EP 104 Brian Keaulana

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 5:00: Brian Kolana, Cindy Crawford, Blue Crush, Jurassic World
2. 5:00 – 10:00: I Can, Water World, Chief of War, Larry Tang
3. 10:00 – 15:00: I Can
4. 15:00 – 20:00: Chief of War, film commission
5. 20:00 – 25:00: Matt Kesta, Rescue Hawaii
6. 25:00 – 30:00: Baywatch Hawaii, I Can
7. 30:00 – 35:00: I Can
8. 40:00 – 45:00: Chief of War
9. 45:00 – 50:00: film commission
10. 50:00 – 55:00: I Can

Notable quotes from "EP 104 Brian Keaulana"

• Waterman stunt coordinator and all-around ambassador of Hawaiian culture, Brian Kolana. From pioneering ocean safety techniques to bringing epic stunt scenes to life in films…

  about Brian Kolana · at 0:08

• God why you forgetting his stuff also too we did on Vogue magazine shot you know a long time ago with Cindy Crawford you know so yeah so ended up from there you know they…

  about Cindy Crawford · at 3:23

• Know, back in the days, what? In God's hands. Wind on Water. Water World. Water World. You never act on that though. You did most technically you were stunting, right?

  about Water World · at 4:54

• Example that I wanted to mention was on Hawaii 5, we had a really young director, Larry Tang and we just we went out, we befriended him, took him out. We had a good time.

  about Larry Tang · at 6:37

• Challenging job and acting is very hard right And that's why you guys kind of started your nonprofit I can right and what is I can kind of their mission well you know just to…

  about I Can · at 8:13

• Through our personal relationships, but as an industry, and I don't know if that's the responsibility of the film commission, but our face as a film industry being presented to…

  about film commission · at 15:34

• Another one you got to be proud of is Rescue Hawaii. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Rescue High Surf is, the brainchild of, Matt Kesta, local boy, right? Kohuku, showrunner, executive producer and writer. And, you.

  about Rescue Hawaii · at 23:35

• Coordinating side was when Baywatch Hawaii came here, right? and really when Baywatch Hawaii came here, I was also working on the mainland a whole bunch, too. Oh, really?

  about Baywatch Hawaii · at 28:23

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Brian Kolana — Person · 2 mentions · first at 0:12
• Cindy Crawford — Person · 2 mentions · first at 3:29
• Larry Tang — Person · 1 mention · first at 6:43
• Matt Kesta — Person · 1 mention · first at 23:42
  Rescue Hawaii. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Rescue High Surf is, the brainchild of, Matt Kesta, local boy, right? Kohuku, showrunner, executive producer and writer. And, to showcase our livelihood, being one former life god, right?

Books & papers

• Chief of War — Book · 3 mentions · first at 8:29
  Mission well you know just to everybody understand I can the inception of I can is really from chief of war right with Jason Momo and it was really us traveling to New Zealand…
• Water World — Book · 2 mentions · first at 5:00
• Blue Crush — Book · 1 mention · first at 0:20
  Ocean safety techniques to bringing epic stunt scenes to life in films like Jurassic World and Blue Crush, Brian's expertise has shaped how Hollywood tells stories set in…
• Jurassic World — Book · 1 mention · first at 0:20
  Ocean safety techniques to bringing epic stunt scenes to life in films like Jurassic World and Blue Crush, Brian's expertise has shaped how Hollywood tells stories set in…
• Rescue Hawaii — Book · 1 mention · first at 23:37
• Baywatch Hawaii — Book · 1 mention · first at 28:29

Companies & orgs

• I Can — Company · 11 mentions · first at 8:18

Concepts & topics

• film commission — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 15:38
• bill 732 — Concept · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Aloha and welcome to the big picture, where we dive into the stories and people driving Hawaii's film industry forward. Today's guest is a legendary waterman stunt coordinator and all-around ambassador of Hawaiian culture, Brian Kolana. From pioneering ocean safety techniques to bringing epic stunt scenes to life in films like Jurassic World and Blue Crush, Brian's expertise has shaped how Hollywood tells stories set in Hawaii. We'll talk about what it takes to capture authentic action on camera, the importance of safety and cultural integrity on set, and how Hawaii's film industry can create opportunities for the local community. Let's jump in. Here's my conversation with Brian Kolana.

0:52 Yeah, we get right into it. Uncle Brian. Brian Kolana. That's why I said BK. Easy. BK. BK in the house. Um, thank you for coming and joining us on this podcast. Right on, Brian. Um, we created this platform because we basically just trying to spread the resources uh throughout the whole state of what's available to to people here to create films and be creative. And so I wanted to bring in the real faces of the industry, um familiar faces of the industry and maybe some unfamiliar faces so that people can get used to of um coming together and working together to produce something great, but um just a little intro. I know you're probably going to hate this part, but I just kind of wanted to give a little background. We all know you as a legendary waterman, uh Hawaiian surfer, lifeguard. Um, you're also a stunt coordinator, producer, actor, and of course, son of legendary Hawaiian Buffalo Carolina. Um, we're honored to

1:52 have you. Um, how long you've been working in the film industry? Oh, god. So, 64 right now. Yeah. Started off when I was 18. Landed I I guess, you know, started commercials, right? you know, started off modeling and then dabbling into um acting, you know, so it was just dabbling and and at that time it was uh Vince Klein and me going back and forth, you know, and grabbing those uh national commercials and you know, local commercials and then you know some TV shows that came on. Um and and it was again one dabble because at that time I was professional surfing and traveling around the world working as a lifeguard.

