Aloha, Brothers and Sisters –

Congratulations to the crew of “Hawaii Five-O” and “Magnum P.I.” for being picked up for seasons 10 and 2, respectively! CBS continues to make Hawai’i a high priority location, and we appreciate the commitment they continue to make to Hawai’i.

The legislative session ended this month, and our entire 665 ‘Ohana worked hard to remove the $35 Million cap from the Film Tax Credit. We had numerous meetings with legislators, joined forces with Hawai’i labor unions, collaborated with the Hollywood studios, networked with film industry workers, showed up at hearings, stayed informed, testified online, introduced Renee Confair’s new game called “GetCrewd” to folks at the Capitol and launched the “Save Hawaii Film” campaign on social media. On Change.org, over 4,000 people signed our petition in support of local film jobs and businesses. Legislators were alerted each time 500 people signed up.

We also released four videos that outlined the many benefits of having a vibrant film industry in Hawai’i: the first video showcased local companies such as Kualoa Ranch, City Mill, A & E Equipment and Plywood Hawai’i; the second was from the film crew’s perspective; another from Hawai’i-born Kanoa Dahlin; and the last video talked about the many donations film companies make to the community – pallets of food that were shipped to Kanua’i after the North Shore landslide, large monetary donations to Leeward Community College and He’eia Small Boat Harbor; furniture donated to the Weinberg Foundation, etc. Check out www.SaveHawaiiFilm.com to see all of the videos. MAHALO to Joseph McDaniel and Gary Sanders of The Media Butler. As soon as I asked them for help, they bought the domain name and created the website almost overnight. They updated the Change.org petition throughout the campaign to help our industry and didn’t charge us a dime. Mahalo, Joe and Gary!

On the last day of the conference, within a four-hour period, 470 petitions flooded the email inboxes of key legislators. We did everything we could to inform the Capitol that a tax cap would devastate our industry. In the end, the Counsel of Revenue’s forecast of an$81.6 Million LOSS in tax revenues, caused the two money committees to leave the cap in place, but they did raise the cap to $50 Million. The additional $15 Million is a huge WIN in light of the economic forecast and the fact that other measures died this session. MAHALO and GREAT JOB to everyone! However, prepare for a recession. Save and shelter your money.

Every weekend this month, Brothers Lee Kaneakua, Tui’a’ana Scanlan and Keoki Smith will be holding Grip School at Hawaii Media Inc. in Halawa. All of the classes are full, but we might hold more in June. On Sunday, May 19th, we will have Scissorslift an Boomlift certification. Please call the hall if you’d like to sign up. This class will be held in Mapuapuna because the Union Hall is under renovation. In closing, I will be emailing everyone about a call system that other IA locals use called Callsteward.com. Let me know what you think.