Have you checked out The Hot Seat? It's our opinion-page blog that brings in your elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.

On The Hot Seat last week was state Film Commissioner Donne Dawson. Below is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)

Cheyne Gallarde: What are you doing (or plan to do) to support local, no-budget filmmakers who struggle to create original productions and refuse to leave the island to realize their vision?

Donne Dawson: One of the primary ways we support local filmmakers with the limited resources we have is to support film festivals that showcase the work of our local filmmakers. The hope is that we will be able to secure funding in the near future to support our local filmmakers. Our office has also managed several grant programs for local film projects but funding is somewhat limited.

Christopher: Can you comment on what you are doing to ensure fair portrayals of Hawai'i? Millions of tax credits are proposed yet the representations continue to be wildly inaccurate. Allowing California producers to promote these fabrications around the world at our expense needs to change:

"Maui Fever" — Nonlocals and hedonistic portrayal

"50 First Dates" — Deranged bumbling local character

"Lost" — Nonlocal cast

"Baywatch" — Nonlocal cast except for two main characters

"Real World" — No locals except for an alcoholic lesbian

"Dog" — Local drug addicts

"Magnum, P.I." — No locals

Dawson: As much as we might want to control content, we can't. It's very unfortunate at times how Hawai'i and its people have been portrayed in the mainstream. But I do believe we've come a long way. We try very hard to educate producers that endeavor to showcase our people, culture or Islands to guide them toward authenticity. But again, we cannot police content. We do monitor productions that come through here to be sure they are not breaking any laws and abiding by the terms of their film permits. I do believe that the final barometer for whether programs succeed or not is measured in terms of audience reaction and community support for or against a particular program. In the end, I think most of the general public out there would like very much to know more about the real Hawai'i and our unique culture and diversity ... more projects along those lines will begin to gain traction.

Donald R Dawson: What do you see as the future for film in Hawai'i, and does the development of government-supported and -financed film industries in other countries create problems for you?

Dawson: Hi, Dad. Thanks for chiming in. Fortunately or not, we are in the midst of the most competitive time in film history with aggressive incentives being offered worldwide. And Hawai'i unfortunately competes more with other countries rather than other U.S. jurisdictions. So that is a challenge. As you know, Canada is one of the most aggressive, but we are undaunted. Hawai'i has to step up, and if we did not pass this new tax credit to attract more productions, we would continue to lose business to other jurisdictions. Now that we have the incentive passed and a full year of it in action, we can see it's doing what we intended. We need to concentrate now on providing the best possible service for productions on the ground.

Renee: How much tax credit can one production/movie earn?

Dawson: The new production tax credit has an $8 million cap per production (The minimum spend is $200,000 ... largely to stimulate more commercial production and smaller independent film projects). But it's important to keep in mind that not all productions will hit that cap. Most will not come close. The credit provides 15 percent back on everything they spend on O'ahu and 20 percent back on everything they spend on the Neighbor Islands. So at 15 percent, to hit the ceiling of $8 million, a production would have to spend around $50 million. That is a lot of money pumped into our economy. Keep in mind as well that the state takes in approximately 13 cents on the dollar in direct and indirect taxes. For every $100 million generated in film production expenditures, we are taking in around $13 million in taxes. So one could say that with the new tax credit, the net cost for the state to generate $100 million in production spend, would be around $2 million.

Local-born: Just read the story posted this morning about Hawai'i becoming more "film friendly" and bringing in big-budget films.

It was noted in the piece that the fourth installment of Indiana Jones will be spending $15 million here and has hired more than 120 locals. Of that $15 million that is being spent, how much of it will actually affect the people of Hawai'i?

The film industry always seems to make a big deal of events like this that will "attract" more big business to Hawai'i, but isn't that $15 million going straight into the pockets of the already wealthy who own the land and equipment that Spielberg would like to use?

Dawson: Not so. I can say definitively that the approximately $15 million that is being spent on the Big Island in connection with the Indiana 4 production is going to support a large array of Hawai'i businesses and individuals who are associated with the project. This ranges from restaurants and building-supply businesses in Hilo to local B&B operations, and a variety of local service providers to take care of the many needs of the productions. As I mentioned in the previous response, the state will realize around $2 million in direct and indirect tax revenue as part of this $15 million spend. It most definitely is going to have a positive effect on the Big Island and Hilo communities. And the positive exposure those communities will realize as a result of the biggest names in Hollywood being there and the positive experience they had will only lead to more film business for Hawai'i.

Casey: Instead of a tax credit, how about putting the tax money that should be collected into a special fund to preserve and protect Hawai'i and the beauty that the film industry wants to capitalize on?

Dawson: The tax credit is in place to keep Hawai'i competitive with other jurisdictions, but there is no doubt we need to put resources toward protecting our precious natural environment that is not only important to our industry but to the people who call Hawai'i home. The Hawai'i Tourism Authority since 2002 has had a Natural Resources Program in place that puts $1 million annually toward managing, improving and protecting Hawai'i's natural environment.

To date, those monies have been used to support DLNR's state parks and trails, community-based environmental programs and natural resource sites that are used frequently by our visitors. Keep in mind, too, that film production, as a clean industry, has a vested interest in protecting the environment, because they would like to use it again in the future. Oftentimes, they make contributions toward beautification of community areas or making much-needed repairs of state assets as part of their giving back to Hawai'i.

Guy Belegaud: As I read in The Advertiser, Pacific War producers were supposed to be shooting here for 16 months, then everything went down the drain, including the $160 million spending. What went wrong for them to go to Australia, so that we don't go through that again?

As it is claimed on the film office Web site, we have the best climate in the world to film outdoor location. Why aren't we more aggressive to build two big water tanks like at the Mediterranean film studios in Malta (400,000 citizens), that would (have) allowed us to be more versatile and more open to various shots and special effects in water without damaging the ecosystem?

Dawson: There were many reasons Hawai'i lost "The Pacific" to Australia. No easy answers here. We worked very hard to get at least a portion of the production here (and to keep it in the U.S.), but in the end, we were competing with another country. The producers wanted very much to shoot here. ... One of the biggest issues was providing the environment they needed to replicate the numerous beach landings and battles that took place during World War II in the Pacific. That was a tough one, given environmental and cultural concerns that came up in some areas. Further, Australia is a lot more developed as a filming destination, and as such, has much more in the way of infrastructure to offer production. We're working to get there in Hawai'i, but we're not there yet.