Double Feature

Liane Crawford is Charlotte County's ticket to stardom. As commissioner of the Charlotte Harbor Florida Film Office, her job is to bring commercials, catalogs and the big prize-feature films-to Charlotte County.

It may sound like a glamour job, but Crawford, 52, plays down that angle.

"It's not about being starstruck. It's about doing business and meeting people's needs," says Crawford, whose laid-back attitude and style are more in tune with her Midwest roots than her Hollywood title. At a 2006 "capitol blitz" in Tallahassee to lobby for more money to bring films to Florida, Crawford says she was just as excited to meet then-governor Jeb Bush as she was to meet John Travolta.

When Crawford came in 2005 as film commissioner, she took on a second role as marketing and communications manager for the Charlotte County Visitors Bureau. On her desk are two computer monitors-one to handle the 10,000-plus image bank for the film commission, the other to design the marketing tools for the visitor's bureau. She always carries two business cards with her.

But Crawford never really knows what card she'll be carrying that day until she logs on to her e-mail or checks her BlackBerry for potential film leads from the Association of Film Commissions International or Film Florida. When a lead sounds promising, she chooses her pictures and makes her pitch.

If they want ocean beaches, theme parks and high-rises, Crawford knows she doesn't stand a chance. But a recent call for "a charming resort town" sounded just right. She went to Boca Grande with her Canon Sure Shot and snapped photos of the picturesque village, hoping they would entice filmmakers to bring their $25 million film budget here.

It might be months before she finds out if there's any interest at all. "This job is a lot of hurry up and wait," she says. "You may think something's gone away, and then it gets hot again."