As if paradise needs extra incentives in order for filmmakers to visit–well, actually today’s economic realities dictate that it does even when that paradise is as naturally enticing as Hawaii. And indeed Hawaii has been responsive to an ultra competitive marketplace in which assorted states and countries have put financial incentives in place to help keep and attract production.
In fact, 2007 marked the initial full calendar year for Hawaii’s refundable tax credit measure that took effect in July ’06. The initiative applies to features and TV as did past Aloha State incentives, but for the first time commercials are among the mix of eligible projects. The tax credit amounts to 15 percent of qualifying production-related expenditures for lensing on Oahu. And that goes up to 20 percent for activity on any of the other neighboring islands (The Big Island of Hawaii, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai).
Hawaii Film Office state film commissioner Donne Dawson noted that since the tax credits took effect in summer of ’06, applicants for the incentives have collectively accounted for some $221 million in filming-related expenditures in the state. Approximately $9.4 million of that amount came from commercials.
While that dollar figure isn’t a large percentage of the overall total (in part due to the size of such major projects as the ABC hit series Lost and the feature film Tropic Thunder), Dawson noted that commercials represented some 49 percent of the incentive applications submitted thus far. Furthermore, these spots employed nearly 2,000 workers, 1,563 of whom were state residents. That’s 79 percent local hires.
(Since July 2006, the total direct expenditures on documented commercial production on the Islands amounts to some $13.3 million, which includes the $9.4 million worth that filed for the tax credit incentive.)
Bright prospects Dawson envisions the commercialmaking business increasing substantively over the long haul in Hawaii as word gets out relative to the incentives package and the fact that the minimum qualifying threshold is $200,000 in expenditures, which is quite attainable for national spots be they from the mainland U.S. or international (with much activity already coming from Japan).
Plus the range of eligible expenditures makes the initiative all the more attractive. For example, airfare to and between the Islands, and the cost of shipping equipment to Hawaii can qualify as valid expenditures for the tax credit–as do above and below-the-line talent and resources, including crew members who are Hawaii residents or from out of state.
“We’re seeing projects coming here because of the incentives that might not have come otherwise,” related film commissioner Walea Constantinau of the Honolulu Film Office. “And at the same time, we’re attracting projects that already had an interest in coming here but are expanding their budgets when they take into account the tax credits–so they’re adding more to their bottom line in terms of equipment, hiring extra people or simply shooting here longer. The incentives are proving to be very important–and they figure to become more important as more people outside Hawaii become fully aware of them and the scope of the expenditures that qualify.”
At press time, producer Dana Hankins of Redhead Productions, Honolulu, was laying the groundwork for an undisclosed feature scheduled to start production in Hawaii in January. The project is an example of the tax credit adding to the bottom-line budget per the scenario outlined by Constantinau. Hankins noted that the $3 million film is projected to earn a Hawaii tax credit of about $200,000 so the producers are putting that back into the budget to fund what essentially will be a $3.2 million film.
Spot rundown
In the commercialmaking arena, Hawaii has drawn recent jobs with some big ticket mainland directors attached, including Rocky Morton of bicoastal/international MJZ for an AT&T package featuring broadcast journalist Bill Kurtis, and helmer Baker Smith of Santa Monica-based Harvest for another AT&T spot, “Beach,” in which Oahu doubles for a beach (actually a nude beach per the comedic storyline) in Spain. Director Mike Bigelow of GARTNER, Santa Monica, was in Oahu recently for a CDW campaign. And there’s been spot action on neighboring islands as well, including Range Rover and eHarmony shoots on the Island of Hawaii (which at press time was also in the midst of about a month of hosting the Wheel of Fortune TV series, according to Big Island Film Office commissioner John Mason).
Also among the latest notable advertising fare was Kaiser Permanente Hawaii’s “Breath” directed and shot by Ken Arlidge of Aero Film, Santa Monica, for Campbell-Ewald, Los Angeles. Featuring a collage of activity propelled forward by the sound of the human breath, this breathtaking regional spot earned inclusion this summer into SHOOT’s “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery (7/18-8/14 issue). Facilitating production in Hawaii was Honolulu-based Production Partners headed by producer/production manager Leroy Jenkins.
A production veteran, Jenkins–who is president of the Hawaii International Film Association–wasn’t available for comment at press time in that he was in the midst of two major shoots in Hawaii for the Japanese market.
The Islands indeed attract much business, including commercials, from Japan. Art Umezu of the Kauai Film Commission cited, for example, a Panasonic spot for Japanese consumers that was recently lensed on the Garden Island. At the same time, Kauai has drawn some big ticket projects, most notably the earlier alluded to Tropic Thunder starring, directed and co-written by Ben Stiller. Umezu estimated that about 80 to 90 percent of this box office hit comedy was filmed on Kauai.
On the TV series front, the TV Land reality show High School Reunion was shot on Kauai a few months ago, with those episodes slated to debut on air in early ’09. And slated for November filming on Kauai is the Food Network series Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.
Infrastructure The range, caliber and quantity of production on the Islands has helped to build a healthy industry infrastructure. Constantinau noted that crew talent and production support resources are deep, with distinct specialties not easy to find elsewhere now readily available in Hawaii such as “water people spanning cinematographers, safety experts and all kinds of support for ocean and underwater shooting.”
