At the Maine Film Office in Augusta, Director Karen Carberry Warhola has been working to bring more productions to Maine.

Since her July 4, 2012 arrival, 14 projects (documentary, film, reality shows and catalog shoots) were slated for 2013. According to a recent press release from the Maine Film Office, this will translate to close to $3,700,000 that will be spent in the state.

The release went on to attribute much of this revenue increase to Carberry Warhola. And, it turns out, she is not a newcomer to Maine.

She lived in the state while her father served two tours of duty at the Brunswick Naval Air Station. She graduated from Lisbon High School. From there she went on to attend the University of Maine in Orono with visions of being a photojournalist.

While at the campus TV station, she learned of an opportunity in Los Angeles, got a work study grant and was off for the City of Angels.

Warhola went on to spend 17 years in the film industry working in production on television and film projects for ABC, Touchstone Pictures, Buena Vista Productions and Disney. She even did a bit of casting for shows. But in 2010, it was time to return to UMO and finish her degree, this time in political science.

“I had begun thinking working in a film office would be good for me,” Carberry Warhola said. “When I found out this position was open I checked out the (Maine Film Office) website. And I went out to talk to local filmmakers to see what they thought was working, what wasn't, what changes they wanted from the office, and what the industry needed to grow in Maine.”

Topping the local filmmakers' list: bring more productions to the state. More projects meant more jobs, tourism related exposure, increased revenue for the state and businesses in communities where films would be made.

“These are good paying jobs, not just for filmmakers, but for carpenters, electricians, and others,” Carberry Warhola said. “It's very important to support local projects and local business.”

Marketing is a large part of the job. Carberry Warhola said she attends as many of the Maine film festivals as she can and has plans to attend Camden's ninth international film festival September 26-29. She said it’s a great place to meet and speak with directors and producers to see what they have planned for the future. It’s also a great place to show them that Maine has what they want.

“Maine is so beautiful,” Carberry Warhola said. “We have incredible locations. One thing I try to do is to get producers to look at the entire state. ‘We have coastline, mountains, lakes, rivers, farmlands and forests.’ This is the message I am working to bring.”

In addition to attending film festivals, she attends film screenings, reads scripts, attends industry trade shows and events, checks out the IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base) to see what projects are in the development stage. Then she picks up the phone to chat with her many connections in LA.

Improving the Maine Film Office's website was on the top of Carberry Warhola's list upon becoming director. For her, the goal is to have every Maine filmmaker, cameraman, videographer, carpenter, etc. listed in the site's production guide.

This guide is also for any business interested in being part of the industry should a film location in its community be selected for a project. Those interested in adding their names to this database should visit www.filminmaine.com, click on “Production Guide,” then click on the blue button bearing the words “Register Now.”

Carberry Warhola said that providing producers and filmmakers with as much information as possible about bringing a project to Maine on the site is extremely important.

Film Friendly community members can get into the promotion act on the Maine Film Office website as well by submitting photos of where they live. To upload photos onto the site, click on “Locations” at the top of the home page. Scroll down to the bottom of the locations page and click on “upload locations.” Once uploaded, Carberry Warhola and others at the Maine Flim Office review the pictures and upload them onto the site for viewing.

“We really want to expand the photos on the website, let the producers see our state and what it has to offer,” Carberry Warhola said. “I'd rather be inundated with photos than not have all Maine has to offer there for them.”

In case you're wondering, Boothbay region photos already up are of Burnt Island, the footbridge, Boothbay Baptist Church, the church on Barters Island, Boothbay Railway Village, Boothbay Resort and the cemetery on Back River Road, just behind the iron sculpture, and various harbor scenes. Castle Tucker in Wiscasset is there as well as the Bachelder House in Edgecomb.

Carberry Warhola said the 14 projects she signed off on for this year do not necessarily represent all of the projects in Maine. Not all producers contact the Maine Film Office, for various reasons; they've been here before and know what they want, or theirs is a small-scale project, under the $75,000 it takes for commercial production companies to qualify for Maine's Visual Media Incentive Plan (a combination of rebates and credits).

She has spoken with many producers who have worked in Maine in the last two years and they have been impressed. Impressed with the friendly and welcoming residents and with the hardworking Maine crews. And that kind of word-of-mouth spreads throughout the film industry, Carberry Warhola said.

“Many of the producers I talk to have some kind of connection with Maine; they have family here, have vacationed here, went to school here, or they have always wanted to come here,” she said.

What does 2014 hold?

“Well, 2013 isn't over yet,” Carberry Warhola said, laughing. “I have met with a few producers who are looking to make some independent films in Maine in 2014. I know they want to shoot here and I will work with them to see if we can make that happen.”

If the Maine Film Office’s new director has her way, there will be many, many more film and television producers creating connections with Maine.

And when that happens, and projects are completed, a little something known in the industry as “film tourism” could happen. People who see locations on the silver or flat screen that intrigue or make an impression on them plan vacations to experience those places for themselves.

How appropriate … Maine is “Vacationland,” after all.