The governor’s recent release of $100,000 to help state officials identify the best location for a new film studio was welcome news to state film commissioner Donne Dawson.
Despite recent repairs, the state film studio at Diamond Head remains an aging and limited facility. The studio’s 16,500-square-foot soundstage, built in 1994, has been in constant demand for more than a decade but can accommodate only one production at a time. It’s currently used by the CBS drama "Hawaii Five-0."
But before a new studio can be built, the state needs to understand what film and TV productions need when they come to Hawaii. The money released Oct. 2 by Gov. Neil Abercrombie is a key first step, Dawson said.
"There is a strong need for additional infrastructure to support the growth and development of this industry in Hawaii," she said. "We know that. It’s abundantly clear. This is going to tell us what the market needs in more definitive terms, and it will tell us the best place to build this facility."
And it could be on a neighbor island. Dawson stressed the study will evaluate locations statewide, not just on Oahu.
"We have incredible resources and diversity available to us across the island chain," she said. "Yes, the predominant amount of production takes place on Oahu, but we will never be able to get ourselves to the next level unless we take a hard look at the neighbor islands."
The idea of a state-run soundstage anywhere else but Oahu may go counter to traditional thinking — Oahu as the center of the Hawaii universe is hard to dismiss — but it’s intriguing to neighbor island film commissioners.
With more than 4,000 square miles and 11 different climates (snow in the tropics!), Hawaii island could accommodate a wide range of production requests, said Ilihia Gionson, the county’s acting film commissioner.
When "Five-0" shot there two weeks ago, crews used the red cinders of Mauna Loa at 8,000 feet and the isolation of Kalapana Gardens, a small collection of homes built on the blackened landscape of a lava flow.
"If you look at Hawaii island, you have all these very different looks, and they are all in one place," Gionson said. "That is already an advantage. And if there was a soundstage available and you could do your inside stuff and outside stuff in one place, the savings that presents would go a long way toward growing the industry."
On Kauai, where the big-budget dinosaur sequel "Jurassic World" was shot from April to July, a film studio would be nice, but the island’s lush beauty is still its calling card, said Art Umezu, county film commissioner.
"We have great film industry people on Kauai, and for their sake I have to say we would like to have a studio but it really depends on who is going to manage it," Umezu said. "Film studios are very, very specialized, and we need technical people to support it. And should there be downtime, how can we use it?"
Although a company has not been chosen to do the study, Dawson does not want to influence the process by discussing the advantages of one site over another.
A new studio won’t be cheap. It would likely be built in a partnership with a private developer, and Dawson has estimated a cost of $30 million to $100 million. The studio size and land costs would be major factors, she said.
But with the state about to select a new governor, what happens beyond a market analysis is anyone’s guess — and Dawson won’t speculate, either.
"I’m optimistic the study will get done, but we will need funding to build such a facility," she said. "This is just for analysis and planning. It’s a first step."
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.