And of course water is just part of the range of locations offered on the Islands. “It’s an interesting mix of city, resort, jungle, mountains, vistas, beach and permutations with many or all of those things rolled into one,” observed Constantinau. “There are a lot of different looks to be had here, the poster child for all this being the series Lost which is now in its fifth season. They’re recreating different backstories all the time and it’s all shot on Oahu.”
Randy Spangler is one of the prime location mangers on Lost. He and his sister Stephanie Spangler maintain a location scouting and management business in Hawaii with a laundry list of credits that spans Hawaii Five-O, Magnum P.I., the Michael Bay feature Pearl Harbor, the miniseries Blood & Orchids and assorted commercials, including HBO’s “Chimps,” the very first spot to win a primetime Emmy Award. “Chimps” was directed by Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA for BBDO New York.
Part of and also helping to build the infrastructure cited by Constantinau are local filmmakers who are gaining prominence that extends well beyond Hawaii. Consider the case of Honolulu-based director Brett Wagner whose 21-minute film Chief continues to score accolades.
Filmed in the jungles, waters and urban nightscapes of Oahu, Chief tells the story of a highly ranked tribal chieftain from Samoa who flees his village after the drowning death of his young daughter, and winds up working as a taxi driver in Honolulu.
The year kicked off with Chief becoming the first Hawaii-made short to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. And the latest kudo to be bestowed upon Chief was the Best Dramatic Short Award at last month’s Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.
The L.A. Shortsfest is an Academy Award-accredited film festival with its winners eligible to be nominated for an Oscar in the short film categories. Thirty of the festival’s past winners have garnered nominations and nine have won Oscars. Chief–both written and directed by Wagner, and produced by the aforementioned Hankins–was among thousands of shorts submitted for consideration at the Los Angeles Shortsfest competition.
“It’s no small feat, particularly when you look at the high profile nature of the other entries,” said Constantinau. “The L.A. Shortsfest featured performers read like a Hollywood who’s who–Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst, Rainn Wilson, Whoopie Goldberg, Sam Rockwell, Robert Redford. Just being selected was an honor, but to win…it’s truly outstanding.”
Wagner, whose filmmaking pedigree includes commercials which he continues to direct as a freelancer, noted that “winning L.A. Shortsfest and getting our Academy qualification is huge for us, and a victory for the dozens of Hawaii-based cast, crew and supporters who contributed their talent and resources to this film.”
Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann described Chief as setting a high standard as “a shining example of the potential of Hawaii’s film industry.”
Chief has additionally been recognized with a certificate of excellence from the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA). The film, which also won best dramatic short honors at the Maui Film Festival, will make its formal Oahu debut during the Hawaii International Film Festival in October.
Wagner began his career in commercial production in New York, writing and directing for clients Deloitte, CS First Boston and AIG Insurance, among others..
Eventually spot work drew him way west to Honolulu where he has directed for McDonald’s, Starwood Resorts, AT&T Wireless, KFC, Bank of America and Hawaiian Airlines, among others.
Over the past five years, Wagner’s ad industry endeavors have scored a dozen regional ADDY Awards, including 2007 Best of Show recognition for Detour, a 10-minute branded entertainment film for Starwood Resorts.
Branded content Select directors in Hawaii turned out other films in the Starwood series of branded entertainment fare, including James Sereno of Kinetic Productions, Honolulu, and Dennis Mahaffay who was with Shooters Film Production, Honolulu, at the time. (Mahaffay has since moved over to the ad agency side, heading production at Laird Christianson Advertising, Honolulu.)
Shooters Film Production is under the aegis of director David Rosen, who’s active in varied forms of content, including commercials. He described the Starwood series of films as akin to the famed BMW shorts, and sees potential in different forms of advertiser-supported content that go beyond traditional commercials. Thus he has positioned Shooters Film Production to handle both conventional and emerging ad fare. One move in that vein was the signing of director Gerard Elmore who has a track record of web work, including a Crown Royal Whisky project which focused on the NASCAR auto racing circuit. Rosen brought in young gun helmer Elmore to handle a mix of new media projects as well as broadcast commercials. In fact Rosen and Elmore have teamed on a campaign for Hawaii Pacific Health, with Rosen helming the TV spot component while Elmore directed content expressly for the web. While he’s primarily involved in live action, Elmore at press time was also directing a 15-second stop motion web piece for Hawaii Pacific Health.
As for Kinetic Productions’ principal Sereno, he gained recognition back in ’05 when his first short film, Silent Years, won a BAFTA/L.A. Award. Sereno has gone on to establish himself in varied disciplines, including commercials and branded content.
On the latter score, besides the Starwood short he directed, Sereno is now in the midst of an ambitious initiative for an undisclosed eco-friendly, pro-green client out of Honolulu ad agency Core Group One. The agency brought Sereno in during the early stages of the project to help in the conceptual development of the campaign which will follow a character who goes on an extraordinary journey while doing extraordinary things, all tied into the green theme. The campaign’s components tentatively include a commercial driving traffic to the web, a documentary about this character, a book written by the character that can be downloaded, character blogs and other branded entertainment elements.
Director Sereno is often asked to be involved in the creative for projects given his ad agency pedigree. Earlier in his career, he was a producer for Southern California agency Team One.
