«Making Hawaii's film industry competitive»

Olivia Peterkin (@orpeterkin)
Pacific Biz News (@pacificbiznews)

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«Three movers and shakers in Hawaii's film industry — Georja Skinner, chief officer of the state's Creative Industries Division in the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; Chris Lee, founder and director of the Academy for Creative Media system at the University of Hawaii; and Donne Dawson, the Hawaii State Film Commissioner — discussed several facets of the industry, at a panel hosted by the Hawaii Society of Business Professionals on Friday, giving audience members a behind-the-scenes peek into some of the challenges in growing Hawaii's creative economy.

»Overtaxed and undervalued

»One of the main concerns shared by all three panelists was the fact that, because they feel that the Island film industry's economic contributions are undervalued, state lawmakers fail to provide the industry with the legislative leeway needed to make Hawaii competitive.

»"The creative economy is the business of the arts, and something that is really critical for everyone to understand is that the arts are a business," Skinner said during the panel. "We need to ensure that creative industry is something that is a viable alternative four our tourism-based economy."

»According to state data, Hawaii’s film and television industry generated $477 million in estimated expenditures, with $825 million in economic impact, and created 4,000 jobs last year. Hawaii’s creative economy also contributed $3.6 billion to the state GDP, according to data collected by the state's Creative Industries Division.

»"I read recently that we only have five businesses that can bring in over $500 million annually in our state," said Lee, who founded the Academy of Creative Media for the University of Hawaii. "They were listed as tourism, construction, the military, education and research."

»"Last year, we had a record year with a direct spend on film, television series and other productions of over $480 million," Lee said. "That is actual money that was spent in the state on which taxes were paid, hotel nights were booked, groceries were bought, houses were rented and even sold, one big star enrolled his kids in Punahou, all in, there was an economic impact of $1 billion, and that sounds like $500 million to me."

»Lee says that many of Hawaii's film industry contributions fly under the radar due to the fact that many of the workers in the industry are independent contractors who work on a project-by-project basis.

»"You don't ever really hear about it, whenever I read lists of our top local occupations our creative jobs don't even get mentioned," Lee said.

»However, Dawson says that Hawaii's film industry could be even more lucrative if the state was able to attract more big-budget films to the Islands through incentives.

»"It’s a competitive industry because we are in an incentives race that will draw production to our region and make it cost effective," Dawson said. "We tend to be competing more with other countries rather than other states in terms of films because of our location in the middle of the Pacific."

»In 2006, the Hawaii State Legislature passed Act 88 which enacted a tax credit on filming costs spent in Hawaii, that attracted several high profile movies including Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Battleship and Tropic Thunder».

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