TheBuzz
TheBuzz
E! Entertainment Television Inc. may be Wild On Hawaii, as in the name of the show they're taping here, but local businesses are wild on E!. Businesses get ready
for their 15 minutesLocal public relations maven Mona Wood has been coordinating the production of Wild On shoots in Hawaii for about three years.
When producers Heather Konkoli and Sheilah Pacete let Wood know of their plans to return to Hawaii for a shoot, Wood sent out an e-mail to visitor-industry connected PR colleagues.
A torrent of replies and invitations flooded in almost immediately.
"Come stay at our place, I'll send you a press kit," they told her. "Then I got really popular. I've been invited to every party, every grand opening ... I'm sure it's just coincidence."
Volunteers come out of the woodwork, since the show can air repeatedly for up to five years.
"It's so highly visible," Wood said. "You couldn't buy that for whatever the trade amount is."
The hard part, she said, is not being able to include everyone. "I have to work with what E! wants."
Locations approved by E! include businesses that don't often get a lot of ink, such as Drop Zone Hawaii, for a skydiving segment; Hawaiian Fire Surf School, where show host Cindy Taylor will get surfing instruction from three Honolulu firefighters; and Maui Downhill for a bike ride from the summit of Haleakala. KHNL-TV reporter Cindy Paliracio will co-host some of the segments.
There will also be the de rigeur Hawaii-shot segments. Footage will be taken at the Hyatt Regency Maui luau, on a catamaran at Ko Olina, at Mandara Spa at Hilton Hawaiian Village, Turtle Bay Resort, at Zanzabar and Ocean Club nightclubs and both a daytime bikini shoot on a beach with models from ADR Model & Talent Agency and a nighttime bikini contest.
Regular folks get a shot at their Gloria-Swanson-esque close-up during the nightclub tapings after 10 p.m. Tuesday at Zanzabar, then after midnight at Ocean Club and after 10:30 p.m. Wednesday for the bikini contest at Scruples Beach Club.
Wild On! Hawaii is tentatively to debut Dec. 24.
The Hawaii show was originally set to be shot in February around the NFL Pro Bowl, Wood said. It got moved up because of the terrorist attack that destroyed a popular nightclub in Bali. The Wild On! crew was to tape segments in the club and was to have stayed at the neighboring hotel.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com