Sixteen years ago, Cape Elizabeth resident Eric Matheson was sitting at a bar he had just built in upstate New York. It wasn’t the first he had built, he began “swinging a hammer” when he was 12 and began professionally building bars and commercial television sets in 1969.

“There are two industries that are ‘recession-proof,’” he said. “One is bars, and the other is film.”

A student artist and experienced builder from Maine, Matheson said he wasn’t surprised when a representative from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) New England Studio Mechanics Union took up the stool beside him. 

“I told him I was from Maine and we didn’t really believe in unions,” Matheson said. “Then he started to tell me the possibilities of what I could do and I decided to join. I started building theater sets and never looked back.”

Matheson quickly began working on sets for movies filmed throughout the country and a few close to home; he was a signwriter for the 1993 film “The Man Without a Face” starring Mel Gibson, a large portion of which was filmed in Maine. A year later he helped build a 98-foot vessel featured in the 1993 film “Blown Away” starring Tommy Lee Jones and Jeff Bridges, a project he said was particularly challenging.

“We cut the top off [a steel boat] built four decks, towed her across Boston Harbor then tilted her 12 degrees,” he said. “All so we could blow it up.”

Not all of the sets Matheson has built have been destroyed by explosives, however. Some sets, which can include entire buildings, are donated to Habitat for Humanity, an organization that helps build houses for low-income people. He said studios also encourage set workers to “load up” on used materials once filming is over to avoid creating unnecessary waste.

“Still, a lot of stuff goes into the dumpster,” he said.

Building a set requires a special type of builder, Matheson said. Speed is a key factor in film construction, and it can take time to learn the “tricks” to stay ahead of the camera crew, he said. 

“We do things normal carpenters don’t usually do,” Matheson said. 

Matheson went on to work on sets for the 1996 film “The Crucible,” “The Cider House Rules” which was released in 1999 and “Empire Falls” in 2003, the last major movie production filmed in Maine, he said. 

“People love filming here [in Maine], but there is a lack of tax incentives,” he said.

Maine has a 12.5 percent tax incentive for film companies, while other states have upwards of 40 percent, Matheson said. Tax breaks on labor rates and equipment costs are essential factors considered by production companies when considering where to film, and most don’t have their eye on Maine, he said.

“They’ll come here, film all the exterior shots and then go someplace else to do all the interior,” Matheson said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Taxes aren’t the only thing keeping filmmakers out of state. Matheson said Maine also lacks facilities needed for most successful productions. After 12 years of looking for a suitable site for a potential sound stage, production office and set construction shop, Matheson thinks he may have found a suitable site: the South Portland Armory. He said he disagreed with one architect who said the armory is structurally unstable and should be bulldozed.

“Everything’s steel on steel. I’ve been building since I was 12, I know what will stay up and what will fall down,” he said. “The military overbuilds, that’s how they do things.”

The hefty construction would allow easy installation of soundproofing and rigging options for sets that require it, he said. The four-car bay – the South Portland Fire Department could keep their current storage space – would also come in handy for any commercials or movie scenes that required a vehicle, he said. “Green” renovations could also include installing some solar panels on the south side of the building, a spot Matheson said is prime for generating heat or electricity.

“I’d like to know a little bit more about the building,” he said.

The facility would be the only one of it’s kind in Maine and one of a handful in New England, and could attract local and national companies for film festivals and community outreach programs, he said.

“Right now we’re usually using warehouses, really any space we can get,” he said. “If we had a facility here with a sound stage there are several local and successful companies that would move in immediately. There are a lot of people interested in this thing.”

Matheson presented his redevelopment plan to the South Portland City Council last week, and although he said City Manager Jim Gailey seemed “interested,” Matheson said, a zoning issue could complicate the project.

“It’s zoned residential, god only knows why,” Matheson said. “A sound stage is just that, quiet. It’s not a manufacturing plant, and it would be a perfect spot with the airport and the highway nearby.”

Although he has not collected any funding for the project, Matheson said he had presented the concept to four potential investors, all of whom were excited about the potential not only for the local film industry but the economic benefits as well.

“When a production moves into a town they drop a lot of money locally,” Matheson said. “It’s a real clean industry; they spend money in the area, do their thing, sweep the floor and leave. What more could you ask for?”

  Matheson said he was looking forward to discussing the project with other city officials in the upcoming months. 

“I haven’t really hounded them about it too much just yet,” he said. 

Story by Nate Jones