In 2002 and 2003, Jana Savage filmed her scenes in “The Mushing Mill,” an independent movie written and directed by her friends Joshua and Seth Gass, brothers with whom she went to Bangor High School.
It was shot entirely in Bangor on a shoestring budget, but it was Savage’s first foray into movie-making.
“I was studying economics at college, but being in that movie was the first time I thought, ‘Man, I really want to be doing this,’” said Savage, now 40. “Pretty soon I started taking acting classes, and went out to Los Angeles to intern on TV shows, and found myself getting into the industry.”
Twenty years later, Savage, along with the Maine Film Association, will show the film she wrote, “Wildflower,” a coming-of-age comedy-drama, at the Bangor Arts Exchange at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The film stars Kiernan Shipka (“Mad Men,” “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”) alongside an ensemble cast that includes Jean Smart, Brad Garrett, Jacki Weaver and Alexandra Daddario. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and in theaters and on streaming this spring.
“Mushing Mill” director Joshua Gass is the managing director of Launchpad, the arts organization that co-manages the Bangor Arts Exchange with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, so it’s a particularly appropriate homecoming for Savage.
“It definitely feels kind of full circle,” she said.
Savage got her start as an actor, appearing in a number of short films and web series during her 20s. About ten years ago, she got her first job writing for a sketch comedy series on YouTube, a gig that launched her career as a writer. She’s since co-written the comedy movies “Reality High” and “Praise This.”
Along the way, she met filmmaker Matt Smukler, who in 2020 directed a documentary also called “Wildflower,” about his real-life family, with a neuro-divergent sister- and brother-in-law raising a neurotypical child. Savage adapted that story into a feature film about a girl named Bea Johnson, growing up with an autistic mother and a father with a brain injury, and a chaotic extended family.
“It is very much based on Matt’s true story, but it’s infused with my own coming-of-age experience,” Savage said. “We were incredibly lucky to get some amazing actors to be a part of this film.”
Savage has written a number of movie scripts that are still in various stages of development, but there’s one script in particular she’s very excited about: a teen horror film set entirely in her hometown of Bangor, which she hopes will get closer to production once the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes are over.
Savage said she dreams of filming the entire movie in Bangor, but knows that that would be almost impossible, given Maine’s lack of tax incentives for film crews to make movies in the state. A report submitted to the Legislature earlier this year indicated that Maine has some of the lowest film incentives in the country, a policy that means that Maine-set movies are almost never filmed in Maine due to the prohibitive cost, compared to states like Massachusetts or Georgia, or even to filming in Canada.
“I want to be sure that as much of the film is shot in Bangor as we can, but the reality is that we almost certainly will not be able to afford to shoot a lot of it in Maine,” Savage said. “That kind of breaks my heart, because Bangor is so essential to this story.”
“Wildflower” will be screened at 7 p.m. Aug. 24 at the Bangor Arts Exchange on Exchange Street in downtown Bangor. The screening is free but reservations are required, via bangorartsexchange.com. “Wildflower” is also available to watch on Hulu.
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