In the darkened parking lot, under the glowing neon lights of WUSS FM, a hot rod rocks, windows steaming, until suddenly a door pops open and out tumbles a young woman, zipping up and huffing mad. Her exit is greeted with laughter.

It's a scene within a scene-a dozen experienced actors are reading the screenplay for "Box Score," a sort-of screwball comedy by Henniker writer Dana Biscotti Myskowski, to an audience of 53 people who came to the State Library in Concord to listen and discuss it. The actors effortlessly transport the audience from the radio station to the broadcast box at the Portsmouth Stripers baseball stadium ("And there it goes," the announcer calls a homerun. "Someone call Pease International-there's an incoming flight."), bringing a string of characters to life, from the caddish play-by-play announcer to the earnest color commentator to the sorry third baseman who knocks himself out with a falling piece of his own bat.

It's the first script reading in a new series offered to support the professional efforts of New Hampshire-based filmmakers, the first public project of the reinvigorated New Hampshire Film and Television Office.

"Our focus is not just to bring in outside films, but to support New Hampshire films and the film industry," says Van McLeod, commissioner of Cultural Resources, the department in which the Film and Television office resides (it had been housed formerly with the Department of Travel and Tourism).

The screenplay reading series is the first public step toward more support for the local film industry in 2005. Other projects in the works include industry-friendly legislation that would encourage state agencies hiring production companies to hire in-state first; a peer-to-peer creative group for local filmmakers to talk about works-in-progress; an e-mail bulletin or listserve from the film office; and a national network that would connect people who are connected to New Hampshire.

"It's a business about connections. When that occurs, people will figure out ways to support and work with each other," McLeod says. "All we need to do is find them, bring those people in, and the others we don't know are out there."

The state's goal is economic development. When David E. Kelly brought "The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire" here in 2003, dollars flowed into the local economy. When "The West Wing" went to film New Hampshire scenes in Ontario, they didn't.

The chance that a major Hollywood movie is made here increases exponentially when stars, producers, writers or directors have connections with New Hampshire. Two of the writers for Seinfeld shot scenes for a new pilot, "Live Free or Die," in Claremont recently because one of them grew up here. Among the current crop of well-known stars who might choose to bring projects here, or influence their friends to do so, are Saturday Night Live's Seth Meyers (raised in Bedford), Adam Sandler (raised in Manchester) and Brewster Academy (Wolfeboro) graduate Topher Grace. Other Hollywood productions have passed through the state, but most have passed over it, despite having a storyline set here (Weight of Water, Affliction). The best-known productions are over a decade old (Jumanji (1995), On Golden Pond (1981)).

Some of the current buzz is payoff for advertising work done by past film commissioners and advertising dollars spent in the late 1990s. Some of the activity simply comes as a result of growing legions of independent filmmakers. The New York Times reported on Jan. 16 that 2,613 feature films were submitted to the Sundance Film Festival this year, up 29 percent from 2,023 last year.

"We have more projects coming in, or at least more than we're aware of. It seems to be an ongoing, never-ending stream of information requests from Hollywood and independent producers, and it's going to keep getting bigger," says Tom Seiler, vice chairman of the New Hampshire Film Commission, which works in conjunction with the film office.

The commission wants to raise awareness that shooting in New Hampshire is a viable option, in many cases easier, quicker and cheaper than looking to Boston for production capabilities.

"It's not going to cost them more to shoot it here, and it will probably cost less," Seiler says.

When commercials, or cable TV shows, or pilots are shot in New Hampshire, that means work for people who live here. Increasingly, though, people aren't sitting around waiting for work to come to them.

One of the best-known examples on the Seacoast is Davidlee Wilson, who's just wrapping up production on a pilot about 30-somethings called "Liberty Square," set in Portsmouth. It's the first of six projects he's lined up for the year.

Kristen Vermilyea, a New Hampshire native whose acting credits include minor roles in "Third Watch" and Far From Heaven, has invested her time and talent in "Straight Forward," an under-$20,000 feature shot at her parents' home outside of Concord in November.

Playwrights and filmmakers Buzz McLaughlin and Aaron Wiederspahn recently moved to the Peterborough area to start either/or films. Their first feature film will be The Sensation of Sight, shot on 35mm with an estimated budget of nearly $1 million. Filming starts somewhere between the end of February and the beginning of April, depending on their as-yet unnamed, nearly secured primary actor.

"We basically want to produce independent feature films, and our plan is to start with our first feature being shot in New Hampshire here in Peterborough," says Wiederspahn, director and screenwriter. "I'd been living in Orlando, Fla., for the past seven years. (Buzz, playwright and producer) has had a summer home in New Hampshire. We decided to go full time. We figured, it's good quality of life, we could base our company here."

The partners are also working negotiating a co-production deal, so they can hit film festivals with a known name in their credits. "That would actually put us in a whole other stratosphere," Wiederspahn notes.

Seacoast documentarian Peter Flynn Donovan, who's planning a documentary in Peru this summer, went with a friend to the script reading in Concord last week.

"A friend of mine (from Deerfield) wanted me to go. He was feeling really out of sorts. Everyone wants to do it here, but they have to do other things to make a living. The danger is in getting rusty," Donovan says.