PHOTO CREDITMOVIEMAKER.COM WINTER 2019 69
a great pool of local actors and everyone
from grocery store owners to local police
are excited to help you.” Bellgardt recalled
once shooting a scene at a mansion in
Oklahoma City in which actors were called
upon to fire guns in the mansion’s direction.
“This was a prominent neighborhood and
we were nervous about getting permission to
shoot the scene,” he says. “We called the police
to let them know what we were doing and left
fliers on everyone’s houses. Halfway through
shooting the scene the OKC police showed up,
and they just smiled and waved us on. Long as
we have permission, that’s the attitude we run
into when we shoot in Oklahoma.”14
PORTLAND, OREGON
“Without the new regional tax
incentive, which gives an addition-
al rebate back to productions shooting
outside of Portland proper, I don’t think we
could’ve made this film,” says moviemaker
Lara Jean Gallagher, in post on her directing
debut, the psychological drama Clementine.
The film was primarily shot in Florence,
Oregon, a coastal town three hours south of
Portland with picturesque sand dunes, lakes,
and forests. “I know a lot of states offer tax
incentives to moviemakers, but I doubt anystate is as eager to help low-budget indepen-
dent projects,” she notes. “The Film Office was
super hands-on and up front about how much
we could expect back and how quickly.”
The basic state incentive is a 20 percent
rebate on qualified spend with $1 million
minimum spend in-state for any project or
TV series. Some recent series putting down
roots in Portland include the spin-off
Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists and
the Netflix-Awesomeness show Trinkets, a YA
series. Also throw in Netflix’s mockumentary
series American Vandal, which was can-
celed after two seasons but is being shopped
around.
Writer-director Sabrina Doyle shot her
relationship drama Lorelei (produced by
The Florida Project’s Kevin Chinoy) in 21 days
in and around Portland through October and
November, with an almost exclusively local
cast and crew. “I’m a longtime fan of
Twin Peaks and its Pacific Northwest setting,
and I’ve always wanted to shoot a film in
these evocative locations framed by trees and
cascading water,” she says. “For us the draw
of shooting in Oregon was the proximity of
metro Portland to areas of spectacular beauty.
You don’t have to drive far from Burnside
Bridge and the hustle and bustle of downtown
Portland before finding yourself in mist-
shrouded forests and sleepy rural towns.
Those of us from out of town made lifelong
friends in Portland and I know we’ll be back—
actually in the next few days, to shoot B-roll!”15
MIAMI, FLORIDA
Florida State Senator
Annette Taddeo kicked off 2018
with a bang by introducing a bill designed
to get Florida’s film industry blood pumping
after years of state lawmakers voting against
incentives (a program launched in 2010 to
the tune of $242 million in credits expired in
2016) and the disappointing specter of states
such as Georgia standing in for Florida in
movies like Live by Night and Hidden Figures.
(The latter required five separate GA locations
to double Cape Canaveral, and TV series such
as Claws and Ballers.) Unlike the scrapped
incentive program, Taddeo’s bill would pick
projects based on perceived economic impact.
Since 2017, a make-do program initiated by
Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally A. Heyman
has been utilized as an interim solution,
allocating $100,000 grants to productions
for $1 million in spend with other caveats
like 70 percent of the project being filmed
locally. Miami-Dade is one of seven counties
in Florida with their own programs, with
varying degrees of generosity. Films that have
taken advantage of the Miami-Dade program
include Critical Thinking, a chess team
drama directed by John Leguizamo and the
Susan Sarandon-starring Snowbirds, about a
widow moving to Miami.
Business continues to find South Florida:
Trey Edward Shults directed his musical
Waves in the area this past summer, while
Harmony Korine directed» CLEMENTINE WRITER-DIRECTOR LARA JEAN GALLAGHER
WORKS WITH ACTORS OTMARA MARRERO,
SYDNEY SWEENEY, AND WILL BRITTAIN BETWEEN
TAKES ON LOCATION IN FLORENCE, OR