Both Ashland and Portland were once again named to MovieMaker’s “Best Places to Live & Work as a Filmmaker” lists for 2026. Ashland is on the small cities list and Portland is on the large cities list. We are proud of the consistently recognized quality of these cities for creative work and thank their local communities for making them such a great place to live for filmmakers.
As for the process, MovieMaker says it created this list by asking cities about factors like their industry spend, tax incentives, crews, sound stages, local film scenes, and recent productions. They also take cost of living and general livability into account: Can we see ourselves being happy there? Buying a house? And how’s the food?
Check out the complete list here.
