Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii

Please note: Tim Ryan’s Reel Hawaii has moved to a new website: www.timryansreelhawaii.com. Please update your bookmarks.

Congratulations, Tim!! It looks great!!

First, thanks to so many of you in the Hawaii and Los Angeles production community for your encouragement and promised support to take Reel Hawaii independent with its own web site.

The change allows us to have more control of content including additional space for your business changes and upcoming gigs, photos, a new design by one of Hawaii’s top webmasters, and even some controversial subjects — you know me! - that affects the Hawaii industry.

One thing that will not change is Reel Hawaii relying on your help to supply content information.

As you know from our discussions and Emails in recent weeks, there will be minimal advertising fees to publicize your company including links, photos, and news releases on Reel Hawaii.

So what does the production community get out of Reel Hawaii besides information not found in any other Hawaii publication? Each week Reel Hawaii will be mass Emailed — as in several hundred — not only to recipients of Hawaii Film & Video magazine but other production companies, studios, and various executives in Hawaii and L.A. .

I agree with many of you that Hawaii’s production community is so connected that advertising may not be necessary. Ask yourself does word of mouth alone always work in letting folks know what your business has been doing or will be doing? .

Reel Hawaii may be working with Google’s AdSense service (www.google.com/adsense), among others, which allows Reel News to display up to three content-specific “ad units” (boxes that can hold up to four ads each) per page. If I write about, say, production equipment or a production company, there will be ads about production equipment and production equipment from some national companies already attached to the new format.

Reel Hawaii will be available to Hawaii’s entire production community — though new enterprises do need to contact me - via weekly Emails as well as to anyone in L.A. who has filmed here before — the day the blog is posted. Any breaking news or new information can be added immediately to the blog. If there is a specific studio or exec you want to receive Reel Hawaii because there is information about your company let us know and we will make sure they get it, guaranteed.

Take note: I will provide each Reel Hawaii advertiser with the list of those to whom the blog is being sent.

As you all know I strive for fresh content. The fresher the content the more important Reel Hawaii becomes in the eyes of the Internet. Reel Hawaii will never be a static website.

Remember also that Internet search engines regard blogs far more favorably. That’s why blogs get crawled and ranked faster than most typical websites, whether the blog is search-engine-optimized or not.

It’s also easier to subscribe to, and be removed from RSS feeds. Unlike email, with its spam, scams and impossible-to-opt-out mailing lists, RSS feeds allow anyone to subscribe only to those websites they prefer. And to visit those websites (most often when a new post is made) when they prefer.

I know that Email comes with its own risks. Spam has forced filtering processes to be more aggressive, and the more aggressive the filters, the greater the incidence of false positives.

But people don’t want to miss their important emails. And they don’t want to miss out on important news or notifications. Blogs solve that since RSS feeds are completely controlled by the end-user, and can never be spammed.

That’s it.

The new Reel News should begin by mid March around the time of the new issue of Hawaii Film & Video magazine. I’ve had to limit advertising on the first month’s blogs to concentrate on design, content and size. That number is likely to change.

Any suggestions, information, or for advertising plans please contact me at:

Email: tryanhawaii@hawaiiantel.net
Office Number: 808.373.8809
Cellular: 808.265.6908

Mahalo/tim.

Special Delivery, a low-budget movie of the week for the Lifetime Movie Network, begins 15 days of shooting on Friday through Feb. 22. There have been four weeks of pre production. The film is expected to air in December.

Special Delivery stars Lisa Edelstein (pictured first below, credit Michael Yarish/FOX), who plays Dr. Lisa Cuddy on the FOX series House, and Brenda Song (pictured second below), who plays London Tipton on Suite Life.

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Edelstein plays Pacific Rim bonded courier Maxine Carter. She must transport uppity teen Alice (Song) from her father in China to her mother in Hawaii. Max soon discovers a trap has been set up for her client and must do everything she can to keep Alice safe. Michael Scott is directing. The original script is by Matt Dearborn.

The entire film will be shot at about 16 locations on Oahu, including Kahala, Waikiki, Chinatown, North Shore, Turtle Bay Resort. Honolulu Airport, a nightclub, hospital, and several street scenes.

