In September 1993, a memorandum of agreement between Mufi Hannemann, then the director of DBEDT, and Keith Ahue, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, assigned to DBEDT responsibility for issuing permits to film-makers to use state-owned land, land in the Conservation District, or sites that have been designated as historic. (The sole exceptions are Washington Place and grounds, `Iolani Palace and grounds, and Mauna Ala — the Royal Mausoleum — and grounds.) The memorandum cites Act 357 of the 1987 legislative session as its authorization. That act describes a “consolidated film permit processing” system in which DBEDT takes on lead-agency responsibility in coordinating with other state agencies and counties the issuance of permits to film-makers.
In general, any state-owned site to which the public has access without need of permit is considered a “pre-approved site” for film-making. Film-makers seeking to use any of these pre-approved sites can apply to DBEDT and expect to receive same-day issuance of the permit. Under the memorandum of agreement, DBEDT is to notify “the appropriate DLNR division” when it issues these permits, and is also to provide the DLNR chairman with weekly lists of permits. (No one in the chairman’s office seemed to know anything about these lists, however.)
No Fees
Filming on sites other than those on the pre-approved list, or any filming that may detract from the public’s use of a pre-approved site, must be done under terms of what DBEDT calls a standard permit. For this, DBEDT suggests film-makers allow “a maximum of three working days before the scheduled shoot date” for processing. Under the memorandum of agreement, applications for standard permits “will be transmitted to the respective division(s) in DLNR for approval.”
Given DBEDT’s fast-tracking of the permitting process, the divisions are expected to complete their review of the applications in just three days. “If DLNR determines that processing the application will take longer than three working days, DLNR will inform DBEDT of the estimated processing time so that DBEDT may inform the applicant.”
DBEDT’s film office requires all permit holders to insure the state against damages up to $1 million. Also, film-makers may be required by DBEDT to hire officers from the DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement to monitor the shoot (at a cost of $30 per hour per officer).
No matter how involved the project or complex the permitting process, DBEDT charges no fee for any of its filming permits. Georgette Deemer, head of DBEDT’s Film Industry Branch, said the administrative overhead involved in the permitting process was a cost picked up by the state “as a service” to the industry.
Volume 5, Number 6 December 1994