AUBURN — Ravi “Tea” Jackson is a United Kingdom native with a background in law and finance. Ben “Lobster” Santos is an Auburn native with a background in tech and web development, and together as Tea & Lobster Productions, they’re hoping to bring more movies to this L-A.

“If you drive 30 minutes one way, you’re on the coast,” said Santos, 36. “If you drive 30 minutes the other way, you’re up in the mountains. If you need an old farmhouse, we’ve got those. If you need an empty mill, we’ve got those.”

The pair met at Don’t Panic Consulting and formed their new venture after leaving that company this summer. The start-up has a three-fold specialty: web design, social media help and, to stand out in that crowded market, movie marketing. And they hope, eventually, movie attraction.

Santos said their web work, which runs on Duda software, an alternative to WordPress, is targeting small and growing business clients. Work so far includes redesigning Museum L-A’s website.

Through Jackson’s aunt, a London lawyer and junior movie producer, they’re in the running for their first movie marketing job, for a $10 million film being shot in London next February.

“The movie studios tend to do that in-house and their focus has pretty much been on post-production,” said Jackson, 37. “More and more, folks are doing pre-production teasers and social media content that goes out earlier. Also, by doing the social media content upfront, it allows you to have content for bonus scenes. It gives you an extra connection with a loyal fan base.”

Through contacts they’ve started to make in the industry, “we have floated Lewiston as a location to a couple of people saying, ‘Hey, this might work for your story,’ and it hasn’t been totally shot out of the water,” Santos said. “People have been like, ‘Oh, I should take a look at that.'”

The growing Emerge Film Festival, too, has put the area on more filmmakers’ radars, he said.

The co-founders, whose nicknames aren’t Tea and Lobster but use that as their titles on their business cards, are hoping to build a network of local people and companies interested in working with movie productions in the hopes of becoming a one-stop resource shop.

“We would help navigate the area: You need a gas station, here are six gas stations we know that are interested in being involved. You need a mill to shoot in, OK … ,” Santos said.

Jackson, who lives in Brunswick and two weeks ago became a U.S. citizen, oversees the budgets and contracts in the partnership. He said he can see the area’s energy.

“When you compare the other production costs in other states, other areas, I think it’s pretty favorable,” he said. “There’s miles of fiber (optics) in Lewiston that’s utilized. It’s just the innovation culture to have tech companies and creative people coming into the area. Maine could be almost like a San Francisco of the East. I think we’re positioned quite well. We’re safe, we’ve got the diversification in terms of work hard, play hard.”

Santos said he likes the idea of bringing in outside money and showing off what L-A’s got.

“I’ve lived in the area long enough that I’ve seen multiple things pass the Twin Cities over, and that’s always bugged me,” he said. “I’m still mad we didn’t get an Olive Garden. I’m tired of events going straight to Augusta; I’m tired of events going to Bangor. We really are a good option. We want to be involved with helping keep (positive momentum) going, really help attract more businesses and help the area grow.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com 

Ben Santos is the “lobster” in Tea & Lobster Productions, a Lewiston-Auburn-based company that is looking to bring more movie production to the area.