2:35 So, you know, film work was part-time. Yeah. You know, so for me, so always dabbled in in film, you know, but then um did water safety work a whole bunch, but after a while got carried away to the point where we were doing probably the most dangerous things in the in the water and getting paid as water safety and, you know, at the same time looking at the stunt guys and they go in and out and we still there, right? You know, going, "Hey, you know, it's not really panning out." Right. Right. um when you were lifeguarding basically did you ever see yourself in the film industry or like what was kind of that thing or who kind of introduced you like hey you should model or you should try get into acting. Yeah, I think the thing fell upon me because it was uh oh man um God why you forgetting his stuff also too we did on Vogue magazine shot you know a long time ago um with Cindy Crawford you know so yeah so ended ended

3:36 up from there um you know they interviewing everybody and I just went in like I never really care whether I I got the pot or not you know and And I think it was that attitude that they never really cared. We just was naturally being ourselves that we got selected, you know. So Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So, you know, from then it was just those kind of things that kind of popped in. And funny story with uh Cindy Crawford was I was also tandem surfing at the time. So they saw pictures and they go, "Oh, could you tandem with Cindy?" "Oh yeah, easy, right?" Uh yeah, yeah, can. So they go, "Okay, can you take her out but can't get her hair wet?" I go, "You kidding me?" Okay, okay, hold on. Oh man, that Cindy Crawford that that's epic. Um, one of your So, you kind of started off a little bit more in kind of like magazines still still type modeling gigs and then when did you really actually start acting? Do you remember the first

4:29 time you kind of had a role you had to step on? Was it yourself though? Cuz some of the first roles was just playing yourself, right? Yeah. Well, you know, Baywatch days, those kind of things also too. Um, did birds of paradise. Um, I did that too. I was Yeah. Eight years old running in the hallway. Tim Kim Busfield, Jennifer Love You. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, those ones, um, you know, back in the days, uh, what? In God's hands. Um, Wind on Water. Uh, Water World. Water World. You never act on that though. You did most I mean, technically you were stunting, right?

5:05 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, on the skis on on and off the skis and underwater. It It was funny because even in Water World, I showed my kids. I said, "Look, there's me shooting one flaming arrow from the ATL down to the skiers and actually shooting myself the sick edit." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That must have I I've heard a lot of stories. My dad worked on Water World. He actually brought me up there, hang out with them a little while shooting that, but I heard that was a rough movie. I heard that was uh kind of grueling. Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, you know, the stunt coordinator at the time, you know, um, told me, he said, "Hey, Brian, you and Terry, who you guys, uh, available to work for eight weeks?" Go, yeah, eight months on that show. That's what I heard. Nobody really was planning for work that long, but that's great work. It was a lot of money coming in, but we contributed a lot a lot of the

5:58 waterworks and and really got to know the top stunt guys, right? You know, around the whole world and develop all these relationships. And I think that's the thing in filming, right? You know, as we all develop our, you know, our filmology, right? And our relationships. It's all about the relationships, you know, those kind of things. And I think that's one of the things too because even in Hawaii, I look at who's all power pullers that pull shows here, TV shows, movies, and all that kind of stuff also too. And it's from those films prior to that that they've developed relationships with.

6:32 Absolutely. Yeah. you get a lot of um repeats, you know. Um, real quick, a example that I wanted to mention was um on Hawaii 5, we had a really young director, Larry Tang and um we we just we went out, we befriended him, you know, took him out. We had a good time. We go dinner all the time and we became friends. Yeah. And so so many years later um was h was like I finished I Know What You Did Last Summer which kind of um was half and half with Magnum um season and uh he sent us one text me Justin Chris. He's like, "Oh, look what I got on my desk was um NCIS Hawaii." Oh yeah. Pilot. Yeah. And he's like, "Oh, I don't know if I'm going to take him though. I kind of have a lot going on, you know. He's he's kind of a a shower, you know." Yeah. Yeah. So we telling him, Larry, you got to take this show, bro. If you take this show, it's going to be legendary. And the rest is history. Um, he came down and and you

7:30 know, he had dinner with us. He had dinner with plenty local people that he had a relationship prior, right? He enjoyed it so much. He loved the spirit of everybody here. He sat down with us though, I promise. We were in Daku and he was asking, he said, "I want to put on all local people on this." Yeah. You know, I want to um who who's up and coming? who who's the upand cominging actors and I'm over there on my phone like literally like scrolling through my friends I was like okay get Kiko Kiko is good you know I had a couple other friends but at the same time in the back of my head because we just did um 10 seasons of Hoy 5 I said this is a hard task you know so I never like set up any of my friends saying hey we go put this guy out there but it's a it's a real challenging job and acting is is very hard right And that's why you guys kind of started your nonprofit I can right and what what is I can kind of their

8:23 mission well you know just to everybody understand I can the the inception of I can is really um from chief of war right with Jason Momo and it was really us traveling to New Zealand and seeing how the the Morris really support one another and and how they develop their films and their culture and community. And I was going, man, this is how Hawaii should be and the studios and the water tanks. And I was blown away. I've been, you know, New Zealand many times, but to work there and see how they work, I going there's there's nothing to stop us here in Hawaii. We have the talent. We have the people. We can do this. We just need the infrastructure. So anyway, it was that attitude coming back that um I I just said, "Hey, the needle never moved for the longest time I've been here. So instead of blaming anybody about where we at right now, why are we going to reinvest in ourselves and do something

