For aspiring storytellers trying to make connections in the high-stakes world of Hollywood, it never hurts to have an ally. But it’s even better if the ally takes your phone calls.
The founders of a relatively new creative development program based in Kona — the Global Virtual Studio Transmedia Accelerator — understood that concept when they selected five promising ideas in June. The accelerator program, in a partnership with the state and Hawaii County, gave the projects $50,000 each in seed money and linked them to industry veterans. Now, after months of intense mentorship, the projects are being pitched to investors. The grand unveiling Nov. 13 drew 300 people, most of them industry veterans.
Each project not only was created in Hawaii, but has a Hawaii theme as well: "Jack London’s Koolau the Leper," an adventure film to be shot on Kauai and Oahu; "Kite Kids: The Legend of the Aloha Stone" is a family-friendly film set on Maui; "Hawaii Wild Side" is an outdoor reality series; "Hawaii Virtual Vacations," a website and app to enhance tourism statewide; and "Hawaii Islands of Fire," a 3-D IMAX film about the state’s active volcanoes.
The accelerator gave project creators access to people they would normally not have been able to meet, said program mentor Grant Curtis, a producer on the original "Spider-Man" trilogy and executive producer on "Oz the Great and Powerful."
"Honestly, what this did, in my opinion, is fast-forward these people’s careers and opportunities," Curtis said. "In order to sell your project, you have to get someone to answer the phone, so, therefore, you have to have their phone number and you have to have a reason for them to answer the phone."
The advice is so valuable it can’t be measured. It takes years to forge relationships like that.
"They had access to people who have been in the trenches," Curtis said. "They can help prevent you from making some of the mistakes other producers have made, help you get over those hurdles that when you are starting out you don’t even see in front of you until you hit them."
The mentors were a diverse group and included producer Ralph Winter ("X-Men" and "Fantastic 4"), screenwriter John Fusco ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend," "Hidalgo"), former Disney and Pepsi senior executive Mike Frank and James Snook, former head of innovations at Starbucks.
Also serving as a mentor was David Cunningham, a successful Hollywood filmmaker who grew up on the Big Island. Cunningham is executive director of the accelerator. His hope is that each entrepreneur will become successful in Hawaii instead of the traditional media locations such as Los Angeles and New York.
Many of the participating mentors have known Cunningham for years. All he had to do is ask for help and they came, he said.
But it was more than just friendship that made it happen.
"Initially it was my relationships, but there are a lot of guys like Grant who are generous," he said. "And each person has had an opportunity given to them in the past, and they are good people who want to pay it forward."
Cunningham understands the struggle novice filmmakers endure. When it comes to mentoring, he says he’s an example of what not to do — and this from a guy who started a film production company in a dorm room closet at Southern California College (now Vanguard University of Southern California) in Costa Mesa in the early 1990s.
He said it took "everything I had" to make his first movie, "Beyond Paradise," which he shot in Kona.
"My wife worked as a waitress," he said. "We slept on a friend’s floor. I used five American Express cards. I did 150 pitches."
A mentor would have been nice to have.
"I have a lot of scar tissue from making movies," he said. "If someone would have been there in the early stages of my trajectory and said here are 100 things not to do, I would have been really grateful."
AND that’s a wrap …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
