HONOLULU (KHON2) — Hawaii’s film industry has been struggling since the pandemic and has seen a massive reduction in locally-produced projects, but lawmakers and those in the industry said they are working on solutions to encourage more opportunities.
Local filmmaker Yana Alliata just released her first independent feature film, ‘Reeling,’ which debuted at the Hawaii Film Festival on Friday, Oct. 17. She calls it her dream project, but dealing with financiers on the mainland is a bit of a nightmare for members of Hawaii’s film industry.
“One of the first things they say is like, ‘Oh, you’re writing a script based in Hawaii? That’s great. Can we shoot it somewhere else?’ And it’s purely a tax incentive question,” Alliata said. “And that’s pretty unfortunate because I don’t want to shoot anywhere cheaper, I want to shoot here at home with cast, crew and ohana that I know.”
The State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Creative Industries chief officer said the Islands are behind the curve on providing those incentives — 22% on Oahu and 27% on the neighbor islands.
“Compare this to other states that already have 30%, or countries that offer 40% or more,” said DBEDT Creative Industries chief officer Georja Skinner.
“That can be your entire post-production budget. So that can really take care of so much of the post-production cost for you,” Alliata said.
Hawaii had about a $400 million film industry pre-pandemic in 2019 — it has shrunk by roughly 80% since then.
“This year, right now, we are at $55 million in terms of the tax credit, and maybe another 30. So, maybe an $80 million industry from 400 million. It was a pretty dramatic shift,” Skinner said.
Lawmakers said they will reach across the aisle next session to rework an increased tax credit bill that died in conference committee earlier in 2025.
“Hoping that, you know, the conversation is carried forward, it’s debated thoroughly during session and that it actually passes conference, passes final reading and that Governor Green will be kind enough to sign them into law,” said Rep. Diamond Garcia.
“So if we just raise it even a little bit,” Alliata said. “Immediate action for 2026, then I think we’ll already be seeing more projects come here.”
Independent movies continue to be made locally, and ‘Jumanji 3,’ starring Dwayne Johnson, is scheduled to begin filming in Hawaii in November.