9:25 about it?" So creating a nonprofit I can international cultural arts network and you know the the same thing was we looked on film and when you when you see chief of wall I know Jason tried as hard as possible to get as much Hawaiians or local people as possible. But what happens is you cannot you cannot negate talent. Talent is talent as you know. Yeah. Acting is hard. Exactly. and and some of our best Polynesian actors come from Alteora. So, you know, for me is I I always tell myself, we're not divided by land. We're connected by water. It's that water that binds us, you know. So learning from them and and even this when we started Alex Terrant and Lucid Durant was our biggest advocates you know who was on NCIS Hawaii um came and helped us coach our act our actors not saying our actors um never know nothing or it wasn't great because we have great actors like Moses Good is one of our best actors that we have but again we we

10:35 need more Moses goods. Yeah. you know and um how can we do that right you know because even um I had drama classes in W I before but you know how do we create that kind of energy from the young kids up to what we develop here now right and continue that practice right and and because a lot of kids especially coming out of Hawaii they they they're involved in drama theater you know but where do you go after you graduate high school A lot of them go on to college and that's great, but this is just another avenue. And so what do you guys exactly do to try to um get that talent pool up as far as acting goes? What do you guys do at I can? So for us is how do we create like like master classes, right? So invite you know like working actors and the relationship is working actors with the values that we all have grown up with and and keeping those values because you know we all grew up in Hollywood coming

11:37 here and Hollywood can change us but I think for us as a community film community we change Hollywood when they come here. I 100% and as actually one of like my most um like proudest things to do, you know, like I care about my craft, I care about gripping, I care about the lighting, I care about all that, but what I really do look forward to is spreading that spirit of respect working together. Um, I I said it many times actually on this podcast. Sometimes you you get that energy, that vibe that might come from Hollywood or or wherever and it doesn't resonate with the crew. We don't react to that. And I think it kind of trips them out and going, "Oh, they don't respond to whether it's yelling or the way I'm speaking." And slowly but surely, you kind of see them tune in to how we work and how we are, you know, and that goes along with us inviting them to Kima Beach from barbecue or going west side

12:37 to Macaha catching waves, you know, and they end up falling in in love with it. So, I like how that's kind of a a point that you guys are making over there. I can is keeping that culture. Yeah. You know, and and that's the whole point and and it's not just about the actors, right? cuz we've had writers, but we talking about our infrastructure in in all of our film industry, right? You know, how do we develop our workforce development and is our workforce development uh in need or is is it like um you know, too much. So, there's a balance, right? you know, so you know, like build your workforce development and and there's no shows or, you know, do something like build one studio and there's no work force, right? I think that's one of the tricky things we're running into right now, right? is um we are we've kind of gotten gotten to that point whether it's you know I can or even the state like I've seen the state

13:35 open up free classes even um for accounting production accounting you can find these things um and and you know they're they're grooming it but at the tail end it's like if we're grooming these things if we're building these things if there's no jobs at the end of it kind of goes for nothing. It's almost a waste of investment of everybody's time and money into a dead end road. So that's what we we are trying to be careful right now in this time is to continue that flow of jobs coming in. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that so that's the thing and then you know I am always looking at what's the potential jobs what jobs may come here because I pretty much get involved in I would I would almost say 100% of every show that comes here somehow involved in somewhat right. Um, even if I not going to work, at least I can give him advice of who to go to, where to direct things, you know, those kind of things and stuff, too. And

14:31 and and show them what we all about, right, in Hawaii. Because like you said, you know, I told him that when you come to Hawaii, you cannot just come here and work. You got to experience us, you know, who we are as people, you know? So, come eat with us, come play with us, you know. So, experience us. That's the difference, right? Yeah, because you know for us it's all about our values. Our value system too, you know, incorporate our value system, you know, so when you come on set, you know how to work with us guys because Yeah. You know, if you yell at the wrong person, Yeah. I don't know if you show and keep continuing. Yeah.

15:04 Exactly. Um, and I think that's important um to have a person like you as as the point man, right? Like we got to build I in my opinion like we got to build a little bit a better pointman or a group of point people that receives these um studios or um potential clients in our industry. you know, um I think we're all kind of split up um doing the best we can individually, whether it's through our personal relationships, but as an industry, and I don't know if that's the responsibility of the film commission, but you know, our face as a film industry being presented to everyone else, I think it has to be more from the spirit of aloha and hosting people, you know, making making it a invite rather than a hesitant like, oh, we don't we kind of don't want you here.

