By Liza McQuade
Guest Columnist
The results of Oregon’s new incentives programs are starting to roll in. Four independent features and a made-for-TV movie are currently prepping or filming, and the phones are lighting up with even more interest from filmmakers around the nation.
Hallmark Hall of Fames’ television movie Valley of Light started filming in mid-October in Clackamas and Marion Counties.
Hallmark was lured to Oregon by the Oregon Production Investment Fund (OPIF), an incentive created by the governor and passed by the legislature in 2002. Through OPIF, productions receive a ten percent rebate on expenditures, but must spend a minimum of $1 million in Oregon to qualify. Hallmark’s project is the fifth production to take advantage of this incentive and anticipates spending between $3 and $4 million.
Governor Ted Kulongoski said he’s thrilled the incentive is working so well.
"My first priority is to grow Oregon’s economy and that includes expanding the film industry in Oregon," said Governor Kulongoski. "This industry provides family-wage jobs and brings millions of dollars in direct spending and increased tourism to the state each year, and I am pleased to welcome Hallmark Hall of Fame, known to have the longest-running and most-honored series of drama specials in television history."
The Valley of Light will star Chris Klein (American Pie, We Were Soldiers) and Gretchen Mol (The Thirteenth Floor, Rounders). Robert Prosky will also appear in the film.
Light tells the story of Noah Locke (Chris Klein), a veteran of World War II, who returns home at the end of the war to find his parents have died, his younger brother is in prison and the family farm has been sold.
Noah wanders the rural roads of the south in search of a place to belong. Before long he is led by a mysterious stranger to a small mountain community, where he befriends a mute boy and a young widow (Gretchen Mol), and where his talent for fishing makes him a local celebrity. When tragedy strikes the community, Noah must decide if he truly belongs in the Valley of Light.
Local crews will be working on the project until mid-November. The Valley of Light will be broadcast on CBS in 2006.
Further south in Ashland, Conversations with God is prepping to film in mid-November and already has a premiere date of October 19, 2006 set to benefit Sisters of the Road, a Portland-based homeless organization. Conversations was also lured to the state by the OPIF incentive. The book with the same title spent nearly three years on the New York Times bestseller list and sold approximately seven million copies in 34 languages.
The film will star Henry Czerny (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Ice Storm, Mission: Impossible), Frances Fisher (Titanic, The House of Sand and Fog, L.A. Story), and Ingrid Boulting (The Last Tycoon).
Producer/director Stephen Simon (Somewhere in Time, What Dreams May Come) says he’s been looking forward to making this movie for nearly a decade and expects it will be a powerful, mystical, controversial, and surprising film when complete.
There are three other indies prepping or filming around the state this fall including, The Go-Getter in Eugene, Cthulhu in the coastal town of Astoria, and Kate’s Smile in Portland. We are thrilled to welcome all of these shows to Oregon.
Meanwhile, other producers are circling, hoping to participate in the two-part Greenlight program, which goes into effect in early November. It will offer a 6.2 percent rebate on Oregon income taxes withheld from employee wages and a ten percent rebate on goods and services purchased from participating vendors statewide.
On the other side of the production bench, Thumbsucker, a film shot in Beaverton in 2003, opened to audiences nationwide this fall. Reviews have been consistently positive. Thumbsucker stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Writer/director Mike Mills, who was here for a cast and crew screening in late September, told the crowd he was more nervous about this screening than anywhere else because it was almost like coming home. He said he really enjoyed working in Oregon, felt at home, and wanted all the people that worked so hard on this project to be pleased with the film they helped to create. Judging from the crowd that night, they certainly did!
Liza McQuade is senior project manager at the Oregon Film and Video Office in Portland, Oregon. Visit www.oregonfilm.org.
