Hawaii taxpayers will cover up to $584,000 of production costs for a four-part travel show hosted by a mainland broadcaster, even as homegrown filmmakers describe a state seed-money program that crawled for years before paying out modest grants. The Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority awarded the no-bid contract for Peter Greenberg's “Hidden Hawaiʻi” directly, without a competitive process.
According to Honolulu Civil Beat, which interviewed nine Hawaii-based film industry professionals for its reporting, HTA will contribute up to $584,000 from its regenerative tourism development budget, with private tourism-industry partners kicking in another $250,000. Greenberg, who hosts three travel shows through Check Six Productions, Inc. and the radio program Peter Greenberg Worldwide, pitched the project to HTA himself. He and James Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, reportedly talked for almost two hours when they met at a conference the night before Greenberg later proposed the project to HTA, and Tokioka has said the state's investment is meant to promote tourism.
Greenberg has filmed in Hawaiʻi on Kauaʻi and Oʻahu. DBEDT and HTA officials said Greenberg received the no-bid contract because of his reach and following, and the agency's own contract-exemption document states that other production companies could produce travel-related content but lack the Hidden Hawaiʻi brand's prestige and name recognition, the same report notes. HTA has said the series is expected to reach 103 million viewers over three years and will be distributed on PBS, Amazon Prime, YouTube and CBS.
Funding Figures Don't Match, and Officials Aren't Explaining Why
A discrepancy has emerged in how much public money is actually attached to the project. The state contracting website lists the award at $760,000, while HTA's own figure for its contribution is $584,000 — and per the Civil Beat report, HTA officials did not respond to questions about the gap. The final contract remains under negotiation, the outlet reported.
For Hidden Hawaiʻi, Greenberg has said his crew members will be based in Hawaii, that everyone working on the crew lives and works in the islands, and that he contracted with a local crew for both production and post-production — adding that he uses only a Hawaiian crew for his shows. He also said he is working with 80 people across four Hawaiian islands on research for the new series.
No Review by the Board That Oversees Film Tourism Spending
Mericia Palma Elmore, who chairs the Film Production Tourism Standing Committee advisory board, said the panel received no notice about the award and that the no-bid deal was never brought to the committee at all. Jordan Kandell, a filmmaker who separately received a local-filmmaker grant, questioned why one non-Hawaii-based production company received an award without apparent review, competition or explanation. HTA became subject to state procurement rules requiring competitive bids in 2021, and David Uchiyama has said it's somewhat unusual for the agency to fund a television show in the first place.
Duncan Caillard, another figure in the local industry, estimated that at least 10 to 15 Native Hawaiian filmmakers could produce a series like this to a high standard. Jennifer Varenchik has said that investing locally in filmmakers can create lasting community benefits — a contrast with a contract that sends state tourism dollars to a mainland-based host and production company.
Why Hawaii's Own Filmmaker Fund Moved So Slowly
The no-bid award lands against the backdrop of a state seed-money program for local filmmakers that has struggled with delay. The Hawaii Legislature set aside about $850,000 for local filmmaker projects in 2022, but nearly a year after that funding was approved, the state still had not put the program in place, according to Civil Beat's earlier reporting. Georja Skinner, who leads the relevant state division, said at the time that the agency had not even started creating the administrative rules needed to distribute the money because it was short-staffed.
DBEDT eventually issued a call for local filmmaker proposals in 2024 for a $400,000 funding pool, setting aside $100,000 for short films with awards of $3,000 to $15,000 and designating $300,000 for longer projects with awards of $16,000 to $50,000, with large projects eligible for up to $50,000. Skinner has said the division received 113 applications, and DBEDT ultimately selected 23 projects — about one in five applicants — for funding. Jordan Kandell, a local filmmaker who received a grant, was among the program's awardees.
State Incentives and a Shrinking Local Industry
A DBEDT study of projects that received state incentives in 2020 found that of 174 above-the-line jobs, only 30 went to Hawaii residents, while 144 went to non-residents. As of July 2022, the motion picture, digital media and film production industry employed 2,190 workers statewide, per the same Civil Beat reporting.
Hawaii's production tax credit, meanwhile, has continued to expand. The credit currently subsidizes 20% of qualified production costs on Oahu and 25% in Maui, Hawaii and Kauai counties, according to a UHERO analysis, which noted the credit had been set to sunset on January 1, 2026. Governor Josh Green signed Senate Bill 2580 in July, expanding the credit to $20 million per qualified production with a $60 million annual cap and adding a 5% bonus for productions with at least an 80% local workforce; Green said the changes would expand opportunities for local talent and help share local stories globally. UHERO's research also found that inflation-adjusted spending on Hawaii film and TV productions rose 116% between 2007 and 2019, climbing from $164.5 million to $355.6 million, though the group cautions that such spending depends partly on incentives offered by competing states and countries.
Procurement Questions Echo an Earlier Tourism Contract Fight
This is not the first time HTA's contracting practices have drawn scrutiny. A 2022 dispute over the agency's U.S. brand management contract, reported by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, saw the agency rescind a deal originally awarded to the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau for $22.5 million in its first year after an unresolved protest from the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement. HTA ultimately awarded that contract to CNHA instead, worth more than $34 million over its first two years, with critics at the time saying the process had been mired by a lack of transparency. The Hidden Hawaiʻi deal has also raised questions about whether it met Hawaii's procurement requirements.
Denise Yamaguchi has said that neither organization she represents is involved in developing or producing Hidden Hawaiʻi, and Greenberg has said shooting is set to begin in January. Hawaii will not have editorial control over the finished program, according to the reporting.
