NCIS: Hawai'i Vet Shares Video Of 'Empty,' Weedy Honolulu Studio, As Governor Fights For TV/Film Incentives

By Matt Webb Mitovich
Hawaii TV Production Crisis X.com/jasonantoon screenshot

A longstanding hub of Hawai'i TV and film production shows heartbreaking signs of disuse, as the 50th state is confronted with the first time in more than 20 years that it has not hosted a TV series.

NCIS: Hawai'i vet Jason Antoon, who played the three-season CBS drama's Ernie, recently shared a drive-by video of the Hawaii Film Studio in Honolulu, a 7.5-acre lot at the foot of Diamond Head crater that most recently was home to the NCIS spinoff and CBS' Magnum P.I. reboot.

In decades prior, the lot was home base for nearly a dozen other TV shows — including CBS' Hawaii Five-0 reboot, Shawn Ryan's Last Resort and, of course, Lost — plus feature films such as Fifty First Dates and Blue Crush.

With the recent cancellation of Fox's Rescue HI-Surf, which filmed in Oahu and its North Shore, Hawai'i now is hosting no TV production for the first time in more than 20 years. That's a frightful stat when you consider that film and television productions generated more than $320 million for the Hawai'i economy in 2024.

"We've had such a doldrum of no work pretty much since Magnum cancelled, [Disney+'s] Doogie [Kamealoha M.D.] cancelled, NCIS[: Hawai'i] cancelled...," IATSE Local 665 rep Irish Barber shared with Hawaii News Now after Rescue HI-Surf got the axe. And shows that swing by to film an episode or two don't provide enough steady work to truly support the local talent pool. (For example, 90% percent of Rescue HI-Surf crew members were based out of Hawai'i.)

NCIS HAwaii Finale CBS

Hawai'i currently offers TV and film production incentives in the form of a tax refund of 22% for Oʻahu productions and 27% on neighboring islands. That falls short, though, of the more competitive 30% or larger refunds offered by other states, and countries. (Even Apple TV+'s upcoming Chief of War, starring Jason Momoa as the Native Hawaiian warrior Kaʻiana, left Hawai'i to instead finish filming in New Zealand.)

And even the Hawai'i tax incentives are at risk.

Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green recently declared his intent to veto a bill that would "sunset" such tax credits after five years (or by one third annually starting with Year 6). "This bill would have a significant long-term impact on income tax credits across a variety of industries, including film and television, research, and renewable energy," Green's office explained, and "disincentivize future investors from doing business in Hawai'i."

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