The Confluence

Portland has been Hiding a Hotbed of Comedic Talent

"The 3rd Floor" photo by Tracey Wilson Photography

Article by Ted Douglass

It’s taken a while, but Portland is finally starting to wake up to the fact that it has its very own exciting comedy scene right under its nose. Sure, there have been a few stand-ups, improv performers and sketch-comedy troupes that have been toiling away long enough to be considered Rose City institutions (nationally renowned acts like Lonnie Bruhn, Dax Jordan, The Bridgetown Comedy Festival, ComedySportz, The Brody Theater, The Liberators, The 3^rd Floor, etc…), but it hasn’t been until this year, that members of these niche operations have begun stepping outside of their own brands to co-mingle on various projects.

Oregon Film Highlighted in the Hollywood Reporter

(Originally posted at http://www.oregonfilmandtvdollars.com)

Oregon’s film industry got quite the write-up yesterday in the Hollywood Reporter! The producers of TNT’s Leverage had wonderful things to say about shooting in Oregon, including this quote about Oregon’s talent from Co-Creator Jon Rogers:

“When we got up there we were expecting to fly in three or four cast members an episode, but we average about one or two,” co-creator/executive producer John Rogers says. “Some of the (local) actors have been so good, we’ve made them recurring characters on the show.”

www.OregonFilmAndTVDollars.com Launches

There are lots of sites that talk about the Oregon Film, TV, and New-Media industry… there are official sites like the Governor’s Office of Film and Television, Industry support sites such as the Oregon Media Producers Association, and regional film consortiums such as FOA, MOPAN, and SOFAT. This site is different.

We’re focused on the economic benefit that Oregon’s Film and TV Industry brings to the state. In an era of unprecedented economic woes for the Beaver State, Oregon’s film industry is growing – hiring thousands of workers state-wide and pumping millions of much-needed dollars into our economy…

Read more at http://www.OregonFilmAndTVDollars.com

"75,000 $2 Bills floating around the city"

We just got sent this nice little article that appeared in the Oregon Business Magazine July issue. Although their numbers are a little low (total spend is higher than listed), it’s still a nice article. It was nice to see that they included the mention of the show’s practice of distributing $2 bills for per diem payments. Here’s the article if you’re interested. The film office intends to put out more complete data for not only season 2 but season 3 late in August or early September.

"Deep Green" – A Good Case Study in Good PR

I just got an email update from Lyla Foggia about the current film she’s promoting – “Deep Green”. The documentary was written, produced, and directed by first-time filmmaker Matt Briggs. After years of witnessing the slow decline of Oregon’s forests, Matt decided to travel the world to find out what we are doing to solve the global warming issue. What he found was solutions to the problem, and the film is an informative detailing of the solutions we as individuals and as a society can enact immediately.

Why Can't Film and Video be an Innovative Idea?

So most of you know that we mostly talk about state funded incentives to bring jobs and economic activity for the film and video industry. I’ve often been asked “why can’t the private industry step in”? I’ve never had a good answer – until today. I was browsing one of my favorite blogs today Silicon Florist and Rick had a post detailing “Ideas 4 Oregon”. The Meyer Memorial Trust (founded by none other than Fred Meyer) has put out a challenge to come up with innovative ideas to spend a million dollars.

Don't Miss the Season 3 Premiere of "Leverage" this Sunday

Season 3 of “Leverage” premieres this Sunday on TNT with a 2 hour premiere episode. For those of you that enjoy watching it in a communal setting, it sounds like the Morrison Hotel is once again going to be the gathering place for fans as well as local cast and crew. TNT has gathered a lot of online promo material leading up to the premiere and be sure to check it out on their website – http://www.tnt.tv/series/leverage/.

The show is already heading into production of episode 12 and from everything we’ve heard season 3 is going even better in Portland than season 2.

Summer Camps for Students at Chambers Productions in Eugene

For the first time Ever Chambers Productions is offering summer camps to students between 13 and 17 years of age.

Would your child like to learn how to write a screen play, act, make a movie or make music video with professional instructors at Oregon’s largest production facility? If so check out our new exciting summer camps! Registration is limited so act fast!

http://www.chambersproductions.com/fams/camp

What Can the Oregon Film Industry Expect From a New Governor?

*Note: This is an opinion piece written by Portland-area actor Harold Phillips and originally posted on his blog at http://trishandharold.blogspot.com. The views expressed here are his own, and are not necessarily the views of the administrators of the Oregon Confluence blog.

Well, someone out there gets it! Take a look at what showed up in my change yesterday when I bought a Viso at my corner mini-mart!

While the legality of writing on US currency is a bit questionable, the message is clear – the Film and TV industry in Oregon is bringing money into the economy!

Youth Silent Film Festival Awards Screening

Ever find yourself pining for the days of F.W. Murnau and D.W. Griffith? This week at the Hollywood Theater in Portland, young film makers from around the Pacific Northwest celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the “Mighty Wurlitzer” theater organ by producing over 50 silent film shorts. The theater organ’s squealing melodies provided more than just an accompaniment –students based their videos on one of several 3-minute scores composed by organist Nathan Avakian. Genres varied, but silent film stalwarts like horror, slapstick and heist flicks dominated the screen.

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