BIDDEFORD — It’s a scene viewed daily in Hollywood: Actors are on a set, the production crew is all around, and the director is giving last-minute instructions before calling out, “Action.”

On Tuesday, that scenario was played out on Fortunes Rock as writer/producer/director Morgan Nichols, with his cast and crew, shot beach scenes for the Hillport Maine Production of “How to Make Movies at Home.” The film began production last week in and around Biddeford and shooting continues through Friday.

Nichols is a former Kennebunk resident ”“ much of his family still lives here ”“ who originally had set his film in Los Angeles. His desire to return home and film in Maine resulted in reworking the script so it could be set in southern Maine, he said.

“How to Make Movies at Home” centers on a 20-something female director who, with her band of rock-n-roll filmmakers, shoots weekly movies in the fictional town of Hillport, population 6,000. Their lives face upheaval when hot-shot Hollywood TV producers come to town planning to set a TV show on their turf.

In addition to the story’s drama, the film also teaches lessons about how to make low-budget films.

“I wanted to be a filmmaker since I was 7,” said Nichols, who has several feature films under his belt. “It’s so much fun getting people together to work on a project together.”

Although there are a lot of long hours, he said, “there is such satisfaction” in producing a film that will be around forever.

The details of “How to Make Movies at Home” aren’t autobiographical for Nichols, but the struggle with working at home versus working in New York or Los Angeles, the country’s two filmmaking centers, is. Currently Nichols lives in New York, where he is an editor for MTV.

For some of the cast and crew, the controversy of working in the film and television industry in a small-town versus a big city is something they’ve also faced or are facing.

The film’s sound engineer, Dan Adams, is a Biddeford resident who was making short films with Nichols while they were classmates at Kennebunk High School. He had pursued a career in sound recording in both New York and Los Angeles, but said he hated the big city lifestyle and was happy to return to Maine. Now, other than working on the occasional film, the closest he gets to his former career is installing home theater systems.

One of the actors also said he likes the living and working in Maine. Michael Dix Thomas, from Portland, plays a local filmmaker in the movie. He said he’s spent time in New York, but came back home when he ran out of money. At the moment, he said, he’s happy to live and work in Maine. Since the cost of living is so much lower than in New York, he doesn’t have to work as hard to pay his bills.

“I have the freedom in Portland to do the (acting) work I want to do,” said Thomas.

But Saco resident Eric Moody, who plays one of the Hollywood hot-shots in the movie, said he hopes to move to Los Angeles someday to pursue an acting career. Right now that’s not financially feasible, he said, and he lives locally making a living mainly doing voice-overs for local commercials.

Not all of the local actors are struggling with a decision of whether to pursue their craft in a small town or a big city. They’re just happy to be a part of the current production.

Joe Foster, who plays the mayor of Hillport, is a retired Kennebunk High School English teacher. Nichols was one of his students. Foster said he’s having a good time on the film and admires his former student’s attention to detail and good humor despite some long and very hot days on set.

Nine-year-old Beau Briggs from Newport said he is also happy just to be acting.

“It’s fun,” he said, and added that he’s met some new friends. This is Briggs’ first feature film and his first acting gig. He was discovered when the film’s casting director saw his Facebook photo. Now Briggs has the acting bug and said he’d like to pursue additional roles.

While Biddeford is no Hollywood, Economic Development Director Daniel Stevenson said he and other city officials were happy to work with the filmmakers to ease the process of working in the city. Having a movie produced locally is good for local businesses and good from a marking perspective for the city, he said.

This is a start “to build longer term, sustainable relationships with other people who want make a movie” in Biddeford, said Stevenson.

As a thank-you to the community, Biddeford residents and businesses are invited to a concert and wrap party for Hillport Maine Productions’ “How to Make Movies at Home.” The wrap party will be Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at Shevenell Park on Main Street. The party will include a concert by singer/songwriter Kalie Shorr.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.