So, why are Maine’s movies being made in Louisiana?

Down East magazine, in its May edition, posed this question in chronicling the Pine Tree State’s challenges in landing major movie productions. The magazine found Maine’s financial incentives for filmmakers lag compared to its New England neighbors, which hurts its bargaining position.

Greg Gadberry, assistant director of the Maine Film Office, told the magazine that filmmaking – under its “nom de affaires” of media production – is a burgeoning industry for depressed regions, and spoke of watching producers turn from Maine toward Nova Scotia’s more attractive fiscal environment.

Louisiana returns a full quarter of a film’s budget, in cash, as a perk, and has drawn dozens of productions in the past four years, Down East said. By comparison, Maine offers minimal wage reimbursements, and discounts on utilities and long-term lodging costs, among others.

In this financial casting call, it’s little wonder Maine doesn’t survive the first cut.

Maine has the resources, like a landscape littered with locations. The Maine Film Office’s Web site proffers dozens of images to lure prospective cinematographers, such as bucolic areas like Rangeley Lake, “urban” scenes in Auburn and Lewiston, “industrial” sites like the Bates Mill or tranquil villages like Monmouth.

For filmmakers, locales like Little Canada are marketed as magnificent settings for cinema verite.

Maine’s film industry can be competitive. Luring Hollywood, though, is a high bar for success. Recent evidence shows potential for Maine to become, if not a magnet for mega-productions, an incubator for independent filmmakers.

In the past month, filmmakers in Lewiston and Buckfield announced projects to be produced here in Maine. Neither is the stuff of Oscar – one has evil vampires, the other Bigfoot on Streaked Mountain – but the real storyline is the subplot: creative, entrepreneurial investment into the Maine economy.

Michael Raymond, the Bigfoot producer, is spending about $15,000 to film his vision around Buckfield. Raymond says he hopes his Maine production, once shopped on the film circuit, will lead to a full-length feature production.

Seth Roberts, of Lisbon Falls, hopes his sordid tale of vampires and werewolves, “Dark Vengeance,” will jump-start his fledgling production company. His recent casting call, at the Multi-Purpose Center, drew dozens of locals desiring to play dark characters.

Maine’s taxation incentives for filmmaking starts with productions costing $250,000 or higher, a figure projects such as Roberts’ or Raymond’s can only aspire. Yet their aspirations are worth supporting, in some form, especially given the state’s weak competitive position in drawing sizable film productions.

If unwilling to provide massive breaks, like Louisiana, to draw top-echelon projects, Maine should focus on the bottom. For every “In The Bedroom” and “Empire Falls,” filmed here, there could be dozens of smaller projects shooting around the state by hungry filmmakers yearning to make it big.

And make it in Maine.