly helps too.
- Pragmatic in Scope: Everyone has a different definition of this, but it’s safe to say that your first feature is going to have more variables than you can possibly imagine. One of the wisest things you can do is hone in on those so that there are not too many “x” factors in your production. I tailored Breakup Season to be something relatively small that wouldn’t feel that way. The premise was designed to be largely in one location with a limited cast, without being a microbudget production. As we got more access to resources in Oregon, we expanded the scope, but the tenets remained rooted in seeing indie movies that succeeded with limited resources without compromising the story. Take caution with: period pieces, massive casts, or elaborate stunts.
Recommended indie films to study before writing/directing your debut (in no particular order):
- Wendy and Lucy (2008)
- Old Joy (2006)
- The Color Wheel (2012)
- Good One (2024)
- Funny Story (2019)
- Blood Simple (1986)
- The Civil Dead (2021)
- Actual People (2021)
- Your Sister’s Sister (2011)
Development (2022)
A year after the residency, after writing more drafts, paid work elsewhere, and securing financial resources, I committed to shooting Breakup Season in the first quarter of 2023: before the snow melted.
One of the first concrete steps was partnering with Static Films, a Los Angeles-based indie film production company. Stephen Mastrocola, Rafi Jacobs, and Liana Montemayor were well-equipped to join the team, and Rafi put together a remarkably accurate line-item budget.
Producer Rafi Jacobs is available for line-item budget estimates. Having an early draft of the budget was invaluable for both fundraising and logistical planning: https://www.staticfilms.la/production-services
We also reached out to Tim Williams, the executive director of Oregon Film, who provided us with an accurate estimate of what the Oregon Tax Rebate would look like for Breakup Season. This is something unique to Oregon – they will review and physically “tag” your budget for a more accurate incentive estimate – an insight that gave us a great sense of what we could expect financially, which proved vital for our fundraising efforts.
Tim and the Oregon Film Office are amazing resources and essential for anyone looking to produce a project in Oregon. You may contact him here: [email protected]
Birth of the Field Trip Initiative
At the 2022 Eastern Oregon Film Festival, Christopher Jennings invited me to do a live screenplay reading of Breakup Season as a way to showcase the residency program. This was a perfect motivating deadline to get the screenplay into shape and do a few more drafts before presenting to the public. I invited producers Stephen and Rafi to join me for the trip, which we turned into essentially, our first scout trip to Oregon.
First, in Portland, we met with industry professionals, gaining further insight into how to pull off the project. After three days in Portland, we spent another four days in La Grande, where we locked in key locations, secured early donors, and publicized our plans in the local newspaper to attract further attention and in-kind support.
The live reading was a perfect way to announce the project while simultaneously getting real time feedback from those who attended. It has now become a vital part of my creative screenwriting process.
Christopher saw the success of this trip, and modeled EOFF’s new Filmmaker Field Trip initiative after it. The program is now open for applicants through July 1st. The first group of participating filmmakers are heading to La Grande in June 2025, and two more filmmaking teams (to be determined) will be headed to La Grande this fall.
Upon concluding our scout trip, in the weeks that followed, we pivoted quickly into bona fide production. Our deadline was the winter, and it motivated us to staff up and get moving at breakneck speed. Within 3 months of our scout trip, we were on the ground in La Grande ready to shoot. Next up are a few essential steps in reaching this point, specifically relating to shooting in Oregon, but applicable to indie films in any region.
EOFF Field Trips are open for applications through July 1st: https://www.eofilmfest.com/field-trips-for-filmmakers/
PART 2: PRODUCTION IN OREGON
Breakup Season was an Oregon Film through and through. With the exception of our cast and producers, we hired all of our crew from Portland (and a handful from La Grande), built the production from scratch in La Grande, fostered relationships with film professionals and local community members, and ultimately made a project that everyone felt proud of. Here are a few of the essential components to replicating this recipe.
Oregon Film Rules of Engagement
One of the biggest lightbulb moments for me was how available Oregon was on a state level towards supporting indie movies. Therefore, take some time to learn the various incentives and programs designed to help you make an indie movie: Oregon’s Film & Media Incentives.
Breakup Season utilized Oregon’s “Local” Oregon Production Investment Fund (L-OPIF) program and the “Regional” Oregon Production Investment Fund (R-OPIF) program. The L-OPIF rebates 20% of payrolled labor working in the state and 25% of goods and services bought or rented from Oregon registered companies. The R-OPIF program then adds an additional 10% to the total L-OPIF rebate amount.
