NBC series to make
Big Island its home

NBC's 'Wind on Water,'
rolling next month, is the first
series to be neighbor
island based

By Tim Ryan
Star-Bulletin

A new chapter in television production in Hawaii begins next month when NBC's "Wind on Water" becomes the first network series to be based on a neighbor island.

The production is expected to generate more than $2 million in tax revenues during the next four months of filming, said Gov. Ben Cayetano. Each episode will cost between $1.7 million and $1.8 million with about $1 million being spent in Hawaii, mostly on the Big Island, said county film commissioner Marilyn Killeri.

The hour-long drama "Wind on Water," which is on NBC's fall schedule, stars Bo Derek, as Ciel Connelly, the mother of two world-class surfer-skiers who help to run the family's cattle ranch and feud with another ranching family, the Pooles. Other cast members include Lee Horsley, William Gregory Lee, Brian Gross, Shawn Christian, Jacinda Barrett and Matthew Stephen Liu.

The filming for the 12 episodes by NBC-Zalman King production will be based at the Hilton Waikoloan and Kawaihae Harbor.

"This may set a precedent, proving that a television series can be filmed on a neighbor island" at a reasonable cost, said Georgette Deemer, Hawaii Film Office manager.

"This is something we have been trying to do a for a very long time because we want Hawaii's film industry to be a statewide enterprise."

Higher costs and lack of production facilities has until now kept episodic television from filming on the neighbor islands. Killeri credited the community for its "tremendous, concerted effort" to help get "Wind on Water" to the Big Island.

"It was touch and go, but every time we really needed someone to help out they did," she said.

This included getting special rates and discounts from Aloha and Hawaiian airlines, shipping companies, hotels and condominiums, and unions, she said.

Cayetano mirrored this enthusiasm, saying the Big Island series is "exciting news for the state and the Big Island." Nabbing "Wind" was due "in large part to a tax credit bill we initiated last year," said Cayetano.

Some filming for "Wind" will be done on Oahu, mainly the surfing segments on the North Shore.

King, who also filmed the surfing feature film "In God's Hands" on the Big Island, wanted "Wind" based there, but the higher production costs coupled with the lack of studio facilities nearly sent producers packing to Oahu or even Los Angeles.

Also being filmed in Hawaii at the same time is ABC's "Fantasy Island," a remake of the series that ran from the late 1970s to '80s. The new version stars Malcolm McDowell playing the role Ricardo Montalban did in the original series.

The 12 "Fantasy Island" shows are expected to begin filming the week of July 27. The production is based in three Halawa Valley warehouses.

Primary locations for exterior filming will on Windward Oahu at the Waimanalo and Kualoa beach areas.

Both shows are scheduled to be broadcast on Saturdays.