The production company — Special Delivery LLC — is based at the Hawaii Media Inc. in Halawa Valley. The MOV is the first by the Island Film Group headed by Ric Galindez and Roy Tjioe. Some 90 percent of the crew is local, according to producer Francis Conway. (Conway is a Hawaii production veteran having worked here on Blue Crush, Baywatch Hawaii, Baywatch movies and the NBC cop series Hawaii.) The only crew and execs brought in from Los Angeles are the production designer, director of photographer, assistant director and Conway. Local crew include Randy Spangler as locations coordinator; Dean Des Jarlais, gaffer; Anna Fishburn, extras casting director, and Brock Little, stunt coordinator. Little was stunt coordinator on the HBO series John from Cincinnati.

Producer Conway describes Special Delivery as a Midnight Run-style action-comedy.

The entire cast is local with the exception of the two stars. Producers need about 18 background actors of all ages and ethnicities who will receive $75-$135 for eight hours work, plus any overtime. There will not be any weekend filming. A few scenes are supposed to be China so Asian actors are needed. The rest of the film takes place in Hawaii. What is especially needed are a 20-35 year old male and female “club goers.”

Lanai is very serious about attracting film, television and commercial production to the exclusive island. The Four Seasons Lanai last week hosted with Maui County a familiarization tour to show the island’s varied locations and accommodations to some of Hawaii’s production industry. Event was organized by Four Seasons exec Randy Clark. The company hopes to attract smaller and short-term filming productions. Attending the junket were Maui Film Commissioner Benita Brazier, producer Angie Laprete, location scouts Jim Triplett (Oahu), K.K. Greenlee (Kauai), Glenn Beadles and Paul Ehman (Maui), Nori Hubbs (production manager), Val Kim (Big Island locations), Leroy Jenkins (Production Partners company), state film commissioner Donne Dawson and Carol Lee Arnold, sister of producer Chris Lee. The group, which stayed at the luxury Lodge at Koele, toured Lanai’s Garden of the Gods, Kaumalapau Harbor, Manele Bay, Hulopoe Beach, the Challenge at Manele Bay golf course, the skeet shooting range, and a short boat trip to Club Lanai. While on Lanai, Commissioner Brazier met with the police chief to discuss possible future productions. Following the Lanai visit Dawson jetted to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival.

BTW: Laprete has been named associate producer/production supervisor on the Island Film Partners’ Movie of the Week Special Delivery which begins filming Feb. 1 on Oahu.

The Dog, The Bounty Hunter show which has been suspended by A&E after star Duane Dog Chapman’s private conversation use of the N word looks like it will return to the air soon, sources said. The Chapmans are in New York to take part in Martin Luther King Day celebrations following invites by members of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

Maui-based publicist Blaise Noto will again teach his Entertainment Marketing class at Maui Community College’s VITEC program on Tuesday, 6-9 p.m. Feb. 5 - March 4. The class course number is 438W08; fee is $189. Registration is through MCC’s VITEC program.

As expected, the biopic Amelia starring Hilary Swank remains on hold until the writers strike is settled. Producers hoped to film about two weeks on Oahu as early as late February. Producers are Kevin Hyman and Ted Waitt; director is Phillip Noyce; screenwriter, Ron Bass. The film is a joint production of Don Carmody Productions (Toronto), Avalon Pictures (New York), and Rumbalara Films (Los Angeles).

How’s this for a storyline: Kauai photogs are upset with visiting mainland paparazzi making money from shooting celebs on their aina. So a few connect with a prominent Garden Isle surfing school to get information about which celebs will be taking lessons, and when and where the sessions will be given. So da guys get exclusive pics and share the cash with surf school sources. And the local photogs reportedly threaten the visiting photogs. Celebs who have gotten snapped: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey. Some of these surf school employees get production work at least on Kauai and Oahu.

