Testimonial Videos from the Local Film Community in Support of Oregon’s Film Incentive Programs

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/19796506[/vimeo]

The videos embedded here are just two examples of testimony from local companies that have directly benefited from Oregon’s film incentive programs.  These videos will be played for the Oergon State Legislature at the continuation of the initial house hearing (on HB 2167) this Friday.  HB 2167 proposes increasing the annual amount allocated to the Oregon Production Investment Fund (OPIF).

The testimonial videos from Mark “Sparky” Haleston of STP/Elite and Lana Veenker of Lana Veenker Casting will be submitted along with personal testimony from several other people from the Oregon Film community. Continue reading... “Testimonial Videos from the Local Film Community in Support of Oregon’s Film Incentive Programs”

OMPA Annual Meeting

Cultivate Jobs! Grow Business!

Monday, January 31st, 2011
at Picture This Production Services & Stage
2223 NE Oregon St, Portland

6:00pm Reception
7:00pm Annual Meeting

Free for OMPA Members + 1 Guest
All others: $10

This event always brings out our highest profile industry members so, join us for for the OMPA awards, legislative update from Vince Porter, and the installation of OMPA’s new board of directors.

An “OMPA Member Mixer” precedes the event at 5:00pm at Urban Grind Coffeehouse (across the street from Picture This) where industry members can meet informally. Continue reading... “OMPA Annual Meeting”

Oregon’s Film Incentives: A Good Deal For All

Board Chair Gordon Sondland at Oregon Film's Annual Meeting

Last Friday our office presented some important information regarding the Oregon Production Investment Fund and the Greenlight Oregon Labor Rebate and those programs’ performance over the last few years.  I feel it’s best to share that information on our blog at this point so you all can have a place to find the presented information. Continue reading... “Oregon’s Film Incentives: A Good Deal For All”

Thank You Governor Kulongoski – Annual Meeting Huge Success

Industry Honors Gov. Kulongoski

Attending our Annual Meeting was Governor Kulongoski, members of the Governor’s Office of Film & Television Board, as well nominees for the annual awards and a large audience of industry professionals at the newly rennovated Lincoln Performance Hall at PSU on Friday evening.   PSU‘s technical team made it possible to catch up on industry happenings in Ashland, Bend and Eugene via  live broadcast by teleconference bridge.

Governor Kulongoski presented awards to:

Innovation In Media Arts AwardNaturalPoint OptiTrack, Insight VCS,

Innovation award to Natural Point Optitrack VCS

Film Advocate Awards went to Rob Burchfield (Traffiic Operations, Portland Dept. Continue reading... “Thank You Governor Kulongoski – Annual Meeting Huge Success”

D.B. Sweeney to star in new TV pilot set in Portland

Turner Broadcasting announced today that D.B. Sweeney has been cast to play the lead in Electric Entertainment’s pilot set in Portland titled “Brain Trust”.  Here’s the info on the pilot. Dean Devlin will be directing the pilot which is due to shoot in Portland in December for two weeks.  We were thrilled to have Electric bring a second project to Oregon and even more excited to hear that they made the decision to re-write this pilot for Portland.  The original script had set the pilot in Washington D.C. Continue reading... “D.B. Sweeney to star in new TV pilot set in Portland”

“Leverage” and Oregon Film Makes it into Coscto

A few months back I was contacted by the PR executives at TNT regarding a profile that Costco was looking to do on “Leverage”.  I was curious why Costco of all companies was interested in talking about Oregon Film and Video but when I found out that their Costco Connections gets sent out to over 8,000,000 people nationwide, I realized it didn’t really matter why they were interested, it was great exposure for our state and this industry.

It all started back when Lana Veenker came up with the brilliant idea of her “Thug Boot Camp” before the commencement of production for season 3 of “Leverage”.  Continue reading... ““Leverage” and Oregon Film Makes it into Coscto”

Does Oregon Have The Best City To Live, Work & Make Movies In?

Every year Movie Maker Magazine surveys independent filmmakers in the united states to find the best cities live and work in.  They focus on a number of criteria; good cost of living, employment opportunities, quality of life, affordable home prices and of course financial incentives, availability of locations and quantity of crew and vendors.

The annual best places to “live, work and make movies” will be out in their magazine’s winter edition, which is released at Sundance next year.  We would love to be on that top ten list again…..so Continue reading... “Does Oregon Have The Best City To Live, Work & Make Movies In?”

Impact of Film – A local crew member and small business owner’s take

Oregon is a film force

Where does the money go?

I was about to step into a graphics company on Powell for vinyl on Wednesday.  Finishing a phone call with Bob at the Film Office he said “contributing to the economy?” yes I guess I am. Thinking about all the people, vendors, services I buy everyday I guess this film incentive is working.

We need to start thinking about the big picture. What happens when a film company comes to Oregon? Continue reading... “Impact of Film – A local crew member and small business owner’s take”

Important Infrastructure Equipment Now in Oregon

I was approached several times to take over an established camera car company. After being employed by them for several years, an opportunity presented itself. I didn’t want to go it alone. One phone call to a long time friend and the decision was made. Oregon now had Elite Camera Cars LLC. A new partnership built by four Oregonians.

One thing that stood out, and was part of my decision was a few conversations about safety from crew members. More like complaints, how could we make this safer?   Continue reading... “Important Infrastructure Equipment Now in Oregon”

Oregon Episode of Extreme Makeover Airs on Halloween

This Sunday Extreme Makeover Home Edition is airing its episode featuring Oregon’s School for the Deaf.  We covered this production back in September when the show was in Salem shooting the episode.  Here are a few links to those posts:

http://bit.ly/9Fi0RP

http://bit.ly/a70amX

Word from everyone who participated was that the shoot was a huge success.  The Oregonian recently covered the story with a little more reflection on what the show did for the school.  Here it is. I was particularly struck by two things in the article – the student’s communication skills are up since they took their trip to a special hearing institute in Minnesota and attendance is up this year for the school’s Nightmare Factory which is a big fundraiser for the school. Continue reading... “Oregon Episode of Extreme Makeover Airs on Halloween”