Legislative priorities for the newly formed Hawaiʻi Film Alliance include better tax incentives for companies choosing to produce movies or television shows in Hawaiʻi.
John Salanoa, an actor, director and producer and the chair of HFA’s bills committee, shared some of HFA’s priorities with Aloha State Daily on Monday.
HFA is a coalition of film professionals, production companies, labor unions, businesses, and more that formed in July. On Saturday, Jan. 10, HFA partnered with University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu and the International Cultural Arts Network to present session two of its four-part Hawaiʻi Film Alliance Info Series, where Salanoa was one of the featured speakers. The classroom-style briefing was designed to help industry professionals understand key legislation in the 2026 legislative session.
Hawaiʻi has long been a place to film movies and television shows.
“We were a destination film location,” Salanoa told ASD. “And if you look at our history, it's proven to be wonderful — from ʻLost’ to ʻJurassic Park’ to everything else in between. We were that spot. But then New Zealand and then Thailand and Australia opened up to say: ʻYou can favor us to look like Hawaiʻi, and we'll give double what they're giving you.’ And that's when we started to see the loss.”
Hawaiʻi is beautiful, he added.
“We have beautiful culture here,” Salanoa said. “We have the best crew members, talent and everyone is here, but the incentives worldwide left us where we are today, which is in a very flat state. But the good thing is, this year — 2026 — we have three [large] productions that are coming in, and they're coming in because of the enthusiasm of what they're hearing. That Hawaiʻi is really going to step up and do what they can to stimulate the industry.”
Better tax credits are HFA’s highest priorities for 2026 legislation. Currently, the state of Hawaiʻi provides a 22% tax credit for productions on Oʻahu and 27% tax credit for productions on Neighbor Islands.
“Now 10 years ago, those were good numbers,” he said. “Today, those are bottom-of-the-barrel numbers, and this is why we have lost productions for the last two years. We saw the decline happening approximately three years ago, coming out of Covid.”
Salanoa would like to see tax credits change to 30% for productions on Oʻahu and 35% for those on Neighbor Islands, he said.
Currently, the state allows up to $17 million per project in tax credits and an overall $50 million annual cap statewide, according to the State of Hawaiʻi Film Office’s website.
HFA wants to update the per-production tax credit cap, or maximum incentive given to an individual production, to $25 million. Increasing the overall cap is a long-term priority for HFA, but it is not something they are asking for this year, due to federal budget cuts to states, including Hawaiʻi, he explained.
Ideally, Hawaiʻi would have at least two television shows and up to four Blockbuster movies, as well as a number of independent films in production each year, Salanoa said. The film industry creates jobs in more than just the movie-making business, he added.
“It touches more vertical markets than any other professional or tour services that are here in Hawaiʻi nei,” Salanoa said. “The film industry, we touch every single economic driver there is.”
That includes lodging, tourism, energy, fuel, restaurants, professional services and more. Many who work in the film industry go on to support multiple generations of families, he said.
“They go into the film industry,” Salanoa said. “They're able to support multiple households. But the bigger thing is, they'll take these finances — these riches that are getting — and they'll start a new business. There are so many startup businesses that were started up in Hawaiʻi because of finances that came from the film industry.”
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
