LIHU‘E — When it comes to showing Hollywood film-makers the beauty and versatility of Kaua‘i as a film location, Angela Tillson is multi-transportational. She has used cars, boats, helicopters, her trusty all-terrain vehicle, even ultralight aircraft, to expose film decision-makers
LIHU‘E — When it comes to showing Hollywood film-makers the beauty and versatility of Kaua‘i as a film location, Angela Tillson is multi-transportational.
She has used cars, boats, helicopters, her trusty all-terrain vehicle, even ultralight aircraft, to expose film decision-makers to the island’s many movie options.
After getting her feet wet in the industry as a production assistant on the movie “Flight of the Intruder,” filmed in part on the island, she has had her own company, A Whale of a Time Productions, for 21 years.
A second entity of Tillson’s, Casting Kaua‘i, is a casting company.
And while she has served the movie industry in many capacities, where she excels and is most comfortable is as a location manager, because it gets her out of the office, she said in a telephone interview Monday.
As such, she is responsible for showing, selling, closing, managing, negotiating, restoring and permitting locations when Hollywood cameras come calling.
She is a mobile concierge, lining up everything from on-call doctors and dentists to portable toilets for productions large and small, including, most recently, Adam Sandler’s “Just Go With It” and George Clooney’s “The Descendants.”
And while she’s probably not supposed to say it, she was a bit relieved when Kaua‘i production of “Just Go With It” wrapped up recently, as she needed the rest.
She was busy with the two major studio productions since February full-on, and earlier than that as production folk were finalizing Kaua‘i locations.
“I hire security, cleaners, extras, mechanics, ATV (all-terrain vehicle) companies,” and work with various state and county entities to acquire necessary permits.
Normal work days are 4 a.m. to 9 p.m., sometimes later, she said.
Paparazzi invade
With over two decades of experience in helping Hollywood film on the island, she still wasn’t ready for the invasion of paparazzi (professional and non-professional photographers for hire who stalk celebrities) who descended on the island and Kilauea River area where filming of “Just Go With It” was taking place.
Rumors were that paparazzi followed the cast and crew from Maui to Kaua‘i when production wrapped on the Valley Isle and came here, in search mainly of the money shots of co-star Jennifer Aniston.
Judging by online photographs, some of them were successful.
“The last two movies (“Just Go With It” and “The Descendants”) were the first time paparazzi were a problem,” said Tillson, adding that part of the enduring allure of Kaua‘i is that people generally leave the stars alone.
“They had a lot of problems with paparazzi,” she said, and with Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz and others on-island for the filming of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the paparazzi are probably still lurking.
Instant economics
Still, the economic value to the island of filming is unmistakable. Tillson estimates the cast and crews of the last two movies probably left in the neighborhood of $16 million and $17 million on this island alone.
“The Descendants” filmed on Kaua‘i for three weeks, employing an average of 80 people per day, and “Just Go For It,” here just a week, had between 170 and 190 people working each day, said Tillson.
They were (are) staying at local hotels, eating at local restaurants, drinking at local bars, renting vehicles, enjoying beaches and activities on their days off, and generally pumping up the economy right when it’s needed, she said.
“Pirates” recently scaled back their Kaua‘i work to around 18 days, as much of the work involves 3-D cameras and other locations, she said.
“Business has been busy,” she said, finally having enough time to do a telephone interview after repeated attempts to connect earlier this year.
“I would love to educate the public about what I do and just how hard it is bringing film crews to Hawai‘i when it’s so expensive to shoot here,” she said in an earlier e-mail.
“They need to have an extraordinary awesome experience to continue coming here and pass the word around in Hollywood, how it’s been a real pleasure, a smooth transition, us having a large, well-skilled, rounded and professional crews for support,” she said.
“All making it well worth the investment to come shoot in the islands, especially Kaua‘i,” she said.
One expensive location
During the telephone interview, Tillson, who said she was one of the volunteers sought to help establish what is now the county film office, talked about the expense of filming in paradise.
“It’s very expensive to film in Hawai‘i,” and studios have to tack on an additional 35 percent to budgets in order to afford to film in the islands. “And everyone in Hollywood knows that.
“That’s why it’s important to me that they have a good experience. We’ve lost a lot of movies to Thailand, Puerto Rico,” where the government offers a 40 percent tax rebate, meaning film-makers get a rebate of 40 cents for every dollar they spend filming in Puerto Rico.
If Kaua‘i had something like that in place, the rebate for the last two pictures shooting here would have been nearly $7 million.
“The tax incentives are a big, big draw,” and so is the state law giving tax incentives to high-technology businesses including visiting film-makers.
She knows for a fact that “Tropic Thunder” with Kaua‘i property owner Ben Stiller would not have been filmed on the island and in the islands without that incentive in place.
Tillson was courting Stiller for around 18 months before he decided on Kaua‘i, and the state tax-incentive law was a big reason why, she said.
State lawmakers passed a bill to allow the law to sunset, but acting Gov. James “Duke” Aiona vetoed the legislation Wednesday.
Such a law is very important to sustain the momentum the state and island have as Hollywood locations, said Tillson, adding she has a few smaller shoots lined up later this month.
Kaua‘i and Hawai‘i have advantages over foreign countries because of Hollywood’s positive experiences here, the fact that it’s still in America, dealing in U.S. dollars, and the absence of “creatures” like snakes and other poisonous critters, she said.
Film office important
Tillson credits Judy Drosd, one of the county’s first film commissioners, with laying important foundations with studios that remain in tact today. “She was beyond terrific.
“She pretty much trained all of us” to be more professional, accommodating, something that current Film Commissioner Art Umezu and staff have to continue, she said.
Whomever answers the telephone at that office must know what they are talking about, and give potential producers the correct information in a timely manner, or they’re off to the next potential location, she said.
“The film office is very important, to be right there when they’re calling,” to send out inquiries and scouts and be, literally, the first ones to answer questions with correct information, data, photographs and the like, so studio executives will remain interested in filming on the island, said Tillson.
• Paul C. Curtis, assistant editor and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com.
