Click below to view an interview with Chris Lee, Hawaii native, producer, and founder of the University of Hawaii's Academy for Creative Media.  Lee was formerly president of production for TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures.  During his tenure as a production executive, he oversaw films such as Jerry Maguire, As Good As It Gets, Philadelphia, and Legends of the Fall.  Recently, Lee was executive producer on Superman Returns.

Part 1 (MPEG Format / 2.4 mb)
" ...Hawaii has a great competitive advantage in having its own studio."

Part 2 (MPEG Format / 1.7 mb)
"...there is nothing like shooting in Hawaii when it comes to a big-scope picture where you can show the Earth at its best."

Part 3 (MPEG Format / 2.1 mb)
"...it was Mark Twain that said the Hawaiian Islands are the lovliest fleet of islands anchored in any ocean..."

Full Transcript:

Part 1

Well, I think Hawaii has a great competitive advantage in having its own studio. And I think in some ways it's because Hawaii has to compete more as a country than as an individual state. And we do not have the advantage of, say, the value of the dollar, in Canada...it gives you an extra thirty percent obviously. So that's an incentive to go there.

Where Hawaii can compete is this incomparable landscape, the natural resources, and also the depth of the crews here, which are really terrific. You know, we did movies like Godzilla...the Jurassic people have come through several times. My friend Terence Chang, who produced Windtalkers for John Woo and MGM; they loved coming to Hawaii. That's why Jerry Bruckheimer, after Pearl Harbor wants to come back and do a television show.

So I think that uniformly, the stories that you hear about the crews, and sort of the spirit of how people work together to get things done in Hawaii has been terrific.

Part 2

But we can be a place where people can find it very advantageous to come here. And the costs start to even out when you take into consideration the production value that you get by shooting here. Because there is nothing like shooting in Hawaii when it comes to...a big-scope picture and being able to show Earth at its best.

And it's also in Hawaii where you need to go someplace that has a very rugged terrain or something that has...almost like you're on a foreign planet. I think Hawaii has a lot to offer. And it's very exciting that the government is now coming together with the labor unions and working to bring together more filmmakers to Hawaii.

Part 3

I think it was Mark Twain who said the Hawaiian Islands are the lovliest fleet of islands anchored in any ocean anywhere and it's absolutely true.

People tend to think of us just as the beach or Waikiki or Diamond Head. And yet Hawaii offers eleven of the climactic zones out of the thirteen that you find around the world. So there really is a tremendous variety of whatever your looking for. We pretty much have it here in Hawaii. On top of that we also have a lot of great urban centers that people don't expect. When you go to downtown Honolulu you can have a period America or we have a gleaming modern city as well.  So I think filmmakers can come here and explore opportunities that they haven't necessarily thought of before, and I think we're going to see more of that in the future as film-making continues to grow and increase prosperity here on the islands.

>> Testimonial: Terence Chang (Producer, Windtalkers)

>> Testimonial: David L. Cunningham (Director, To End All Wars)