To qualify for L-OPIF you need:
- To spend at least $75,000 in the state of Oregon
- An Oregon based producer and production company
- At least 80% of your cast/crew is an Oregon resident.
To qualify for R-OPIF, you need to be filming or based outside of the metro Portland 30 mile radius.
There is a whole other set of rebates if you’re spending more than $1 million in state, and other initiatives for short films, video games, and more that are worth exploring on the Oregon Film website. With an indie feature, you want to maximize your dollar’s worth every way you can. Shooting in a state that supports you with rebate initiatives like this is one of the ways to maximize your dollar on a low budget film. And it is a cash rebate, payable within 4-6 weeks of submitting your audit material which could help with your cash flow. You can get some further insights about “rebates” vs “credits” and other state incentives on the Oregon Film site here.
Take some time to research and study rebate programs before starting a project. Remember: there are places which want to see indie movies get made. These are the places where you want to point your compass towards.
Assembling the Team
I was attracted to Oregon Film’s network of filmmakers for the very fact that it is finite. In Oregon, if I want to hire a DP, I can go to the OMPA directory and find a short list of qualified DPs who reside in Oregon. Unlike Los Angeles, New York, or other major markets, the value here is you can literally contact every single DP in the state and it’s a manageable number, from which you can make an educated assessment as to who is best for your film (and who wants to do it).
OMPA is an amazing, one-of-a-kind resource that serves as a gateway to meet film professionals in every department. What’s even better about it is for everyone we reached out to, we’d be introduced to even more people, so through many emails, phone calls, and in-person meetings, we built a production roster, but it all can be traced back to this list for crew. This directory is invaluable to anyone looking to start a project in Oregon.
Another thing that’s worth reiterating is in a smaller market, relationships are everything. Therefore, a word to the wise: never burn bridges. In a state like Oregon, everyone in film has worked with everyone else in film at some point. And if you make a stink, it’s a lot harder to hide than in a bigger space. This should be obvious, but often isn’t: be kind, be professional, be someone people enjoy working with, at all levels.
Local Regional Support
By shooting a movie in a location during its off-season, we were able to work with local hotels, AirBnbs, and rental car companies to achieve bulk rate pricing, because we were using their services for 4 consecutive weeks at an otherwise quiet time of the year. This came down to relationship building: in La Grande we established our relationships and demystified what shooting a movie would entail. Ultimately we were bringing good business to places that needed it, and that’s the main selling point in this circumstance!
As someone who lives in Los Angeles, I am used to the freelance economy. The vast majority of on set film professionals work gig to gig. But when you’re going to a small town, this is not the case. This was something we admittedly underestimated. There was a lot of interest at first in working on the film, but asking folks to leave their day job for 3-4 weeks to join a production ended up being nearly impossible for most people, even if our pay was enormous (and on an indie it rarely ever is). For the same reason, finding student interns was aspirational but ended up not coming into fruition. This is something on a future project I’d like to start working on earlier so it’s more plausible.
All of this out of the way: we may not have had a massive directory of local hires, but the local individuals who did get involved were worth their weight in gold.
Our all-star was our Transportation Coordinator: Carolyn Dooley. One of the non-technical film jobs we wanted to hire local was shutting cast to and from set every day. Carolyn got involved early, loved it and fell in love with the cast members, so opted to drive them to and from set every single day. She and her husband Rob were amazing supporters of this project, and the lesson here is a handful of exceptional supporters are worth more than boundless mediocre ones.
This is just one of many local supporters who made a huge impact. Other local partnerships that proved to be invaluable were: Eastern Oregon University (catering and sponsorship), HQ (shooting location as well as basecamp) 4 different families who provided homes for locations, The City of La Grande, La Grande Main Street Downtown, Union County Airport, over 10 local businesses who provided shooting locations, and many more. Our credits include everyone who participated, and there are many!
Applicable Takeaways
Applicable TakeawaysAs you can see, the development of Breakup Season was a journey that took years of planning, learning, and connecting with the right people. Along the way, I learned invaluable lessons that are essential for anyone thinking about making their own indie film in Oregon. Here are a few takeaways:
Be Prepared to Be Lucky – it’s rare to say that a single trip is a life-changing one. It’s perhaps even rarer to say that attending a regional film festival could be a life-changing decision. But in practice, that’s exactly what happened for me. Maybe this happens for you at another festival in Oregon, or through another program. But first you have to be willing to take the step into the unknown. Not every single one will lead to something, but do it enough times and something certainly will.
