A Truck From Portlandia’s Production Crew In The Hollywood District (Photo: Kristi Turnquist/ The Oregonian)
The Oregonian’s TV and Pop Culture reporter Kristi Turnquist, as you might expect, writes quite a bit about film and television shot in Portland… but she didn’t expect the subject of her frequent reports to show up on her doorstep.
Late Tuesday evening Turnquist posted an article on the paper’s web site about coming home to find IFC’s Portlandia filming a segment in her Hollywood district neighborhood.
While her light-hearted report highlights the “reduced footprint” Portlandia had on her street in the Hollywood district (“…just a few trucks, a bit of equipment and a small group of staffers stationed on the sidewalk as filming continues inside the house. This isn’t one of those big-budget location shoots that calls for the street to be blocked off…”) it points to an increasingly common phenomenon in the state’s major production center – film and television production is becoming a fact of life in Portland.
Another day, another arrival home, only to find “Portlandia” filming on my street. Yes, that’s life in Portland these days, or so it feels sometimes.
Though “Leverage” has finished shooting on location in and around town for Season 5, “Grimm” is here, filming Season 2. “Portlandia” is shooting Season 3.
And then, there’s “The Real World: Portland” crew, who — according to numerous Twitter, Facebook and blog postings — are turning up at various watering holes when not hot-tubbing it up in youthful, hard-bodied style at their temporary digs in the Pearl District.
If this keeps up, Portland TV crews will be as numerous as bicycle repair shops, tattoo parlors, and artisanal knot boutiques (to be fair, the last one’s from a “Portlandia” episode, but I know it’s only a matter of time until one really does open, probably on Northeast Alberta or North Mississippi.) (Read the entire article…)
We’re encouraged by the Portlandia crew’s openness during its shoot on Turnquist’s street. As film and TV production continues to evolve from something new and exciting to one more facet of “life in Portland,” open communication between crews and the neighborhoods utilized by them is increasingly more important to be sure Oregon’s film and TV industry continues to be a “good neighbor.”
