Happy New Year everyone.
As we are wont to do, we are taking a look at our work over the last year and taking stock. It goes without saying that there have been a great deal of changes in the landscape of the film and media industry over the last several months, and even more in the levels of uncertainty and anxiety. The industry is changing both in a macro and micro sense of the word and we are doing what we can to adjust and respond to that.
But first, the basics. Just to reiterate and remind – Oregon Film is also known as the Oregon Film and Video Office or the Governor’s Office of Film and Video. We were founded in 1968 making us the oldest continuously operating state film office in the country. We oversee and administrate the state’s film and media incentive programs which were launched in 2005 and have grown from a $1M annual program to more than $25M. Our office is made up of four employees overseen by a five person board of directors that is appointed by the Governor. You can see more about all of this on the Key Facts page of our website as well as review our budgets, transparency data and commissioned reports.
In a given year we receive hundreds of inquiries from filmmakers, producers, companies, the general public and other state and city agencies. These inquiries are about locations, permits, crew, process and partnership. In the last year, we’ve worked with 58 projects in our incentive programs – up from 54 in 2024 and 39 in 2023. More than half of those incentivized projects were locally produced, independently financed projects which is only one of the reasons why we feel like Oregon is the best place in the country to produce an Indie project.
We have published an extensive Knowledge Base that features more than 100 articles on our support for production in Oregon. We have also put together some very helpful “Start Here” summations that help to organize all of that information so you’ll know where to go to find what you need.
Recently, we have been quantifying and celebrating all of the things that make Oregon unique. This has included an Instagram Stories series looking at past Pathways participants and mentors working at Desert Island Studios; a series of “Case Studies” from filmmakers H. Nelson Tracey and Anna Campbell breaking down the process from development through production, festivals and distribution for their #OregonMade projects “Breakup Season” and “Nora;” and becoming the first state film office to join the #FilmStack community on Substack. (In fact, check out our recent posts on “Oregon: Beyond the Numbers,” “The Power of Partnership,” “Localized Indie Production,” and “The Fine Art of State Incentive Comparison” it’s a free subscription to follow us.)
All of this is in addition to our work to continually highlight the power of Film Tourism in Oregon through the many sites, stops and signs on the Oregon Film Trail; the many partnerships, grants and funding sources we have provided through the Creative Opportunity Program and the OregonMade Creative Foundation; and the celebrations we helped to highlight for iconic #OregonMade films celebrating milestones this past year including “The Goonies” (40 years) and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (50 years) in places like Astoria, Cannon Beach, Salem and Eugene.
The work we do is about making sure producers everywhere know how special Oregon is on every level and to try to find new ways and new audiences to bring that message to everyone. This has meant going to events like the American Film Market in Los Angeles and the World Screen Tourism Summit (known as SET-JET 25) in Birmingham, England. It has meant working closely with our colleagues at the Portland Events and Film Office, the Central Oregon Film Office, Film Southern Oregon and the Eastern Oregon Film Festival. It means supporting local film festivals like Portland Panorama, Ashland Independent Film Festival and BendFilm. It means ensuring our state representatives and senators know the value of our industry in their districts and the power of the “film tourism annuity” for their constituents.
Oregon has a lot to offer creative projects and creative producers. We’re here to help if we can. Let us know how: [email protected]
