My take on the state of Oregon film, attitude, and $

What is my take on the film industry this last year in Oregon? It is what is…and it is what it isn’t. I suppose that needs some explaining.

I should at least give a quick summery of how I got here so you know why I think how I do. I had two other careers before entering film as a director, writer, and producer. My bachelors is in wildlife management, and worked as a fire ecologist for the government. I fought forest fires for nearly fourteen years. I left that to get a master of arts in teaching, and taught for two years before losing my job to the economic downturn and the price that education in Oregon paid. I had been doing this on the side for pennies but loved this more than anything else I ever did in my life. So, with losing my job, I moved from Ashland to Portland and began finding ways to do this full time.

Now, the film industry in Oregon is what it is. The other night at the governors awards and speech ceremony with Oregon Film, one speaker talked of how there has been a film industry in Oregon for nearly the entire extent of film even existing. So why, in 2010, is this still considered an emerging industry, with very few jobs, even less money, and enough quirkiness to make a Twin Peaks episode nervous with jealousy. It’s all about perspective, attitude, and…perspective.

One of the arguments is that Oregon needs to grow, industry wise. Not just in film, but in multiple areas. When things don’t grow, economically, they are considered stagnate and risky. Oregon is not known for its economic risk taking abilities. We have never been confused with areas like New York or LA, that have, among other things, film industries. It’s because we take risks on rocky slopes, not on monetary slopes. If an industry is going to grow, it has to take risks.

The pervasive attitude of Portland is “I have a good idea.” There are enough good ideas floating around here to make a patent office lose sleep. But a good idea fills up your wallet, your gas tank, and your production teams stomachs as much as the old saying would suggest when measuring your idea in one hand and doing something in the other. The other hand always fills up faster. An industry is not built on an idea, it is built on action. Actions are started from an idea, but that action takes determination, a plan, and the willingness to take risks. Ideas come and go. They are passing images, as the light of ship on a sea. You can admire the idea for what it is, but if you never take the time to row to it, it will always be just a light no where near you.

I chose to be in this industry. My perspective is that it is only as good as I make it. I can complain all I want about who has what I don’t (and I do too often I think) but if I am not out chasing what I want, then I can’t complain. If I want in the race, I can’t sit on the sidelines with my good idea and wait for it to land in my lap. I wanted in this race, and in two years I have done all I could to close the gap between me and everyone else in it. I could be in the lead and still be wanting to run faster; that’s just who I am. My attitude has to be “I will do this, with or without you” because no one is waiting for me to do it, and no one is throwing money at me to do it.

Intrinsically, Portland does suffer from its “Keep Portland Weird” mentality, which means that filmmakers will have to make the extrinsic choice of where they lie. I hate to make it a class warfare type of argument, but that fact remains: if you are going to be weird and quirky, then you will remain in a creative space where there is no industry, no money, and little to no viewership. We do need to divide into the class of filmmakers that want to be seen, want to be heard, and want to be invested in, because this is an investment. Bottom line, if there is no money return then this is a hobby. You don’t go to Wall Street, and tell them that you are an investor unless you have money to invest. This is an investment with risks associated with that. No one hands you money because you think you have a good idea on how The New York Stock Exchange works. You make money because you invested it and supported your idea with action. Actions speak, ideas linger and fester.

While I may have some complaints, ultimately this is my choice to be in this area, in this industry, for all its warts and bumps. To assume otherwise is to be a complainer. If I don’t like it, I have two choices: 1) I change the industry; 2) I change myself. There really is no middle ground. You can’t will something into existence, you create it. To do anything else is to sit on the sidelines and wait for others to make it so that you may ride on the coattails of that creation. I am personally not ready to sideline myself and wait for someone else or something else. I am in this game and I wish to play as hard as I can until they pry my cold, dead finders off the camera.