15:58 I don't know if they get that vibe from us or what. What you think? Yeah. Well, it depends, right? How you look at it and stuff because it is a business, right? But we don't have to craft our our business because I I tell people, is it a workplace or is it a lifestyle? Because I know a lot of filmmakers for us it's more of a lifestyle. You know, for us, we enjoy our art. We enjoy what we do. So, it's not work all the time for us guys. you know, when we craft when when film all together and and we're so proud of, you know, of something. I mean, Cookini, for example, you know, just that alone, I mean, talk about, you know, invested, you know, in our culture, in our community, and working together with Gerard and, you know, and and and just was it was heartfelt. That's the whole thing, right? you know, and and whether it's two hours or 15 minutes, you know, that's that that's the joy of working on

16:54 film, the end product, you know. Absolutely. And a lot of a lot of us industry guys um I guess I don't know, maybe I'm speaking for a small group um who have been working on these shows from, you know, back from, you know, Baywatch, Los, Hawaii 50, Magnum, PI. Deep down, all us local guys kind of been waiting for a moment to work on something we want to work on that's representing us a little bit more as a story about us or has to do with our stories, you know, and we kind of get to we we got to experience um a little bit of it on um Chief of War, right? And um that's kind of would you say that's kind of the first project that culturally is very accurate something that Hawaiians are really representing as as their culture in in the main media would you say? Yeah. You you know when we talk about very accurate right very accurate is all on that personal person what they interpret right very accurate. Yeah. Um

17:57 but what what we can say is you know Jason when he started this whole project he had that thing even before Aquaman. So he held that on that project. Wow. Yeah. Long ago and he waited until it was the right moment you know. So timing was everything right. And then on top of that he he made sure that he wanted local producers on that. So you put me and Angela Pratt on top as local producers, you know, but not not just local. I mean, you know, for us it's we're producers regardless no matter where we go, right? Because we went to New Zealand also too. But what what it did I think for the film for us guys it gave us the ability to at least guide the right direction because you know we would say oh if you're going into this area here hey if you're going to cast try and cast in that area because we're going to cast you know the local people from that place there. Yeah. And in that local people there, what's the

19:00 genealogy? Because maybe that person might be related to the character, you know, so you know, even better. Even better, find connections. Yeah. And then even in that area, find out who's the vendors in that area and who grows food in that area. So let's impact the greatest way that we can and give back. So like going to somebody's home, you're not just going to open an ice box, right? You're going to bring something food to put back in, you know? So that's the whole you know local attitude right the Hawaiian attitude of how do we give back you know how do we make it better than when we came there you know so I I I think that's the thing even with the um base camps we look at the schools right so what school is there because maybe we can give the money to that school there to put the base camp so that way at least the money flows in the educational side you know yeah cuz when you renting out crew parking base camps

19:53 there kind of big dollars Oh yeah. And um yeah, every and a lot of people don't see that all the side benefits of having a a production. Yes, once in a while we might create traffic and we we in the neighborhood, but really if you ask a lot of these vendors that sometimes we blocking their sidewalk to shoot a scene, they invite us, you know, because they actually love um being involved with what we're doing. They're very curious in what we're doing. And at the same time we buying all our food you know um we we attracting another crowd to that area. But um having having said that um knowing that you're you're produ uh producing uh Angela producing and uh Jason Mamoa of course is the head of this thing. I just want everybody to know and maybe a little bit more insight of how hard was that fight to keep that show totally in Hawaii?

20:49 You know that that's a fight that we probably still fighting, right? You know, because um that show belongs here in Hawaii. Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, again, as much as we trying to keep things here, it's the survivability financially. How can you pull this off? It's a big big show. It's a big movie. Yeah. You know, so and that's the thing and stuff too. So you know um tax incentives it helps out you know um having um the the the infrastructure here and the workforce development here we we have the skilled people you know the equipment we have also too you know so I think learning from first season it it's uh a lot more eyes wide open into second season okay the second season is it's it's coming it's here you But um a lot really stands upon uh change in what attracts production in general. Yeah. You know, it got to make sense business-wise. It has to make sense. Yeah. Because um you know, a lot

21:59 of people, they might think, yeah, but Jason Momo, he's such a powerhouse. Like, how come he can't just, you know, say, you know, I'm not doing it unless it's is here? And I think they're they're not understanding that there's there's so much more to it. And and at the end of the day, we we've run into this for years and years, right? It's like, do we stand our ground and say this this story is not going to be told unless it's told this way with this these people in this location or else we're not doing them at all. And guess what? Nothing comes out. No stories, no culture has spreads. So, it's kind of one of those things, right? You you don't want to spread it in the wrong way, but you also don't want to just mute it. You don't want it not to exist, right? So, I feel like Jason, was Jason kind of in that position where it's like I do want to do it in Hawaii with all my heart, but Oh, he he fought a lot

22:55 because again, you got to remember even the re-shoots, he fought for the re-shoots to come back here. They could have re-shoot in in New Zealand. They could have, right? But but he also fought for that, you know, here too. So, as much as possible, you know, like any business, you got to balance the the checks and balance, right? You know, inside of this, there's no right or wrong. It's just what is in front of you and you got to figure that out real quick and you just got to move, you know, and and again to tell a story, but again, it's something that I mean I'm I'm proud of, you know. Absolutely. And I think we we all are, you know what I mean? And and we proud of we're proud of all our shows, you know what I mean?

23:35 Another one you got to be proud of is Rescue Hawaii. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, Rescue High Surf is, you know, the brainchild of, you know, Matt Kesta, local boy, right? Kohuku, showrunner, executive producer and writer. And, you know, to showcase our our livelihood, I mean, being one former life god, right? Right. You know, big wave surfer and all that. and to have the stories told of actual rescues of what we've all done, you know, and tell that. And also in a way where how we operate as a community, right, and and how we share each other, you know, in in in in food or just, you know, just family, you know, being there for one another, you know. Yeah. Yeah.