Island Film Group and MarVista Entertainment have set up production offices at Oahu’s HMI offices in Halawa Valley for Lifetime Channel’s low-budget Movie of the Week Special Delivery scheduled to begin shooting Feb. 4. Producers are Michael Jacobs, Marc Lorber, and Francis “Frank” Conway; Michael Scott will direct. Conway has done several Hawaii productions, including Baywatch Hawaii, Blue Crush and the NBC police series Hawaii. Casting isn’t completed, but here is what Reel Hawaii knows about the characters and types: Alice Cantwell: (over 18 years, but plays a 15 year old going on 30). Shea’s the spoiled and elitist daughter of a wealthy businessman, currently living in China. Stubborn, privileged, she is more than a little miffed when she learns she will be escorted back to the United States to live with her mother Max in Hawaii. Alice, despite her initial misgivings, is impressed by mom’s savvy intuition. She later takes a fashion-challenged Max in tow, determined to help Max win back her ex. Lead: Nate Nash: 40s, handsome, athletic and a little rough around the edges. He’s Max’s ex-husband, divorced for five years, but still very much in love with Max. He’s willing to move on when he believes she has no interest in rekindling the relationship. A real estate agent, dependable, courtly and good-hearted, he pitches in when Max needs help with her latest assignment, oblivious to the fact that Alice is acting as matchmaker. Lead: Alan Cantwell, 40s, a brilliant businessman who for the past decade has helped modernize the Chinese oil business. Blamed by the Chinese government for a recent oil spill, Cantwell knows that his life is in danger and hires Max to escort his 15-year-old daughter back to the United States. While he loves Alice, he is a desperate man, willing to place his own daughter in jeopardy by making her an unwitting mule. Lead: Bill Devane, 40s, Max’s boss at Northwest Security, also an old college friend of Cantwell. He’s more than happy to take on the assignment of escorting Cantwell’s daughter out of China and knows the perfect person for the job - Maxine. Later, Devane shows his unscrupulous, greedy side when he becomes convinced that Cantwell is playing him. Lead: Naomi, late 30s-early 40s, smart and beautiful. She is Alice’s mother, Alan Cantwell’s ex-wife, a lawyer who lives in a beautiful Hawaii house. Shea’s eager to welcome her daughter home, trying valiantly to make the transition an easy one.

No updates about the Amelia Earhart biopic starring Hilary Swank that plans to film two weeks in Hawaii. Sources said that since the script needs some minor rewriting that filming wouldn’t begin until the writers’ strike is settled. In a published story, producers expected to begin filming in late February or early April.

And no Lost season four premier at Sunset on the Beach in Waikiki as previously announced for February. That’s the word from ABC who through a spokesperson said it would be difficult to round up the show’s actors who are scattered across the globe and deal with Hawaii’s erratic winter weather this year.

It’s official.

Hawaii governor Linda Lingle and state tax director Kurt Kawafuchi tell Reel Hawaii that Act 88 — the 18-month-old production tax incentive legislation — is a success.

And their reasoning is simple.

“Act 88 has been a success given the increase in production expenditures in Hawaii since the law took effect on July 1, 2006,” Lingle and Kawafuchi agreed. Hawaii Film Office data show that production companies from Hawaii and around the world that have used the credit “will contribute” about $200 million to the state’s economy. “The increased production activity means a commensurate increase in the talent, labor, and support services provided from Hawaii residents and companies,” Kawafuchi said.

But there’s even bigger news! Having seen what incentives can create, the state is considering additional incentives to lure productions. “It’s critical to understand that Hawaii competes globally in the motion picture production destination market — which provide highly competitive incentives to attract this industry,” Kawafuchi said. So Hawaii can at least compete on a level playing field, the state is considering labor- or services-based tax incentives, including a general excise tax exemption. The Lingle Administration is also focused on continuing to streamline permitting and improve the overall business climate, which would also be an inherent incentive.

“Because Act 88 is in its infancy, this is an opportune time to ensure quality and timely customer service for industry participants that utilize Act 88,” Kawafuchi said.

The Hawaii Film Office and Department of Taxation have both made customer-friendly administration of Act 88 a top priority. Again, it’s simple reasoning: Production is an industry in which a company can choose to film in either Hawaii or New Zealand, each with competitive incentives.

