Will South Portland soon become a hotbed of Hollywood-like activity? Maine is a visual paradise—from its billboard-less highways to attractively zig-zagging coastline (which, when you stretch it to full length, measures longer than California’s). No wonder people came here to film flicks like In The Bedroom and The Cider House Rules. But moviemakers have mostly spelunked into our territory to get good film footage, then headed elsewhere to complete the project. They’ve had no capacity to produce their films in-state, as we lack a large-scale commercial production studio.

A few months ago, Maine hoped a guy named Bill Ferrell would follow through on his promise to build two giant soundstages in Camden, which would have made the cozy seaside village the state’s first cradle of the film production economy. Those plans have gone awry, and now South Portland's city council has snatched the fumbled baton.

Their vision is interesting: transform the vacant South Portland Armory into Maine’s bastion of TV and film production.

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