City Cast Portland: What Hollywood Wants From Portland, According to a Location Manager
Portland and Oregon are surprisingly popular locations to film in: There’ve been over 500 films and TV shows shot in our region! City Cast talked with Katie Rasmussen, a location manager who’s worked with big-budget movies and TV shows like “Grimm” and the upcoming Amazon Prime series “Criminal.” She’s discussing how the places we all know and love get translated onto the big screen, and why Oregon often has the favored locations for some darker-themed films and TV shows.
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Oregon has a rich history in film production, with over 700 films shot in locations across the state, including favorites such as “The Goonies,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Stand by Me,” “Twilight” and so many more. But the value of a film set doesn’t end when production wraps.
Destination Film Guide recently published an article by our own Jane Ridley that talks about the economic power of Film Tourism and how Oregon Film, in conjunction with partners like SetJetters and local jurisdictions, is using its development of the Oregon Film Trail to highlight Oregon’s many historical sites for iconic movies like Stand By Me, Homeward Bound, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Twilight and The Goonies to bring film tourists, or set jetters, to all parts of our state. 
RVing Today, a weekly show about RVs and the RV lifestyle, is celebrating its 15th year on syndicated nationwide broadcast television. The show producer, Jose Moniz, is based near Boston, Massachusetts and co-hosted by Jeff Johnston in a Eugene field office. Oregon distributor Fox KLSR has been with the show for all 15 years and we’re also on KOBI NBC5 in Medford and KOTI NBC 2 in Klamath Falls.
Travel Oregon recently highlighted a short doc that was funded as part of the Outdoor Adventure Film Grant awarded by both Travel Oregon and Oregon Film. The film, directed by Portlander Devin Boss, highlights friends’ Oregon Coast journey to experience nature and leave anxiety behind.
Southern Oregon’s Ashland was once again recognized as one of the Best Places to Live & Work as a Filmmaker by MovieMaker Magazine. Coming in at #7 in the Small Cities list, MMM says:
Inspired by a true story, MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE (SXSW 2024 Audience Award, Woodstock Grand Jury Prize) is a dark comedy drama about a complicated friendship and a divided family. Merit, an Afghanistan veteran who’s engaged in a mysterious relationship with Zoe, her wise-cracking (dead) best friend from the Army, is summoned to the family’s ancestral lake house to care for her ailing Vietnam vet grandfather and, thanks to a persistent VA counselor and an unexpected love interest, is forced to confront her past once and for all. 
For those of you who don’t know, 
A local production team led by New York University graduate-turned-Ashland-based screenwriter Monica Lynn Cortez is shooting a film placing Ashland’s sister city of Guanajuato, Mexico, at center stage. The project also has help from SOU’s Digital Cinema students and a star-studded local cast featuring Oregon Shakespeare Festival actors.