24:20 It I think it's great, you know. I watched it and uh I'm biased, you know, I'm I'm so connected to the character, especially Koa. Like I know Koa when he was just a lifeguard at Kaima, right? And when I watch him on screen, it's like he's just being himself, you know? And I'm so glad that cuz that's not always the case, right? When it comes to TV shows, um you can't always be who you are. You got to be a character. They want it a particular way. They write it a particular way. But in that case, you know, you got one local guy writing for a local character. And that's why I think it translates great. We always talk about that. You know, we've always been um, you know, I hate the word, but we use them colonized, right? You know, how they colonize sometimes our own industry to where, you know, it's like, okay, Matt is writing from the inside out, not the outside in, right? Because we always get interpreted from outside

25:14 who we are, right? swaying palm trees, hula girl, all these kind of things, you know, and and I tell people that, you know, you you need to educate yourself, you know, about who we are as a people and how we grew up and and the struggles that we've had also too. Yeah. You know, so um Chief of Wall is a heavy part of our history, you know, and all the cultural participants that we've had on the show. I mean, it's amazing the amount of people we had. Like when when you see some of these weapons that you know being portrayed or the feather capes, you know, I mean the sets I just you just go like whoa. I mean you feel like you step back in time. When we was at um Kalapana was amazing cuz the day we shot and we touched down the day we was there the volcano erupted. Wow. The the day we was there and we actually telling the story of the battle with the eruption, you know. So when you talk about Hona, it's like all the signs like

26:15 boom right there. The day we finish the volcano stopped the day we finished, you know. So for us it's huge, you know. Yeah, for sure. I heard that was really hard to shoot on the lava fields. Oh yeah. Yeah. But but even that, right? So my forte is risk management, right? You know, so um and and we got the best guys because even John JV, right? John Valaria. So I I know JV well and all of his films that he've done like John Wick and all this kind other films. Wow. So I asked John, John, can you help like our local boys train them hard? Push them.

26:55 And he did. I remember that. He pushed out local boys for months, right? They trained for that. They trained, right? But also in the guidance, right? You know, of Lua also too, you know. So um and and and that's the thing in stuff also too right you know we had all these um culturalists that you know they was good at what their art was you know so um you know and then when we went to the lava field I made sure that okay you guys you see this area this where the camera is this is where you can hide pads this is where you guys can fall this is where so what I tell people is make that your home walk that place to where you can close your eyes and you know exactly where the cracks and where the sharp spots and you know all these kind of things. So there was all these zones that everybody covered you know and having 300 people on the on the field that's heavy set that's heavy and and so I kind of wanted to talk to you a

27:56 little bit about that is your um stunt coordinating background. So you went from basically acting. It It was probably blurred lines, y'all, because you you kind of was stunting and actually acting at the same time, but at what point were you did you really feel like, oh, I can stunt coordinate or who gave you that opportunity? And how did you kind of get into that path of stunt coordinating? Most of the jobs was stunts and then the real stunt coordinating side was um when Baywatch uh Hawaii came here, right? you know, and really when when Baywatch Hawaii came here, I was also working on the mainland a whole bunch, too. Oh, really?

28:35 So, I I had opportunity to work um different feature movies at the same time be watch. So, a lot of it was, you know, um the producers was trying to sweeten up my contract to keep me here versus going, you know, someplace else, right? you know, and it's good being in demand, you know, and being known as the the the water guys that can help out, you know. So, that was when they said, "Brian, we're going to make you um the active playing yourself as well as the co-stunt coordinator with Greg Barnett." Okay. And then you know I I tell you so my stunt career and my stunt coordinating career also too is being involved with especially my group stunts unlimited I got inducted to you know so um being around guys like Johnny Meers and buddy Joe you know Hookah and Chad Randall and all these guys is like huge names in in the film industry but learning from them you know so they so what they they created their own little

29:36 stunt club is that what it is and everybody kind of just shares their their network. What is that? Their whole history actually started off a long time ago where you know all movies and films was mostly westerns you know and then uh three of our um elder stunt you know stunt people who was there kind of like broke in just when the westerns started all all of a sudden morphing into different genres right crime and all this kind of things and people falling off buildings people driving shot. So that's where, you know, all of a sudden it's like, oh, you know, we won't create one stunt group. So they made, you know, stunts unlimited. Oh, unreal. Yeah. So anyway, it's it's an, you know, rich history of of stunt men's, you know, also to and then uh from there they just, you know, inducted. So I was the first um out of, you know, America, you know, only one from Hawaii, right, that got inducted to

30:36 there also too. But I was also and still known as like, you know, the guy that knows water. Exactly. Yeah. But when you do stunt work, you got to be uh well, Ronda, you can't be a onetrick pony, right? You got to learn about fights and falls and fires and, you know, all this kind of things. So, you hang with the best guys and you learn from the best guys. And as we all know, when we film is like when you film, surround yourself with the best people. Absolutely. Yeah. So when you get thrown a curve, these guys already know the answer or they can set things up, you know, and just go boom boom boom boom boom boom boom. And I think that's what um what was great when all my friends or or guys came here, they right off the bat would help out our local stunt people, just train out, right? This is what you guys need to do. Yeah. Or this is where you should go and train, you know? So that's always

31:33 been a relationship when they come here is is how to give back, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Um my my first stunt I' I've done a handful of stunts was from uh Eric Norris. Chuck Norris's son. Eric's in our group. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. And um same thing just just the most wonderful like he loves Hawaii because he has that spirit of Hawaii in him. You know what I mean? Always trying to hire as many locals as he can. And um he he gave me I was got shot, fell down, you know, but um same thing, you know, he had guys under him train me, show me how to fall because it's a lot easier than it looks. Stunt stunts at the end of the day, you know, people, oh, I can do that, but can you do that 10 times the same way, you know, and not get hurt and not get hurt, you know, and and like you said, it takes a a team of of trust, especially when it comes to stunts. I mean, you got to trust that guy rigging

