By Tim RyanThe plan would transfer the Oahu film office from the city managing director's office to the Planning Department
The industry doesn't like a City Council proposal to shift operations of the Oahu film office from the city managing director's office to the Planning Department.
Critics say it could severely reduce the agency's influence and effectiveness and even discourage mainland filmmakers from coming here.
"We don't understand the reason behind this idea," said freelance producer Kay Lorraine, executive director of the Hawaii chapter of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. "No one in the film industry thinks it's a good move; certainly not the community who needs most the film office's services."
Councilman Mufi Hannemann, former director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism, is spearheading the switch. He said it would improve efficiency of the office and give it resources to become more aggressive. He's "stunned" by the opposition from filmmakers and the city administration.
The plan, which the Council will likely decide tomorrow, includes $20,000 in additional funds plus money to hire a secretary-clerk and a "marketing specialist" to assist film office manager Walea Constantinau. Constantinau also would receive her requested $6,000 raise, bringing her annual salary to $38,000. (The average salary of the three other county film commissioners is about $41,000.)
"If the administration appreciated Walea's work, why didn't they give her a raise all these years?" Hannemann said. "Oahu's film industry is so important that it's really too big for just one person ... the way we've been doing it."
Filmmakers say they are pleased with the offer of more money for the office but question the need to change jurisdiction, location and supervision. The switch, they said, would seem to limit Constantinau's access to Mayor Jeremy Harris and Managing Director Bob Fishman. At its worse, it could cause delays in getting some film permits or quick answers, they said.
"When it's needed to coordinate various departments and all the little players, will Walea have the clout to get things done fast?" said David Rosen, director of Pacific Focus, Hawaii's largest independently owned production company. "It's taken years for Honolulu to come from being perceived as a nightmare in getting permits processed efficiently to being seen as film friendly. The film office now has the clout of the mayor."
Marilyn Mick, a Hawaii production and location manager, said the move "feels like stepping back, a slowing down process."
"We're an industry that works overnight, always a day behind, and the process already is too tough," she said.
The city administration has "deep concerns" that the switch will send "the wrong signal" to the film industry, Fishman said in a written statement.
The current organizational structure gives the film office "needed stature to accomplish the delicate coordination" between the film industry and all city agencies," Fishman said. "We support the additional assistance (but) let's keep a good thing going."
The increased funding and staff could be done within any move but "the Council has lost confidence in the ability of the Office of Economic Development to function" under the managing director's office, Hannemann said.
"It's been a joke and we need more accountability," he said.
The plan was unveiled last week at the Council's Budget Committee meeting, at which Constantinau told Hannemann moving the film office would "bury" it for "a couple years" while the Office of Economic Development reorganized.
In addition to the film coordinator post, Council members also want to transfer the economic development coordinator from the managing director's office to the Planning Department. Eventually the two positions, along with the Waikiki development coordinator already under Planning, would form an economic development office within that department.