“At the end of the day, it will be the government’s ability to respond to taxpayer issues and provide predictable guidance to the production industry that will tip the scale in favor of Hawaii,” Kawafuchi said.

Are the production tax incentives good for Hawaii’s taxpayers?

“Whether an investment of taxpayer funds is wise for Hawaii taxpayers can best be measured by return-on-investment,” Kawafuchi said. The projected $200 million contribution by the motion picture industry will give Hawaii taxpayers a return on their investment of about six times what was spent by the government. This infusion means increased visibility of Hawaii as a visitor destination and a good place to do business.

The six-time return on investment is based on the assumption that the $200 million will be infused into the economy. If $200 million in costs is spent in Hawaii, this results in a credit payout of $30 million from the general fund. ($200 million x 0.15 tax credit rate = $30 million). $30 million is approximately 6 times $200 million. ($30 million x 6.6 = $198 million.).

Even I can understand those figures!

National Open House, a 30-minute program on HGTV, which compares real estate markets across the country and shows viewers what they can get for their money in various cities, will be showcasing Kailua-Kona in four episodes. The crew will be on the Big Island to film the last two episodes in early February. The program gives more than 120 million HGTV viewers the opportunity to see why so many people are calling Kailua-Kona their home. Producers are looking for homes and homeowners to appear on the show. To qualify, homeowners must be available for four hours during one of the days filming is done Feb. 4-8; be in the Kailua-Kona area; be comfortable discussing the current value of their home and why they chose to buy in Kona; have furnished homes; fit one of these price-points — $250K, $300K, $500K, $600K, $750K, $800K, and $1 Million. Homes do not need to be on the market. Homeowners will not receive any compensation for their homes appearing on the show. New episodes of National Open House will begin airing early 2008. You can view a clip of the program by going to the web link: http://pietown.tv/Shows/noh.html. For more information, contact Ally Weinberg at Ally_Weinberg@pietown.tv.

Sony Teleivsion returns to the Big Island’s Hilton Waikoloa to televise Wheel of Fortune with Pat Sajak and Vanna White. The production will be on the Big Island for several weeks of pre-production and filming.

Beautiful Son, the mesmerizing independent film by Don and Julianne King about autism and featuring their son Beau, will air on not yet determined public television in April. Don is second unit camera operator on Lost.

Hawaii film commissioner Donne Dawson will be a one-person promoter this January when she attends the Sundance Film Festival to talk up the state’s Act 88 production tax incentives and to support Brett Wagner’s dramatic short Chief which will have its world premier at the event. Wagner directed and wrote the film; Dana Hankins produced. Dawson’s attendance will be the first time in four years that the state has had a commissioner present there. All the county commissioners used to attend until funding became limited.

Hawaii Film Partners’ animator has completed seven of 38 two-minute animated shorts of the 2D Ape Escape for Nicktoons. Ape Escape is based on the Sony Play Station game. The cartoon could be begin airing next month.

Frequent Big Island visitor sportscaster Brent Musburger worked at Farish Media recently where the Mason and Regina Farish company engineered his voice and audio for the upcoming Rose Bowl and Capitol One Bowl television promos on ESPN and ABC.

Jurassic Park IV update: Reel Hawaii has been getting a lot of calls from crew and others seeking info on the JPIV sequel. In a recent interview with Comingsoon.net, producer Frank Marshall’s script revisions are being held up by the current WGA strike. The good news is that the film is still on track for a 2009 release. “There’s an idea and we just have to see if it shakes out,” he said. JPIV location execs have scouted Hawaii, but no word if any filming will be done here.

A Canadian production company next year will shoot on Oahu The Story of Amelia Earhart biopic starring Academy Award-winning actor Hilary Swank. The film is produced by Toronto-based Don Carmody and directed by Philip Noyce who scouted locations here in October. The feature film will shoot in Toronto for eight weeks possibly beginning in February, followed by two weeks each in Nova Scotia and Hawaii. Ron Bass wrote the screenplay. The famed American pilot went missing over the Pacific in 1937 while attempting to fly solo around the globe. Director Noyce said he cast Swank as Earhart in part because the resemblance is remarkable. “It’s happening,” Swank said in a recent interview. “I start doing my research in January. It’s my next project.” The script reportedly does not offer any solutions to the mystery of the aviator’s disappearance. Swank said the writers’ strike may delay the start date since the script is not completely finished. Expect more casting news in the next month.

