TO ALL INCENTIVE PARTICIPATING PROJECTS IN OREGON
Thank you for choosing Oregon for the production of your project. We greatly appreciate our creative community and its contribution to the state in every way.
As a part of our incentive program, there are few things that I wanted to make sure you were aware of:
First – we are available for any questions. For accounting and incentive questions, either myself (tim@oregonfilm.org) or my colleague Nathan (nathan@oregonfilm.org) can help. Ideally, we like to set up a call or meeting with the accounting team once it is in place to ensure that they have a chance to ask questions early in prep. Please let us know if that’s possible and/or of interest.
In case it is helpful, you can find “Cost Qualification” a chart on this page of our website. Also, Audit Requirements for projects can be found here.
Second – for film and television projects we’d like to be added to your callsheet distribution (more specifically both myself, tim@oregonfilm.org and my colleague Dallas, dallas@oregonfilm.org). We don’t share these documents or the information contained within them but it does allow us to generally answer questions that come into our office from time to time as well as track the overall schedule of the production.
Third – if you could set up a production email for things like resumes and inquiries that we are able to share, that would be appreciated. Please send that along to us when it is available.
Please note that the company shall not unlawfully discriminate against any qualified employee or applicant for employment because of race, national origin, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical or mental disability, military status, or marital or family status. You also agree to comply with all applicable federal and state statutes, rules and regulations prohibiting unlawful discrimination in employment including but not limited to Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; Sections 503 and 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and Oregon Revised Statutes Chapters 659 and 659A. Recipient shall have a written policy that prohibits unlawful discrimination.
You also agree to engage in lawful good faith recruiting efforts designed to provide notice of employment opportunities with the Project that will reach communities underrepresented in the film and video industry.
You will also report demographic data for all employees hired for the Project to our Office during or after completion of the production. There are several ways to complete this obligation, including but not limited to:
(a) Most payroll companies ask for this type of data in some form as part of their onboarding and start forms. In some cases, this could suffice. Please contact Tim Williams (tim@oregonfilm.org) to discuss what data your payroll company is collecting and whether it will be enough.
(b) Productions can have individuals self-report directly to the Office upon hiring (here is a link to a questionnaire to do that https://forms.gle/K6uzGFn8ZghTWu4t9);
(c) Productions can provide a Company-wide report to the Office upon completion of spending in Oregon (here is a link to a form to do that https://forms.gle/Pz1xXHRZjSZ4Kdm56).
Individual data will be kept confidential.
Fourth, incentives cannot be paid to companies and projects which are in conflict with state laws and/or leave local vendors or crew unpaid. In addition the contracting company needs to be registered to do business in Oregon before any rebate can be paid. You can find out more about how to do that here (https://sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/register.aspx)
Lastly, each participating company is required to have a written process for addressing claims of harassment, discrimination and other misconduct related to the production (including, but not limited to, procedures for reporting and investigating harassment claims, a phone number for an individual who will be responsible for receiving harassment claims, and a statement that the company will not retaliate against an individual who reports harassment). This needs to be a specific “process” by which complaints and reports can be made and then followed up on in some form. This can be a monitored “hotline” of some type or even a procedure that is handled by a third party (such as All Voices).
The applicant shall also indicate how the policy will be distributed to employees. We want each production to really think through these requirements and find the policies and procedures that work for them and their project in order to make their sets and studios safe and welcoming places for all people to work.
We suggest not only distributing this policy to everyone you are working with, but also having all of your cast and crew sign and acknowledge that they have read and understood it.
Thank you. Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help.
Best,
Tim Williams
Executive Director
(971) 254 4021