The Oregon film community's official blog.
So I love nothing more than doing a little googling on a Thursday night (kind of sad commentary) and I came upon this piece that aired on KOIN this week. Last week the principals of the the show “Portlandia” held a low key press conference and KOIN’s show Studio 6 covered the press conference as well as the other local media outlets. They got some good stuff from Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein so check it out!
-Vince
Eugene, Oregon. The Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts (DIVA Center) announces its Seventh Annual OpenLens Short Film/Video Competition call for entries. The deadline for submissions is 5PM December 1st. Screening and awards will take place during the three-day OpenLens Festival event – January 28th, 29th, and 30th, 2011.
Someone has to sing their praises: You know, the guys and gals you never hear about on talk shows or blog sites: the grips and the gaffers and the extras casters, the craft services and painters and prop finders, the location scouts and managers, the production office runners and p.a.’s and the transportation providers. These Oregonians never know where their next pay-check is coming from, and sacrifice a normal lifestyle with steady wages in order to be available on a moment’s notice to Productions who want to film in Oregon, and whose professionalism keeps these productions coming back.
It’s always great to hear of projects choosing to shoot in Oregon and when we heard about the producers of the documentary, Half Way Home, choosing the Ashland area over their native LA for some of it’s scenes, we learned the reasons in this case were threefold; less expensive, less red tape and solid talent. Gary Kout, producer and executive director of the Southern Oregon Film and Television organization, connected the producers with talented auto-giro pilot, Shawn Adams (Rotor-Head) in southern Oregon to get their tricky arial scenes.
The crew at Extreme Makeover have been working around the clock for the past few weeks to get ready for the big reveal of the School for the Deaf in Salem today. As well as the school, they have also overhauled their haunted house that acts as an annual school fundraiser.
For more information read the article in the Statesman Journal.com.
I just heard from Pam Berrian, Eugene’s Telecommunications & Cable Program Manager that she still has $20,000 available in their filmmaker equipment fund. Please note that this pool of money must go towards the purchase of telecommunications equipment. Pam and her department are big supporters of the film industry and it would be a shame to see this money not get spent on a film or TV project. All remaining funds will go back into the city of Eugene’s reserve fund July 1, 2011.
Variety film critic Justin Chang gave a rave review of Kelly Reichardt’s film “Meeks Cutoff” last week in Variety. He saw the film at the Venice film festival. Among the things he praised were the locations credited to location scout Roger Faires. How often does a location person get credit in a review? Here’s an excerpt from the review.
“Reichardt’s decision to shoot in the 1.33 aspect ratio enhances the docu-like feel and yields one majestic composition after another, the nearly square frame capturing the wide-openness of these harshly beautiful desert vistas (Roger Faires is credited for the film’s Oregon locations, which look utterly of the period).
On Friday we were able to take advantage of a unique marketing opportunity thanks to the support of the Portland Based band Pink Martini, a few donated bottles of Oregon Pinot from the Willamette Valley Winery Association and the coordination efforts of Jennifer Yocom from Portland Mayor Sam Adams’ office. Thanks to Jennifer’s relationship with the band and the band’s willingness to help market Oregon, we were able to obtain twelve tickets to the Pink Martini concert friday night which was the first of three performances this weekend at the bowl.
Just picked this up from Kristi Turnquit’s article in The Oregonian and Willamette Week blog. Sounds like the IFC show “Portlandia” will be able to use the popular Musicfest Northwest to its benefit. According to the report in the blog, the show will be shooting part of its series at the Festival next week. Also in the article is the mention of several guest appearances in the show – band members from the Shins and Decemberists, Gus Van Sant, Selma Blair, Kyle MacLachlan and Steve Buscemi.
Starring Actors from “True Blood” and “Breaking Bad” and Portland Area Actors
Portland, OR—September 9, 2010—On September 13th, award-winning Portland-based filmmaker Michael Bartlett commences principle photography on HOUSE OF LAST THINGS the supernatural thriller screenplay he wrote. The film stars actors from “True Blood” and “Breaking Bad” as well as Portland Area Actors.
The film, which will be lensed by veteran cinematographer Ken Kelsch, ASC (known for “Big Night” and his collaborations with Abel Ferrara including “Bad Lieutenant” and “The Funeral”) and shot entirely on location in Portland for five weeks, stars LINDSEY HAUN (“True Blood”), RJ MITTE (“Breaking Bad”), and BLAKE BERRIS (“Days of Our Lives”), as well as local actors Randy Schulman, and Diane Dalton in lead roles.
