Four TV shows planned for Hawai'i a boom for industry
By Ron Staton
Associated Press
By the end of summer, O'ahu will have three major network television series in production and a fourth TV show plans to begin filming soon afterward.
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The latest commitment comes from The WB network, which is adding "Rocky Point" as a midseason series.
A camera crew shoots a car scene for the pilot of NBC's "Hawaii." Fox, ABC and WB are also planning to shoot the shows "North Shore," "Lost" and Rocky Point in Hawai'i.
ABC yesterday confirmed yesterday it is adding the castaway drama "Lost" to its fall schedule, joining two other island-based series: NBC's police drama "Hawaii," and Fox's hotel drama "North Shore."
The state's film commissioner, speaking before the fourth show was announced, called the first three shows an unprecedented boost to Hawai'i's film industry.
"This is really good news for Hawai'i's economy and our industry," said Donne Dawson. "All three productions are going to have healthy budgets. The potential is huge.
"In the past, we have worked hard to have just one TV series," she said.
The Fox and NBC series are expected to cost more than $2 million per episode. No cost figures were available for the ABC or WB series.
Set on O'ahu's North Shore, WB's "Rocky Point" is a project from writers/executive producers John Stockwell and Lizzy Weiss (who did the movie "Blue Crush").
It's the coming-of-age story of a smart surfer girl — 19-year-old Connecticut transplant to Hawai'i, Cassie Flynn — whose blissful world is thrown into disarray when her estranged father, Owen (Billy Campbell, "Once and Again"), arrives at her doorstep.
Fox Television is already filming "North Shore." The hour-long show about a fictional Hawai'i hotel is scheduled to air on Monday nights beginning June 14.
NBC plans to start filming on July 12 for "Hawaii," and ABC has not set a date to start shooting "Lost." Both are scheduled to start airing in the fall.
The NBC and ABC shows are scheduled to go head-to-head at 8 p.m. Wednesdays. In Hawai'i, the shows will be seen at 7 p.m.
"This will present an interesting situation," Dawson said. "They are completely different shows."
"North Shore" is initially scheduled for 13 episodes, with "Hawaii" scheduled for 12 and "Lost" for 11, said Dawson.
Hawai'i has had several short-lived TV series but no long-running series since "Hawaii Five-O," which ran from 1968 to 1980, and "Magnum, P.I." from 1980 to 1988, both on CBS.
The last series to film on O'ahu was "Baywatch Hawaii," which was canceled in 2001 after two seasons.
Speaking before the "Rocky Point" announcement, Dawson said she believes Hawai'i can handle three shows at one time.
"Fox was first out of the gate so we negotiated with them" for use of the Hawai'i film studio at Diamond Head, she said. "We are working to find warehouse space to retrofit for the other two. The last thing we wanted to do was turn anyone away.
"The private sector may be able to step in also," she said.
Fox recently finished filming its first episode of "North Shore" at the Diamond Head studio and various outdoor locations and is working on the second, said publicist Nicole Gonzales.
"It's a fast and furious process," Gonzales said.
The show is set "in a lush Hawaiian hotel that captures the passion, intrigue and heart of Hawaii through the eyes of its employees and the hotel's wealthy guests," according to a production fact sheet. The cast includes Brooke Burns, who played Jessie Owens on "Baywatch"; James Remar, who played Richard Wright on HBO's "Sex & the City"; and Jason Momoa, a Honolulu native who played Jason Ioane on "Baywatch Hawaii."
The production has a crew of 120, and all but 17 are Hawai'i residents, Gonzales said.
NBC's "Hawaii" brings a crime drama back to the 50th state, 16 years after "Magnum" ended. Its cast includes Michael Biehn, who played Kyle Reese in "The Terminator," Sharif Atkins, who played Dr. Michael Gallant on NBC's "ER"; Ivan Sergei, who played Dr. Peter Winslow on NBC's "Crossing Jordan"; Eric Balfour, who played Gabe on HBO's "Six Feet Under"; and Cary Tagawa, a Kaua'i actor who appeared in "Pearl Harbor" and "Planet of the Apes."
"Lost" is based on how survivors of a plane crash can survive the harsh weather and terrain of an unidentified Pacific island.
The cast includes Dominic Monaghan, who played the Hobbit Merry in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy; Naveen Andrews, who played Lt. Kip Singh in "The English Patient"; and Matthew Fox, who played Charlie Salinger on Fox's "Party of Five." One of the executive producers and writers is J.J. Adams, creator of "Alias."
