Top Kauai film official
quits in favor of family
LIHUE >> Kauai Film Commissioner Tiffani Lizama announced her resignation yesterday, but she will remain in the position until July 29.
Lizama said she was leaving to "refocus on family."
In 20 months on the job, Lizama attracted two major projects to Kauai, both of them television productions. Last year, teen star Hillary Duff's 16th-birthday party was filmed on Kauai. This year, a teen reality show, "Endurance," filmed its 21-episode series on the island.
The producers of "Endurance" criticized Lizama and Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste last week for their inability to obtain state permits for the location they wanted and their difficulties in finding an alternate site. Filming on "Endurance" ended Sunday.
Beth Tokioka, Kauai's economic development director, who supervises the film commissioner, said the state film commission will handle requests for information from film producers interested in Kauai until a replacement is chosen.
Tokioka said the county needs to assess the $40,000 annual salary that has been paid to the film commissioner, especially in light of Kauai's soaring housing costs. Recruiting anyone who does not already live on Kauai will be difficult, she noted.
State Film Commissioner Donne Dawson said all the county film commissioners make salaries in the neighborhood of $40,000. She also noted that they are not provided any assistants by the counties, and each works alone.