32:27 your stunt, right? So you always bring in the best riggers every single time to to rig you up, you know. Um but yeah. Have So do you ever do like any kind of drives driving stunts? A whole bunch. In fact, what was um heavy is at the time it was going California both me and Terry. That's what was doing mostly driving stunts both of us guys. Yeah. So we were get called to the set and you know go with David Ellis and uh did uh uh what is that? Cell phone one. Uh what's it called? Cell phone or what? Not not phone booth. No, not phone booth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And anyway, all all these different driving ones. Wasn't Speed, huh? No, it wasn't Speed. No, not with the bus. Yeah. Yeah.

33:11 Um Yeah. You got um the thing about, you know, you being a pretty much honorary inductee, right, into this this stunt group and like you said, mainly known as a as a waterman. I think that's huge. I think that's critical because when you when you think about Hoy stunt people and how they're watermen is there any place else in the world that basically would have a water unit as experienced as ours you know it's not not bragging right or anything there's great people um that even work in the marine units and and a lot of times what I try to do is not try to do the same things that we grumble about of how people come and just kind of take over our our you know area. So a lot of times like even Tahiti I go to Tahiti for the time and develop their whole safety protocols. So when I went there, I just brought one other guy with me and we went up and train all the tians and nowadays some of the best

34:16 people out there in water safety. Um, Australia, same thing, you know, they got great guys and stuff also too. So you you have great people, but I think what we bring is the process, you know, and which is the greatest, right? You know, of how to do things safely, quickly, productively, you know, the best bang for your buck. I mean, we can look at things and maybe on crazy dynamic shot that we're looking at and I I just gonna say I can do that, you know, pullman process. Yeah. You know, and less risk. Yes. And still get that same shot that you trying to, you know, get, right? But it's having that kind of insight or background, right? You know, understanding lens. I think that's the difference is, you know, for me, what changed me a lot is not only developing the coordination side, but really hanging out with a lot of the top camera guys. Yeah. And then understanding lens, right? You know, and and once you start

35:14 understanding all that kind of stuff and then movement and framing and apertures and editing, all it's going to play out, right? And and that is a huge part like from the time of looking at it is like is it worth going out in this these currents these breaks for for this shot and that's where your expertise comes in you know and and that's that's incredible and that's probably why you know a lot a lot of projects if not all projects end up touching you in a way because when people come film in Hawaii it's not going to be to shoot at a office or you know in a building it's going to be at the right? It's going to be in the water and so that's why you probably are always invited to the table. Yeah. Um with that. So pretty interesting stuff. Stunt. Um what else we wanted? No. U rabbit hole. Yeah.

36:09 Um let's see. Oh, so kind of going back to um building uh bu building a future here in uh the film industry in Hawaii, what do you what do you think is is number one the biggest challenge of trying to grow our film industry here? You know, for for me right now, I say we were in it in stage. Um when you look at the rest of the world, right? Um a lot of what we do great is exterior but we need more interior right infrastructure. So having stages, studios, um even nowadays man, I mean look Mandalorian what what they did just getting, you know, those kind of screens here, you know, we can do a whole bunch of stuff, you know. Um so for me it's it's really about infrastructure and and I keep talking about having water tank.

37:07 I worked in the best water tanks around the world. worked in them all, you know, and I just going like, man, they keep calling for us guys. And if we had a water tank here, projects would come here and they would stay here. You know, if you get one tank and the studio right next to them, we would capture a whole bunch because controllability is everything in filming, right? Lighting, controllability, weather, all that kind of stuff, you know. And so you're saying we don't even have any film tanks here in Hawaii? Not not nothing I would mention. No, I mean I know I mean I talking we've built some some tanks but I I don't consider it a tank at all. So So and that's the other thing right there there's a process of because I talked to this one guy from Canada. He can bring one actually uh 300,000 uh gallon tank um here set him up in one week. you just need an engineer to check out the ground. So, it's an above the

38:09 ground tank and that's what uh New Zealand has, you know, an above the ground tank. But there's cost to that because you got to crane everything in versus uh um you know, below the ground tank because you can just put everything right there and then drop them in, you know, um having one sinking tank, right? one stage where you can build one house on top and then all of a sudden you can sink the set so you fill your own flood or you know tidal wave or whatever the story may come up with. Um but you know again even the simplest so um right now we just use we have one tank at Diamond Head Studios but that tank the only bad thing about the tank is that um you have to shoot all your wides fast. Yeah.

38:56 because um as soon as it time comes, it just starts getting all murky. Yeah, we all know, right? I've been in there setting lights with a scuba tank on and you see something float past you and you're just like, "Okay, what is that?" So, so I I I tell the directors sometime like, "Hey, if it was me, I would shoot all your wide stuff fast quick because you can come in tight and still kind of cheat that even though it comes murky, right?" Mhm. But of course they like shoot them, you know, in sequence or whatever they like do and then in the end it's like, "Oh my god, we can't see the guy." Like, okay. Yeah. Um Yeah. So, um that's kind of the challenge that you you see is um same thing, lack lack of resources, lack lack of infra infrastructure because like you said, a lot of people they don't do their project their their pre pre um production or their pro postp production here, right? if anything they come here

39:54 and just shoot it and and what do you know um about the developmental part of um postp production? Are we making any ground on that? That is a huge one because that's that's one um area that you know we've we've not tapped in yet I think because I mean you know we just had uh the guys came here and editing right you know over here I think it was like six editors but two was from here but what's great about those um six editors that came here is the two editors here learn from those four so for us again that's our workforce development Because until we get great in all this, then we're going to start having more of these, you know, productions that we can we can handle.

