TV show ‘Lost’
hires isle firm

The special-effects company
will act as the series’ co-digital
visual supervisor

Cause & F(x) Pictures, a Honolulu-based digital visual effects company, has landed what state officials are calling a significant deal for a Hawaii special-effects business.

The company will act as co-digital visual supervisor on ABC/Touchstone's Emmy-nominated series "Lost."

"It's always good news for Hawaii's film and television industry when a production sees the value in hiring more local talent," said Donne Dawson, Hawaii film commissioner.

"The network will see firsthand what Hawaii talent can do in the special effects/post-production world," Dawson said.

Cause & F(x) Pictures, which designs and creates visual effects and animation for feature films, television commercials, music videos and games, has done similar work on films, including "The Matrix Reloaded," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "X-Men." The four-employee company was founded in January 2004.

The amount of time required to digitally meld a special-effects scene depends on the complexity of the shot, but the maximum for "Lost" is about 10 days, Cause & F(x) owner Kai Bovaird said.

"Lost's" special-effects team, headed by Emmy-nominated Kevin Blank, heard about Cause & F(x) Pictures through word of mouth.

The production's move to use local talent will save ABC/Touchstone money. In "Lost's" first season, the production brought a visual-effects artist from the mainland, which meant paying living expenses as well as salary.

Bovaird, who expects to hire as many as four more employees for the additional "Lost" work, said there are other visual-effects artists on the mainland working on "Lost's" special-effects scenes.

Judy Drosd, the state's chief officer for arts in the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said getting visiting productions to hire local talent "in a higher level of filmmaking" has been "a major objective" of DBEDT.

"This is a hugely significant moment for Hawaii and signifies the level of confidence that ABC has in talent that's here," Drosd said. "This marks a new era for Hawaii filmmakers."

Bovaird predicts Hawaii should see a growing industry for computer-generated imagery production. Cause & F(x) already has been hired to work on two feature film projects in the next few months.