‘Baywatch’ site
is in hands of
Teamster

Union official Leo Reed
had been snubbed on moving
the show here

'Real World' gets taste of non-aloha

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

You can call it chain of command, protocol, or respect.

The key to landing the syndicated television drama "Baywatch" in Hawaii right now sits with one man: Teamsters chief Leo Reed, who heads Local 399 in Hollywood, the local that supplies drivers to film and television productions.

And the chain of command, protocol and respect Reed receives from some of Hollywood's top producers so far has been missing in the heated competition for Hawaii to wrest "Baywatch" from Australia. Simply put, the way things are done in Hollywood is to have a show's producer directly contact union honchos like Reed to make their proposals and submit wish lists for union concessions. Not intermediaries.

In the case of "Baywatch," producers and Reed have had conflicting schedules or personal situations that prevented either party from meeting. Well-intentioned intermediaries on behalf of the state -- people who Reed said he doesn't know -- got involved in presenting the state's proposal, hoping to get Reed to make a decision.

"Nobody puts a gun to my head in a situation like this," Reed said last week.

"I understand the chain of command starts with Leo," said Greg Bonann, "Baywatch" creator and executive producer. "But I needed help in Hawaii and when the Hawaii contingent made themselves available I agreed because I was on my way to Australia to discuss moving the show there... relied on other parties."

Reed and the producers may meet tomorrow at Teamsters' headquarters or at the latest on Wednesday, Reed said.

Reed told the Star-Bulletin last week he was upset that "someone" -- Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau President Tony Vericella -- other than "Baywatch" producers initiated moving the show here. "Baywatch" producers said early on they attempted to reach Reed by telephone, and when that wasn't successful they outlined their requests in a letter to the union chief.

City Council Chairman Mufi Hannemann, a relative of Reed's, spoke with him several times last week. "He's gotten a lot of second-hand information and wrong assumptions were made," Hannemann said.

"I've been trying to help keep Hawaii's door open so dialogue between the two parties can happen. It was a mistake for anyone to think that Leo was going to make a decision on this trip."

When Hannemann was director of the state's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, he always called Reed to discuss productions coming to Hawaii. "We need to get the right people around Leo to make this project fly," Hannemann said. "The Teamsters don't call producers initially; they are the ones called. After the proposal is made you can have go-betweens."

Hawaii remains Bonann's first choice for relocating the show. Australia also remains an option, despite producers being asked to leave the country over the weekend when officials there could not get him to commit. In fact, an Australian tourism official has accused Bonann and company of reneging on a verbal agreement to film at least 22 episodes on Australia's Gold Coast.

Queensland state Tourism Minister Bob Gibbs said the producers simply used the negotiations with his government to squeeze concessions out of Hawaii. Gibbs accused the producers of reneging on an in-principle "handshake" agreement reached Feb. 26.

Bonann denied he used Australia as a pawn to get more concessions from Hawaii.

---

‘Real World’ gets a dose of anti-aloha Star-Bulletin MTV, welcome to the real world. The television network's filming of its "Real World" series at a home in the 3100 block of Diamond Head Road here was interrupted by a burglary yesterday. A 39-year-old Kalihi Valley man with a long criminal record was arrested for allegedly stealing a daily planner from the residence. Footprints in the sand led East Honolulu Crime Reduction Unit officers to the suspect, who was taken into custody and booked for first-degree robbery at 4:15 a.m. yesterday. The burglary was reported at 3:25. The suspect is one of three men convicted in 1982 for the 1980 murder of fellow prison inmate Milton Nihipali. His criminal record includes 28 prior arrests. The man came in from the beach side of the property, on the Waikiki side of the Diamond Head lighthouse, and entered one of two houses where MTV is filming, police said. He was observed by closed-circuit television cameras in the kitchen, where he allegedly took a daily planner. When confronted outside the residence by a crewmember, the suspect returned the item and fled.