StarBulletin.com

Hawaii boat trailer biz rides the Caribbean tide


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POSTED: Friday, May 14, 2010

Marlon Rhoden is not at this moment a household name, though he has been seen by untold thousands of occupants of homes in Hawaii and around the world through his on-camera work in dozens of film, television and print projects shot locally and elsewhere.

He also has worked off-camera in various positions in and around the film industry, roles that now include vendor to Walt Disney Pictures' “;Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”;

Through Marlon's Boat Trailer Rental LLC, a company he established in 2005, Rhoden is renting a boat trailer to the production's marine division and stands at the ready to provide a second trailer to the movie production or anyone else, should the need arise.

A boat trailer rental business is a venture not many people would think to start, but “;you'd be surprised. There's a lot of guys in marinas that don't have trailers,”; he said.

When their boats need repairs and have to be transported overland for those repairs, they are likely to find Marlon's company website or his ads in Hawaii Boats & Yachts magazine.

“;They needed a trailer and they needed it now,”; he said of the “;Pirates”; production. At first they needed the trailer for one day. That stretched to three days.

“;Fast-forward, I am now signed up with Walt Disney Productions as a contract vendor with 'Pirates.' It is a dream come true for me.”;

Meanwhile, Rhoden is also looking to get a role in front of the camera, as he is a longtime card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild with a prolific resume.

Rhoden is one of dozens, if not hundreds, of local small and large business owners that benefit from film, television and print shoots in Hawaii, said Georja Skinner, chief officer of the Creative Industries Division of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

The art and marine departments of the “;Pirates”; production are already working with several local businesses and have been since February when pre-production work on the movie began.

“;Certainly with the pre-production ramping up for a summer shoot, there will be, in addition, vendors of all kinds—lumber for construction, other ancillary materials, expendables that are purchased, the number of hotel rooms that they are engaging on Kauai and Oahu,”; Skinner said. There is also the food and beverage component at the hotels, local restaurants and other food vendors that feed cast and crew multiple times daily.

“;Lost”; producers have been quoted as “;having bought out all the foam on the island”; to create caves “;and many of the other very exotic locations sculpted out of foam.”;

“;I think that's why the film industry means a lot to Hawaii's economy. It's not just the sector itself; it's everything from your small gas station on the corner to the craft services (food providers),”; and retailers of clothing and creative handmade wares ... “;things that wind up becoming very important to the people who have worked here ... because they're in this place.”;