There are two thresholds for a project’s minimum spending in order to qualify for Oregon’s media incentive programs.
The first is a $1M minimum spend. This is applicable to projects wishing to qualify for the state’s Greenlight Labor Rebate Program (GOLR) and for the Oregon Production Investment Fund (OPIF). This minimum spend applies to projects that are originating from outside of the state of Oregon (there is a separate minimum spend for projects that are being produced by Oregon resident producers or production companies, outlined below). It is also applicable for commercial production companies looking to utilize the GOLR program however it can be calculated as an aggregate spend over multiple Oregon based commercial projects during any given calendar year.
The second minimum spend is $75,000. This is applicable to projects that are originating from within the state of Oregon, utilizing at least 80% Oregon residents as their speaking cast and working crew and have an active and credited producer or production company that is either an Oregon resident or is headquartered in Oregon. These projects may qualify for a sub-program of the OPIF program called “Local OPIF” or L-OPIF.
Any project that qualifies for the OPIF or L-OPIF programs may also qualify for the “Regional OPIF” or R-OPIF program is some or all of its production days are outside of a 30 mile zone drawn from Portland’s Burnside bridge.
So let’s look at a few examples.
A $2M independently financed feature that is spending $1.2M in Oregon would potentially qualify for both the GOLR and OPIF programs and be eligible for a 25% Oregon vendor rebate and 26.2% Oregon payroll rebate. There are no residency or credited producer requirements and any person on payroll, regardless of where they live, would qualify for the OPIF and GOLR programs.
A $150,000 short film is filming in Portland, Oregon and spending its entire budget within the state. This project has an Oregon based producer and director and is utilizing 100% Oregon residents as crew and 60% of its speaking cast are Oregon residents as well (the others are coming in from LA and NY). This project would potentially qualify for the L-OPIF program only and be eligible for a 20% rebate on its Oregon payroll (including residents and the non-resident actors) and a 25% rebate on payments made to Oregon vendors. All prep, production and post production work would qualify as long as it is performed by payrolled workers physically in Oregon (regardless of residency) and/or vendors registered to do business in Oregon (including out of state loanouts that register with the Oregon Secretary of State).
A $600,000 feature film is doing its prep and production work entirely in Ashland and utilizing an entirely local speaking cast and a 75% Oregon resident crew. In this case, the project would potentially qualify for both the L-OPIF and the R-OPIF rebates. L-OPIF would rebate 20% of the Oregon based payroll (regardless of state residency) and 25% of the payments made to Oregon registered vendors (including out of state loanouts that register with the secretary of state). In addition, the project could also qualify for an R-OPIF “uplift”. This would mean an additional 10% would be added on to the L-OPIF rebate amount because the project is entirely based in Ashland. So, if the L-OPIF rebate for the project was $100,000 then R-OPIF would add a further +$10,000 onto that rebate making a combined L-OPIF and R-OPIF rebate of $110,000.
Finally, a $400,000 TV pilot is coming from a studio and bringing most of its speaking cast and 50% of its crew from out of state. There is no local producer involved. This project would not qualify for any of Oregon’s incentives as it doesn’t meet either the $1M minimum spend threshold nor the requirements for the lower budgeted, L-OPIF program.
If you have any questions about this please reach out to Oregon Film’s Executive Director Tim Williams (tim@oregonfilm.org, 971 254 4021)