Changing the Personality of the Film Office and Film Commission

In my last post I encouraged the Maine Film Commission and the Film Office to meet with the Maine visual media community through a Maine Film and Video Association meeting. This will take time to set up and individual schedules will prevent some film commission members from attending regardless of advance notice.

So how do we facilitate immediate communication that will lead to the visual media community understanding the goals and efforts of the film commission and the film office?

One simple step would be to list biographies of the film commissioners on the film office website along with their personal goals for the film office and the film commission.

For years I’ve implored the film office to do a consistent enewsletter to keep the film community involved and educated. I’ve seen a few but I haven’t received one for over a year and I can’t seem to find a place to sign up for one on the Film Office website.

Facebook and Twitter are used by virtually everyone in the visual media community. I did a search but I couldn’t find anything for the Maine film office or the Film Commission. Other film offices have had facebook pages for a long time. There is no cost and they allow for multiple lines of instantaneous communication that help to create a better sense of community.

A YouTube channel for the film office where local visual media professionals could help provide content would also develop sharing and camaraderie and promote the skills of Maine visual media producers.

Cleaning up the film office website database needs to be done. To my knowledge the professional database has not been updated since the $20,000 website went online back in 2006. If we are truly going to connect the visual media community, accurate contact information is imperative.

On the film office website information on festivals and competitions list three film festivals and no competitions. If you are tuned into the visual media community you know there are many more festivals and competitions in Maine and they all need support from the film office and film commission.

The Maine Film office is the only publicly funded visual media office in Maine. Here is their mission statement:
“The Maine Film Office is a division of the Maine Office of Tourism and the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. The film office helps bring film, television and other media projects to Maine; works to expand and improve Maine's in-state production industry; and helps all Maine made media productions succeed.”

The only way to make this statement a reality is to use the 21st century tools that are at their finger tips and change the personality of the film office and film commission.

My hope is that the five new members and the six existing members of the film commission will push to make these things happen to benefit of all Maine citizens.