40:41 Yeah. You know, um, you know, and it's like we got great people even like what Chris Lee is doing right at uh, you know, with all the kids. But I I also look at um even the YC writers when they go through these schools, where's the bridge into our industry, you know, how do they bridge over into that? And then again, even if we bridge here, is there enough work? Because we trying to provide work for the the film family that we already have right now, you know, who's who's suffering right now? You know, I mean, we we've had feasts now we in past famine, right? I mean, there's nothing right now. Yeah. Everybody's like, you know, just trying to make ends meet. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know a lot of people personally um you know, we had Fey on um yesterday as well giving his personal stories of we're we're we're all struggling, you know. I know a lot of people selling their houses, you know,

41:42 we we all on unemployment. So we we we're actually out of unemployment at this point, you know. So I think that's one thing that you seen. Um we recently all got together at the capital and I think there was just a hunger for us all to be together, you know, to to gather and we we all never see each other for maybe a a year. Yeah. You know, so just just to unite and get together. Um and that rally was pertaining to some some critical bills. And if we want to talk about really what's What is the main objective right now? What should be our mission into bringing work here into Hawaii? Is are these bills right now at a critical point? Oh, I mean it's super critical right now, you know. So, that's the whole thing. But yeah, you know, in in that whole rally, all it was really was to me it was a positive thing because it put local faces where people never see that much local people in the film industry at one place. Yeah. and

42:42 we've never been at one time all together. We always been separate at shows this and that. So that was the neat thing just being together as one family. But the other part too was there was no real screaming, yelling or anything. In fact, it was more about supporting our legislature of just when you when you decide on a bill, just make sure that you educated in the needs, right? you know exactly what we need to survive because you know in all truthfulness right now all of Hollywood is watching us right now you know they're watching us of what really happens you know in in this industry because it's a it's almost a make and break um rescue high surf chief of war two successful shows why they not going right now y you know they're waiting to see you know they it's a business they're waiting to see what's going to happen and I'm sure There's many more like we haven't heard of yet, you know.

43:39 Um what is um what is make it break it for us as far as this this if this bill um which is uh 732, right? Um goes goes through or not, how is it going to kind of make our breakup in your opinion? Well, for for one, the language has to meet certain things to make it productive, you know, for films or not productive but competitive, right? All we asking is just to be on a competitive level of and we're not talking about um New Zealand or any countries that we compete against. I'm just talking about just America, right? You know, that's it. How do we compete with that? And having them come here because one thing neat about Hawaii when they fly here, they think they're coming to another country.

44:27 I mean, that's what you know, when they come from mainland, they really think that. Yeah. And and I live in a the the thought process that we in the Kingdom of Hawaii, you know. So, um again, right, it it's the mentality of how uh we've been portrayed, but also it's um you know, rather than getting to the exact details of of what's needed, it's just right now it's not it's it's not viable, you know, it's not viable for what we need. So things going to have to change, you know, in that and again the in the legislature um we just got to put their trust that they got all the right information to make that change, you know, and how how can we because it seems like that's the challenge is either they they have a lack of information, they they don't understand how our industry works or they don't understand um how this incentive is actually putting us into a competitive arena. What is the misunderstanding? You

45:34 think you know it it it should come from all I mean in in our film industry right we have a film you know commission and all that and stuff like that. So all the data should be all there you know for them to see in all this you know and then again our unions also too have all the data that they can see also too. Yeah, you know and and our unions doing the the best job that they can do also too. So in in all that and then you know there's um lobbyists that we have that also lobbying for the bill. So I think we all working for that same you know goal right you know getting there you know. So it's a matter of just um putting our trust into you know again our lawmakers that they're going to do the right thing and have this because again our film industry really provides for other industries. Yeah. I mean it was you know look at COVID right? Yeah, we were the only ones. There was no tourists. Hotels was down. Rena was just

46:36 being parked, right? And we were working at 100%. Yeah. you know, all of us. But the the work that not just from us um you know, providing for us personally, but the overflow like the cars we rented, the the set that we you know had to build, the wood we had to get, the the shirts we had to buy, the COVID team we had to hire, the co team had to hire, right, every day. I mean there there's I mean you can go through a rabbit hole of how much people benefited and businesses benefited on rentals on you know graphics you know on uh lighting seaands all this kind of things and stuff like that there's so much that benefited during time when nobody was working. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

47:24 It's hard for me because I'm biased to the industry, right? It seems like when you you point out all those things, all that data, right, all the way down to tourism and the impact we have on tourism, it's like it seems very obvious, you know, to us because we're biased, but it it it doesn't seem too obvious to um to a lot of other people, you know, and um and sometimes, you know, especially now when everybody's really emotional because our lives are depending on it. Sometimes this legislative process can put stress, I think, on all of us. And and I and to me personally, it almost seems like a a tactic in a way that they're they're kind of using a little bit to let us kind of um get frustrated with each other, you know, and I but I think I think we're moving in that the right direction of staying together, working together, continuing to share the information. Um, and maybe if we can kind of hone in on the exact things that

