First I hope all of you are having a nice holiday break either here in Oregon or somewhere in a warmer climate. I wanted to take a quick second to update you on one or two things from the film office.
Friday night it was announced by TNT that "Leverage" will not be renewed for another season. There had been rumblings about this for a little while so it should come as no great surprise. I was contacted by Jose Behar late Friday to reiterate Electric's commitment to Oregon and he even referred to other projects that they plan to immediately bring to Oregon. We have not finalized anything nor have they made any firm guarantees but their intent is to keep a presence here in Oregon. Had "Leverage" been renewed we had a deal in principal for the 6th season but it would have eaten up our available incentives into 2014. With this news we have a small amount of money in 2013 available and will look to lock that money up in the New Year with a project.
No matter what I do not see this as a setback. We continue to get a flood of calls about filming in Oreogn (thanks to some of you landing projects) and I'm sure we will always land work if we have the incentives to offer. There are even one or two projects out there that would be very high profile for our state if we could land them.
For that reason I want to stress the importance of our annual meeting on January 15. To some, the end of "Leverage" will be looked at as a reason to not move forward with the Governor's plans for expansion. At the annual meeting my expectation is that the Governor will emphasize his commitment to expanding the incentives. In case you don't already know his budget for the next budget cycle includes an expansion of OPIF. He will need the industry's support and positive energy to make this a reality. The best way you can show your support in January is to show up to the meeting (with as many friends as possible). Remember that the 15th is just two weeks before the legislature opens its session so the timing is great.
The meeting will be one hour long and we're working out details for a mixer after the event. I've booked Lincoln Hall at the PSU campus which means we have between 350-400 seats to fill. I hope you all can help me fill them and maybe some of you could bring a legislator or two! Here are the specifics of the night so far.
We hope to make a good event out of the meeting and have a few surprises planned. I hope to see all of you there.
Please pass on the annual meeting info to everyone you know as the event is open to the public.
Vince Porter
Executive Director
Governor's Office of Film and Television
1001 SE Water Ave Suite 430
Portland, OR 97221
(503) 229-5832
http://oregonfilm. org/
vince@oregonfilm. org