Lost is moving again, but this time to Thursday nights beginning Jan. 3, the beginning of February sweeps. Lost will fill the Grey’s Anatomy slot. Eight of 16 episodes of Lost were filmed before the writer’s strike began. Thursday night traditionally has been the most desirable time of the week for advertisers.

Island Film Group under the leadership of Hawaii attorneys Ric Galindez and Roy Tjioe expects to begin next month two productions that include six weeks of pre-production for the $8 million, Hawaii-based independent film Princess Kaiulani and four weeks of pre-production for a Lifetime Channel movie of the week — budget $3 million — in partnership with MarVista Entertainment. Galindez and Tjioe worked with MarVista on the Oahu-based television series Beyond the Break. Princess Kaiulani will begin four weeks of principal photography Feb. 20 while the MOW will start shooting in early February. Angie Laprete is production supervisor on the MOW. To accommodate their production work, Island Film Group is partnering with Hawaii Media Inc. to create a 7,500 square foot sound stage at HMI’s Halawa Valley facility. They also are using another 1,000 square feet for office space.

In other Island Film Group news, final touches are in the works for financing and Hawaii investment credits for the $100 million-plus Hawaii Studio development in Kapolei. The project includes studio-retail-office space and at least four soundstages. SHM partners want to build on 22 acres a 200,000 square foot facility that includes as many as four sound stages — 18,000 square feet each. “We already have the land and now we’re finalizing the financing” with the Hawaii Department of Taxation, Galindez said.

The 18-month-old First Team Productions under partners Chris Mapes and Zachary Kim guessed right when they decided to bring some elite production equipment to Hawaii to rent to film and television companies. Their Supertechno 30, a specialized telescopic camera crane, was rented by DreamWorks for its Kauai-based Ben Stiller film Tropic Thunder for about four months. The $650,000 crane rents for as much as $2,500 a day. The Technocrane 30 telescopes from 8 feet to 32 feet, is completely motorized using steel cable and a weight pulley system. It’s fully rigged for every camera system, including 16mm and 35mm film, professional video, digital video and high definition cameras as well as some large format (65mm and IMAX) cameras.

With just weeks left in 2007 — the year of Act 2008 — Reel Hawaii has assembled some preliminary production figures before the final state and county numbers are in. Hawaii as itemed here weeks ago will surpass the $164 million production revenue record and could hit the $200 million mark. The state had two major film productions and a hit prime time series as well as a steady flow of commercials and independent films and, of course, sporting events. Here’s some of the breakdown: The Big Island’s tally will be between $20 million and $25 million thanks to $17.5 million spent by DreamWorks for filming part of the Indiana Jones IV sequel on Hawaii island. The total is most for the Big Island in the 15 years since Kevin Costner’s Waterworld. A conservative estimate of Kauai’s revs is $65 million thanks to the $100 million-plus Tropic Thunder production. But sources have told Reel Hawaii that TT alone spent $65 million on the Garden Isle so that figure will climb. Maui’s production figure is about $10 million. Oahu’s will be at least $60 million, the conservative estimate of what ABC’s Lost spends here. These figures alone total $160 million. Hats off to the industry writers of Act 88 and the legislators for getting it passed.

For those who don’t know department: The Writers Guild of America strike, while dire to film and television productions, doesn’t affect all productions, including commercials, reality shows and some independent shoots.

But the strike is not good for those in the trenches. Every one of Hawaii’s 400 IATSE workers are out of work, including about 160 who work on Lost, said Donovan Ahuna, IATSE business agent. According to Ahuna, two independent productions hope to start filming on Oahu in January if the strike is settled by then. Both films would shoot about four weeks. One is the Princess Kaiulani film.