48:30 we need to work on as a whole industry as opposed to little sections in the industry, I think we can get a lot more done that way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But um yeah, I mean that that bill and then they also, you know, they they want to kind of the state kind of is proposing to create their own kind of film commission, right? Is that right? Yeah. So I mean you know I mean I I get mixed feelings on that too because 12 people right? Yeah. what 12 people you can think about then going you know one I I call themmemes subject matter experts are they subject matter experts in our industry to make decisions upon what's needed right you know so who are they I think there's four out of the 12 that are subject experts yeah yeah you know and then that four got to educate the eight right yeah you know so you spend all that time educating the people about what's going on and then their interpretation is is really just based

49:33 off of what the other person said, right? It it's it's not the, you know, the the dolly grip that was pushing the thing how hard on the sand and carrying the thing up the mountain and you know all this kind of things. So no matter what decision come out you know or the location area and stuff like that or the challenges we have in the in the ocean in the water you know those kind of things. So for me, I always say I hope that they have an advisory board because as you have on commission having an advisory board of professionals that you can bounce things off and you can get at least solid educated, you know, um information, right? Right. You know, so you can make an educated choice, you know. Yeah. I mean, I I feel the same way. It's a little tricky. You know, I always talk about at face value a lot of these bills when you when you read them on the website or wherever you read it, you for me personally, I'm like, "Oh,

50:27 this is all good things." Like, I can see them trying to create some structures and, you know, um basically give back to the culture and not sell out Hawaii, you know? Like, I see those things, but I also see other kind of little things that are in there that I'm like, "Oh, why why would you put that in or why is that in there?" you know, so it does get kind of tricky navigating these bills and and you know, for me it's like one week you're supporting the bill and then they add language to it and it's not so not so nice anymore. So I feel like we're at that point with this bill maybe. Yeah. Yeah. And and you know again that's because you know I I don't know you know how things get put in but I know that they can take things out. you know, I know they can make change until that final, you know, um discussion of whether they pass the bill into law, right? You know, and then again, the the governor has the right to

51:24 veto also too. So, that's one of the things, but you you brought up one point that I I think not everybody understands too is in our industry a lot is about time and and you know, that's why we get great ads, right? assistant directors, you know, keeping us on time, right? Getting our shots because if we don't get our shots, we don't have our show, right? You know, yeah. And that's the thing. But a lot of times what happens is if we have a commission that is not um quick enough to make the decision and now it sucks into the time, we end up losing, right? Yeah. Because then now the show cannot happen, right? So, you know, again, you know, we we need to be accountable. We need to be fast. We need to be educated right into moving as as quick as possible with again not uh uh not putting up our own battles, I guess. Yeah. You know, I you know, how do you find people in the same frame that understands the industry, you know,

52:30 and how you can move in in that direction and stuff, too? I mean, we deal with this all the time with the water where I I can tell you that um here I got uh I got to shoot one uh scene with the actors and I need controllability but we're going to have heavy surf coming in and it's like oh my god that we got to shoot on Monday but it's Friday right now so we got to make changes. So we're trying to make the changes and then again it's not the fault of whether it's permits and stuff like it's just that the way things operate is not the way that we got to you know operating on a timely manner right and quick and to really establish safety it's you know again safety happens in in moments we got to make choices right then and there to make things safe especially when it comes to water. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, man, I I could talk to you forever, but um I see everybody pointing at at the clock right

53:33 now. Um, be before you go, um, I I just, you know, for for the young person from Hawaii, if they in high school or young in the industry, what is one piece of advice that maybe you can give them to encourage them? You know, education is like a um never stops, right? You know, I I got my highest education was wina high school, but I got educated in the world of life, you know, and whoever you surround yourself with, try to surround yourself with positive people, people of passion, people with the same kind of goals as you because that's how you can grow. You grow in strength and you grow stronger together rather than individual, you know. So find other people with the same kind of visions and just lock on to that and keep moving forward. Yeah. Right on.

54:26 That's solid. Um, I just want to thank you personally for being the person you are in our industry and always um, being our voice and and really it's the way you do it too, you know, the way you positive, you show a lot, you show respect and you're really a great representation for us and um, I definitely um, look forward to our industry coming together and growing together and hopefully you come back on the show and we're talking about all all the work we have uh, in the future planned for us. So, thank you Uncle B. I appreciate you being here. Right on. BW.

54:59 Yeah. BK. Malo.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "EP 104 Brian Keaulana"?

In order: 0:00 Brian Kolana, Cindy Crawford, Blue Crush, Jurassic World; 5:00 I Can, Water World, Chief of War, Larry Tang; 10:00 I Can; 15:00 Chief of War, film commission; 20:00 Matt Kesta, Rescue Hawaii; 25:00 Baywatch Hawaii, I Can; 30:00 I Can; 40:00 Chief of War; 45:00 film commission; 50:00 I Can.

What is mentioned in this The Big Picture episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including I Can, Chief of War, Brian Kolana, Cindy Crawford, Water World, film commission. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "EP 104 Brian Keaulana"?

The episode runs 55 min; the transcript is about 9,883 words in 61 timestamped sections.

More from The Big Picture

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on The Big Picture
• People mentioned on The Big Picture
• Topics mentioned on The Big Picture