27-04-2025
Film industry workers ‘devastated' after measure to bring more work deferred
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaiʻi's film industry received a huge setback after a bill that could have boosted the struggling industry died in committee on April 25.
TV and film industry workers say they are stunned and one lawmaker says people's livelihoods are at stake because of political back and forth.
Bill to give tax credits to film industry for local productions deferred
Sen. Lynn DeCoite fought tirelessly to help the struggling film industry thrive once again by looking to raise the total cap on credits per year, expanding streaming productions, tax incentives and adding bonuses for local hires, just to name a few.
'It is unfortunate that we do not have an agreement as we've been back and forth working on the different conference drafts and the changes we have made,' DeCoite said. 'I have tried my best along with some of my colleagues and at the end of the day, it was the tax credits that was not liked by the House. It is unfortunate and I am very saddened that this is where I'm at today.'
Senators Donna Mercado Kim and Samantha DeCorte commended DeCoite's hard work on the measure.
DeCoite couldn't be reached for comment following the said the senate tried everything they could to get the measure passed and even had support from the senate president as well as the chair of Ways and Means.
'The saddest thing about this whole situation is that there are real lives effected because this bill didn't pass,' DeCorte said. 'The film industry brings millions if not billions of dollars here to Hawaii, but most importantly, they put to work thousands of our local workers and this means those workers are out of a job entirely. The lawmakers that are responsible for not being cooperative with this bill are literally taking food off the plates of these workers.'
Workers like Ralph Malani, who has done hair for about 40 TV and Film productions including 'Lilo and Stitch' and 'Rescue: HI-Surf,' says that the bill's deferment is a major loss for himself and his colleagues.'[Hawaii] is where I'm from, it's just so sad to me that the powers that be don't seem to care that local people are losing out big time and we're going to have to leave, and I never wanted to leave,' he said, referencing how the mainland has more job opportunities than in the islands.
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This is the first time in two decades that there are no active productions filming on the islands. 'I have friends going to the foodbank because they can't feed their kids, people are selling their homes because they cant pay mortgages, they are taking kids out of schools because there is no work here,' he added.
He also worked on the film 'Finding Ohana,' which was shot in Thailand.
'It was supposed to be in Hawaii and it looked just like Hawaii and for one of me they could hire five in Thailand, so why wouldn't they go there?' he said. 'And that's exactly what's going to keep happening, they're going to go to New Zealand and other places.'
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For Malani, the deferment left him questioning the actions of the legislators who opposed the bill.
'If those people who voted against this are watching, just why? What did it threaten you with to give us a good job? It's so sad. Think about the local people who grew up here, who are raised here, have families here, think about us before you sign off a piece of paper and destroy everything we had,' Malani said.
The final draft of SB 732 had 367 pages of testimony, and not a single agency or person testified against it.
'The truth of the matter is this bill died for political reasons, and the House wasn't compromising with the Senate and we did everything we could, we gave in to a lot of the things we were asked for on the Senate side,' DeCorte said. 'They made it so much harder and again these are lives that are at stake, real families that rely on this income to pay their bills and now what is going to happen?'
TV and Film Producer Eric Hays moved his family to Hawaii a few years ago after wrapping up filming NCIS in New Orleans.
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'When the show here shut down, we chose to stay here because we love the people, it's a privilege to shoot on the island here and we respect the culture and everything about it,' Hays said. 'We could have went back to New Orleans but we decided to stay here, and my daughter is graduating from Mid-Pacific next month and we made the right decision to stay.'
Despite his happiness with living in the islands, the reality is that Hays may have to consider relocating.
'I'm worried that we may have to go to back to New Orleans because right now, I have three to four shows I'm trying to bring here as an independent producer and financially it doesn't make sense,' Hays said. They can be written for here or New Orleans, but let's shoot it here, and rebuild the industry and make it thrive.'
He said when people come to Oahu they come to visit Waikiki, the beaches, Diamond Head, and also Kualoa Ranch.
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'They want to see fake dinosaur footprints and to see where King Kong fought Godzilla and all the other movies out there, and guess what? That is the film industry impact on tourism,' Hays said.
He said the tax incentive motivates productions to come to Hawaii and film while also pushing money into the economy.
'We could put $60 to 80 million into the economy in this county in over one year,' he said. 'And combine that into three years or another show that's here and four other movies and the next thing you know, you're putting a billion dollars into the economy.'
The state's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism wrote testimony stating support for the legislation, citing the economic impacts film has had on the islands.
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'The film industry has provided hundreds of jobs, launched careers and resulted in long term employment for residents at a better than average living wage,' the testimony said. 'Together with the Legislature, we have an opportunity to restore our production activity, turning around the current 50% decline in production here through maintaining a viable tax incentive, putting our residents and vendors back to work.'
Hays cited other states' tax credits as a reason why films that have ties to Polynesia shoot on the mainland.
''Moana' was shot in Atlanta, but came here for exteriors. Why wasn't it shot here the whole time? Because producers chase the money they chase the tax credit,' Hays said.
Industry professionals say Georgia is leading the way when it comes to the film industry by offering many incentives and bonuses.
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