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Producer: State favors north Photo by Bob Pennell Steve Wood, an Ashland video and film producer, thinks the Oregon State Film and Video Office is promoting the Portland area as a film location at the expense of Southern Oregon. He says we lose out on film work by BILL VARBLE The way Steve Wood feels about the Rogue Valley is like the old song says: "You Ought to Be in Pictures." But to hear Wood tell it, the Oregon State Film and Video Office has a tin ear. An independent video and film producer who lives in Ashland, Wood says Southern Oregon needs its own film commission -- separate from the State Film and Video office in Portland -- to pitch the area to film and video companies. "I believe that we are missing a golden opportunity," Wood told the Jackson County Board of Commissioners Wednesday. He said he was not speaking for SOFVA, the local trade group (Southern Oregon Film and Video Association), of which he is a member. Wood accused Film Office Executive Director David Woolson of hyping Portland to the movie and television industries to the exclusion of Southern Oregon. Wood told commissioners, "it makes bad business sense to have the state next to the state with Hollywood to have only one film commission." Some states, he said, have multiple film commissions; Arizona has 16. He said the real reason Woolson wants "centralized power" is "to assure that he promotes Portland and northern Oregon first." In a telephone interview from Portland, Woolson said that's not the case. "I don't know where he's coming from," Woolson said. "It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. When you have multiple commissions, it tends to be this competition. I'm selling one brand: It's Oregon." Woolson said wooing production companies, like any sales situation, is a fast-moving process. "To have the point of contact spread over a couple of offices isn't what the production companies want," he said. "Producers have told me that." His office tries to lure Hollywood studios to Oregon to shoot. Wood and his wife, Doreen Ambrosio Wood, operate Rara Avis Media Group, an Ashland-based video, film, print and multimedia production company. Commissioner Sue Kupillas reportedly plans to meet with the Woods in April. He said he'll try to sell SOFVA members on his ideas when the group meets April 1 at the Varsity Theater in Ashland. He said he plans to contact Gov. John Kitzhaber, the Legislature and Woolson. "The person at a local level can work with local communities better than somebody flying down from Portland," Wood said. Wood told a March 4 meeting of SOFVA that Woolson said he'd stopped promoting Ashland to the movies "because he is fed up with the local bureaucracy and it's too hard to get permission to shoot at Lithia Park." Woolson told the Ashland Parks Commission he is concerned about a policy that holds Lithia Park off-limits to commercial filmmakers. The commission in September denied Where We Live Productions, an Ashland firm, permission to shoot scenes for "The Ruby Princess Runs Away," a children's video project, in the park. The company's owner said that forced them to shoot on private property. Woolson said he'd like city officials to at least be open to some negotiation on park use. Ashland Parks Commission Chairwoman Jo Anne Eggers said Thursday she sees no change on the horizon for the policy. Woolson, who formerly served on a national board of film offices, said many states have such offices that are merely permit offices, or offices connected to tourism functions. The Film Offices's Web site ( www.Oregonfilm.org ) includes information on four films shot in Oregon recently. Three were in the Portland area and one was near Bend. The site lists 40 film liaison people around the state, including Ashland and Medford. It offers news of a SOFVA Film/Video Conference held in June in Ashland, and says organizers did "a fantastic job." Former SOFVA President Paddy Schweitzer said Thursday he never felt the Film Office had a bias against Southern Oregon. "I don't think that's fair," he said Thursday. "Portland is more accessible, and they have a greater labor pool. ... Multiple offices would be counterproductive." Transportation from the Los Angeles area to Southern Oregon is expensive, he added. Woolson said the film office and SOFVA co-sponsored a conference last summer, and the groups have had joint board meetings. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA