A lot of film and TV projects fail early. The timing isn’t right. Financial backers get cold feet. Studio executives change and with them, priorities.
So with production scouts from four projects making or scheduling trips to Maui this spring, it’s easy to understand the excitement being felt by Tracy Bennett, film commissioner for Maui County. The neighbor island’s production landscape could change dramatically.
Bennett is wooing two TV shows: a sitcom from a major network he won’t identify and "Chaser," a new action series from "Baywatch" creator Gregory Bonann. Bennett also hopes to land a pair of movies: "Stranded," inspired by "The Swiss Family Robinson," and a Korean comedy called "Moderately Low Expectations."
At the same time, a potential cable TV series set in 19th-century Lahaina has Bennett dreaming even bigger.
"Thy Kingdom Come," co-written by Maui-based screenwriter Stefan Schaefer and former Hawaii screenwriter Thomas Paa Sibbert, was purchased by The Weinstein Co., and the powerful studio is looking for a broadcast partner.
Schaefer said he pitched the series recently to a pair of former "Mad Men" show runners, and the pilot script was read by Hawaii actor Jason Momoa, who has worked with Sibbert.
Could Maui handle three TV shows at the same time?
Movies have been shot on Maui, but a TV series would be a first for the island. Although TV pilots were shot there — "Crowfoot" in 1995 and a revival of "Fantasy Island" in 1998 — no scripted series has been based there.
"We’ve never had that situation on Maui before, so we would have to cross that bridge when we got to it," Bennett said. "I can see us being able to handle two for sure and utilizing everything we have on Maui, and whatever we don’t have, we would bring in from Oahu."
For the moment, Schaefer appears to have the strongest backers.
Schaefer, a 42-year-old writer who moved to Maui with his family six years ago, would like to see "Thy Kingdom Come" as a Netflix series in the same vein as "Marco Polo," the 10-episode, $90 million series also produced by Weinstein.
"They have a great track record," Schaefer said. "They can attract great acting talent, and they have a lot of money. It’s a good step in the right direction, but I’ve had 20 projects over the years that were optioned and bought, and there was an executive shuffle and things die."
IF THAT project fails, Schaefer has another series to pitch from Maui: "Surf Break Hotel." It’s the story of a washed-up professional surfer — think Jack Black in a way-too-tight rash guard, Schaefer said — who is forced to teach surfing to tourists. At the moment it’s just a script, but Schaefer sees it as a series of YouTube shorts that will attract a network. All he needs is $300,000.
Bennett attributes some of the recent interest in Maui to the 5 percent increase in tax credits available to productions that film on the neighbor islands. The increase, which brought the credit to 25 percent, took effect in July 2013.
State film commissioner Donne Dawson said the higher tax credit is a hefty carrot.
"If you are a TV show and you are looking for a place to base your new show, the 25 percent tax credit is going to be very attractive," Dawson said. "So much so that they may only look at neighbor islands."
But Maui lacks a key selling point in its quest for a TV series: a soundstage.
"It’s a necessary component of what’s needed on Maui," Dawson said. "If you want to have a TV show based on your neighbor island, having a working film studio and soundstage facility is an extremely important piece of the puzzle."
That didn’t seem to be a problem two years ago, when Maui Film Studios touted its 21,000-square-foot soundstage as the largest in Hawaii. A year later it shut its doors. Jerry Embree, whose investment firm helped build the soundstage in a beverage warehouse in Kahului, would not say what happened, citing pending litigation.
Embree said he wants to build a new one but offered no timetable.
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.