Write and Rewrite – There are more resources available specifically to help with screenwriting, but the bottom line here is, your first draft is not your shooting script. Write lots of pages, and then refine and rewrite. Hone your craft on the page. Before you spend any money producing a movie, you want your written page to be in ship shape, and the time you spend working on that will give you the foundation you need for everything that comes after.
Study Indie Movies – If you’re new to this, the best resource you have is to watch as many indie movies as you can. And no, not just stuff produced by A24 or Neon. Seek out microbudget movies and see what works (and what doesn’t). It’s as valuable as film school and a whole lot more affordable. Better yet – if the film was made in the last 10 years, these filmmakers are usually an email or direct message away.
Embrace Emerging Programs – By getting involved with a brand new program instead of an established one, I had way more access to blaze a trail. This is indie film at its finest – don’t look for the typical gatekeepers, they’re probably too busy with other bigger fish. Make your own gate and build a way through it. Look not only for the established guard, but for emerging and new initiatives also.
Send That Cold Email – Honestly, you have nothing to lose, and the world is at your fingertips. With OMPA, IMDbPro, and other online resources designed for filmmakers, most of the people you want to ask questions to are an email away. My takeaway was that a concise, well crafted email, with a clear cut question or action item, generated a response more often than it didn’t. So don’t be afraid to be bold and ask someone new something you want to know – the worst they can do is not reply.
Emerging programs are often more fruitful than established programs: This is the biggest takeaway for me on making a movie in Oregon. By partnering with The Eastern Oregon Film Festival, which has an emerging residency and field trip program, instead of applying to more established (and more competitive) grants and residencies, I could find my way in to something new and exciting. This is not to say there isn’t value in the existing programs, but if you’re feeling frustrated applying to top tier festivals and programs (as I was), the takeaway is to look for some ones that are emerging, and you can enter at a faster clip. This requires a bit more self-motivation, but the reward was finding a space where there was ample excitement about making a movie, as it hadn’t been done this way before.
For Indies, Hire Crew That Are Looking to Level Up
If you’re a first time director, you are taking a huge step into unknown territory. It may be more challenging to find others to join you on this journey. But there are people who will want to. The ideal crew member on an indie is overqualified for their normal crew position, and looking for a chance to level up in a space they don’t often get to do so but actively want to. This is probably akin to where you are as a director – you’re ready to do this but haven’t been given the shot. This is the right mindset for looking for other members of your creative team. This does not mean hiring “green” crew members, it means hiring enthusiastic crew members who are hungry for the opportunity and willing to go all-in for your production and feel a sense of creative ownership in the final product.
Get There a Little Early, Stay a Little Late
The reason why many indie filmmakers make their first film in their hometown is that it’s easier to do this when you’re working with existing relationships. However, that shouldn’t stop you from branching out, in the likely event you want to shoot somewhere further afield. In my case, I saw far more cinematic potential in La Grande than places I’d lived. The solution was to develop a long term relationship with the location and not be a stranger. I had already visiting La Grande half a dozen times ranging from 3 days to 1 month before heading to shoot a film there. And I arrived on location 1 month early to further establish boots on the ground. This is the way to pave a path towards local support, which comes incrementally. By the time I left in March I’d been there for 9 weeks, even though production was only 3 weeks. Many essential relationships were formed from this time in town that only continued to form dividends.
Making a movie in a unique place brings unique challenges, but also unique rewards. I remember speaking to a seasoned producer about La Grande, and their first question was “where’s the nearest major airport?” There isn’t one anywhere nearby. For a Hollywood production, that’s a non-starter. This is not a Hollywood production. If you’re reading this, you probably aren’t a Hollywood producer. To quote Moneyball “If we try to play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the Yankees out there.” Yes, going to an obscure location came with added production variables, logistics, and headaches. It also immediately elevated the quality and texture of the film and thanks to local support, boosted it in both quantifiable and intangible ways. Don’t write off the odd location as out of budget – if it costs more, see what else can be gained from it that can’t from the familiar location. In this case, the additional money it cost to shoot in La Grande was largely offset by the in-kind support we received that wouldn’t have been there had we shot this somewhere closer to home.
What Came Next?
Stay tuned for future case studies on strategies for FILM FESTIVALS and THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION.