A $125,000 student feature film, Relapse, is in its second and last week of production on the Big Island. The film is being produced by the Big Island’s University of the Nations and directed by Willie Navarro, the school’s director of digital filmmaking program. Relapse is an anti-drug film with focus on the ice epidemic. The film is being shot in high definition.

Location manager Nancy Erger has just finished work on the Travel Channel program No Reservations series starring Anthony Bourdain. The production stayed at Kona Village…The ink isn’t quite dry yet but a major long-running game show likely will film at the Hilton Waikoloa in September and will spend six weeks on the Big Island. Bill Paris and his Crew Hawaii company spent two weeks in November on Kauai and Oahu shooting two episodes of America’s Most Wanted with host and show creator John Walsh.

Rumor Mill: Some sources say that if the strike isn’t settled until February or March that Lost producers will finish and shoot the next eight scripts of season four then continue — without a break — into season five.

The writer’s strike has claimed another victim. ABC/Disney execs announced that the DVD release parties on Lanai for Lost’s third season and Pirates of the Caribbean III have been cancelled. The event was to be held Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. Meanwhile, production of Lost will shut down tomorrow, Nov. 21, when the last of eight new scripts have been filmed… Meanwhile, Carlton Cuse, Lost’s showrunner, has returned to work to do post-production work on the episodes completed so far for the fourth season. Lost actors Harold Perrineau (Michael) and Cynthia Watros (Libby) who were cut out of the show in season three will reappear episode eight. Lost is shutting down its Iwilei staging area where the production trucks and other gear were stored for the Fisherman’s Wharf area in Ala Moana.

Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. studios will hold an audition for the lead role of Caine in Kung Fu. Part Asian male actors in their mid-20s and early 30s can audition 4 to 7 p.m. Nov. 30 in Crawford Hall 115 at the University of Hawaii. For more information, check www.hawaii.edu/acm/.

Meanwhile, Tom Cruise is filming his cameo for buddy Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder in Los Angeles. A set of photos of the Top Gun star from the set surfaced this week in which he’s wearing a fat suit, bald cap and beard. Cruise plays a studio mogul in the movie, which also features cameos by Matthew McConaughey, Katie Holmes and Tobey Maguire. Tropic Thunder filmed on Kauai for more than four months and wrapped in October. The production spent tens of millions of dollars on the Garden Isle, making it the biggest production in Kauai historyâ. Check out the Cruise pics here.

Barry Rivers, whose Maui Film Festival attracts top notch celebs to the Wailea events each June, has had it with paparazzi. The renegade photogs are driving away potential A-list actors from attending the festival because they don’t want to be photographed relaxing on nearby Wailea Beach, shopping at The Shops at Wailea or doing anything else. Rivers and wife Stella understand that the beach is open to the public — including the paps — but are looking at ways to keep the shooters away. Paps beware: Rivers and company know who you are.

The Big Island’s Farish Media — www.hawaiivideo.com — will make a major announcement in the next few weeks about a new download high definition service from the company’s website of thousands of Hawaii videos from its stock library.

In the five years that Pacific Films, a Hawaii-based production company, has filmed 12 motion pictures in Hawaii the company has spent $30 million here. The company has about 150 investors all signed up for the state’s Act 221 investment credits, according to Stephen Jarchow, chairman and CEO of Regent Entertainment. Pacific Films’ budget per pic is about $1 million to $3 million, with filming anywhere from 10 days to three weeks.

Update: Don’t bury Dog: The Bounty Hunter TV series just yet. Sources say that despite all the public rhetoric by A&E execs, the network continues to be “very supportive” of Duane and Beth Chapman and is trying to work out sponsorship deals with other companies so the popular half-hour show can return for a fifth season. “Everything is in a cooling off period right now,” the source says. Meanwhile, the Dog is laying very low. Good doggy! .

The Wadda Shame Department: In what is likely to be the best production revenue year in state history, state and county film commissioners will again not be able to attend the Sundance Film Festival in January because funds aren’t available. Sundance is one of THE top schmoozing opportunities of the year in which to promote Hawaii as a location and Act 88 tax incentives. Oh well, lucky we live in Hawaii.