Hawai‘i’s ocean, jungles and mountains have served as backdrops for Elvis’ beach parties, Spielberg’s dinosaurs, crime sagas and love stories.
The pace of offshore productions accelerated in 2006 when the state’s Act 88 expanded financial incentives to lure big-budget productions, and has rarely let up. “We had tremendous years in 2018 and 2019, each averaging over $400 million” in direct spending, says Georja Skinner, head of the Creative Industries Division of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. In 2019, that spending translated into an estimated $707 million of economic impact and $43.7 million in state taxes, according to the division’s analysis.
Opportunities to export original productions are also emerging, as Hawai‘i’s talent “is rising to levels like it’s never been before,” says Skinner. “You have people not just…
