“Do I stay or do I go?”

It’s a question I hear echoed by Maine filmmakers all the time. For them, Maine is home, and making their films here makes sense, on a lot of levels. You know your home best, after all, not to mention the fact that Maine’s got pretty much every manner of setting and terrain any location scout could want. 

But Maine is Maine. We’re not Los Angeles, or New York, or even the up-and-coming movie mecca that is Atlanta. So, for moviemakers looking to establish a career right here where they grew up, the time comes when the choice has to be made. Either eke it out in the active and resourceful but undeniably small and isolated Maine film scene, or pull up stakes for one of the big cities where the tantalizing promise of more regular jobs and opportunities glistens. 

Lucas McNelly directing, not a movie, but a 5K race. Photo by Joe McGurn for RaceME

Or maybe you can just get really, really good at doing things the hard way. That’s the lesson I learned from Waldoboro filmmaker Lucas McNelly as we talked about the active crowdfunding campaign for his upcoming, Maine-set and -made neo noir feature, appropriately titled, “Maine Noir.” The story of a young single mother whose quest for a fresh start in an inherited old house in Waldoboro is first gifted and then imperiled by a huge stash of cash she finds stuffed in the house’s walls. It’s a fine set-up for a thriller, and, if McNelly isn’t outright stating that his hometown is an equally suitable setting for an intensely spooky film noir full of sketchy characters and criminal mayhem, well, he’s not not saying that. 

“Noir was perfect for this story,” said McNelly, “but we wanted to take it away from the Hays Code.” For those not up on Hollywood history, McNelly explains that the Hays Code was a moralistic set of rules that stated, among other things, film noir’s (invariably male) protagonists “never get away with it, that characters always have to be punished.” McNelly also notes that “Maine Noir” will buck the genre’s traditional misogyny, as his film’s determined lead character strives to both keep her found booty and, you know, stay alive to enjoy it.

“The first act is sort of a Lifetime movie – think Diane Lane looking for a fresh start in Italy – then goes into the noir genre as she discovers the money in her house and things get darker and sleazier as it goes,” McNelly said.

Citing the trash classic 1945 budget-basement noir “Detour” as one inspiration, McNelly says that “Maine Noir” will, likewise, get down and dirty, not just in its drama, but in how the micro-budgeted film is funded. Choosing the indie crowdfunding site Seed & Spark to raise the $45,000 budget for the film (to be shot in Waldoboro later this summer), McNelly is deep in the process of casting and securing suitably picturesque Maine locations. It’s become a standard path for Maine’s low-budget filmmakers – crowdfunding, scrambling, making do. Except that Lucas McNelly has already proven that that model – and a whole lot of industriousness – can work out really well. 

McNelly’s first feature, 2009’s “Blanc de Blanc” was made in two weeks as part of a “friendly Twitter challenge” with colleagues.

“My God, it was exhausting,” he says now of the creative sprint to shoot and edit a full feature, “but it snaps you out of that waiting around mentality. And now it’s on Amazon Prime.”

After that, McNelly embarked upon his own cross-country adventure, making the 2012 documentary “A Year Without Rent,” where the aspiring filmmaker made a series of deals with other indie directors. “I said I’d do literally anything for free, from gofer to gaffer, on their films, if they’d just find me a place to sleep.” 

A still from “Up Country,” a thriller about friends from out of state who go hiking in the northern Maine woods. Photo courtesy of Lucas McNelly

Pooling all that DIY know-how, McNelly’s next project was the soon-to-be-released thriller “Up Country,” the harrowing story of three friends “from away” whose hiking trip through the northern Maine woods goes disastrously south when their crusty local guide absconds with their gear – including one character’s insulin supply. Filmed in Waldoboro and even more rural Maine places, “Up Country” stars three very good (appropriately from-away) young actors, all of whom were lured with the chance to sink their teeth into McNelly’s meaty script. 

“You can get really good, established actors to do a $100,000 film if you write interesting things you want to do,” McNelly said. (The budget for “Up Country” comes in just shy of that mark, with a mostly crowdfunded budget of just $4,000.) As he moves into the all-important casting process for “Maine Noir,” McNelly is looking for a similar bounty of talent, hoping that his script, along with “a summer on the coast of Maine, lobster and some fun” is enough to entice more top-tier acting talent to his modest production. (McNelly does tease that he’s on the verge of securing a “big deal” composer for the film, but he’s not spilling.)

Is that ambitious? Sure, but that’s McNelly’s whole deal, having displayed a serious get-up-and-go spirit throughout his nascent career. His 2007 short, “Gravida,” just missed the top prize, a much-needed $7,000 camera, at the Now Film Festival, losing by one vote to a film starring Rainn Wilson, of “The Office” fame. McNelly consoles himself now with the fact that “Gravida” has been viewed an astonishing 200 million times on YouTube. Plus, after cutting his teeth in the crowdfunding game running what he boasts was “the biggest campaign in the state of Maine” (it was for some military-style sunglasses, but, still), McNelly has honed his multi-pronged fundraising strategy to a cutting edge. 

“It’s all about momentum,” he said. “Often people take it for granted that they can just put a campaign out there and people will come, but it’s really about being ready to go, and hitting the ground running. The faster you can get to 10 percent, then 30 percent, the easier it gets to raise more, and to attract actors and other professionals to your film. You have to prime the pump any way you can, have the right perks for donating and work social media.”

McNelly cites “Maine Noir’s” roster of perks (including a low bar for donors to see the film early, and a chance to focus-group the finished film), noting, “You have to build an army who are ready to help you in the big, final push.”

With the just-launched crowdfunding campaign for “Maine Noir” already sitting at some $6,000 of its proposed $45,000 goal last week, with 26 days to go, McNelly appears to have heeded his own advice in getting things off and running. He’s also secure in knowing that his hometown has got his back.

“People in Maine take care of their own, and, shooting in my hometown, I knew the locations, I knew people would help out and rally around it. It’s a case of looking around you and thinking about what would look good on film, thinking what I can get, and then being prepared to adapt on the fly if things don’t come through,” he said. “It’s sort of how I’ve approached my entire career up until this point.”

To see details about McNelly’s upcoming “Maine Noir” (and to donate), check out its Seed & Spark page. You can see McNelly’s “Gravida” on YouTube and “Blanc de Blanc” on Amazon Prime. Look to McNelly’s website, lmcnelly.com, for info on “Up Country,” which is currently making the rounds at film festivals. 

Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and cat.