Transcript

Tiffany Tavares | Native Hawaiian Script Supervisor on Building the Future of Film in Hawai‘i

From The Big Picture · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 52 min · 9,040 words · 172 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Tiffany Tavares | Native Hawaiian Script Supervisor on Building the Future of Film in Hawai‘i", an episode of The Big Picture published December 15, 2025 (52 min, about 9,040 words). It mentions 13 people, works and ideas, including Reservation Dogs, Tiffany Tavaras, Chief of War, Queen Sugar, Brian Wallace.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Brian Wallace, City College of San Francisco, Magnum PI, NCIS Hawaii
  2. – 10:00: Chief of War, Reservation Dogs
  3. – 20:00: Reservation Dogs
  4. – 25:00: Reservation Dogs, Chief of War, Queen Sugar
  5. – 35:00: Aloha Harvest, Queen Sugar
  6. – 50:00: Chief of War

Notable quotes from "Tiffany Tavares | Native Hawaiian Script Supervisor on Building the Future of Film in Hawai‘i"

  • Script supervisor who's worked all over the world, and she's been a part of some huge projects, shows like Reservation Dogs, NCIS Hawaii, Magnum PI, and some major features.…
    about Reservation Dogs · at
  • So, I left school and went moved to Atlanta with him, and we started a business, Prime Time Tickets and Sports Tours that ended up being super successful. and so we made a lot…
    about Prime Time Tickets and Sports Tours · at
  • So I went to City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State. And then I again I interned at CNN and I thought I was going to do news. I was like super hype but while I was.
    about City College of San Francisco · at
  • Of course. Speaking of work the most, you worked on everything. Chief of War NCIS right now, what was your latest one? Reservation dogs.
    about Chief of War · at
  • It's it's a special one in my heart. Yeah. But I also worked on this really cool show called Queen Sugar which was created by Ava and Oprah Du Ava Duivere and Oprah to raise female directors in the DGA and people of color in every craft. So.
    about Queen Sugar · at
  • Come on set, say what's up to everybody, and I said, Hey, I kind of found Aloha Harvest, and they actually take on the liability of our catered food. So, he went above and…
    about Aloha Harvest · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Tiffany Tavaras — Person · 5 mentions
  • Brian Wallace — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Welcome back to the Big Picture. I'm your host, Brian Wallace. Today's guest is someone who plays a major role in how our stories get told on screen, Tiffany Tvaris. Tiffany is a Native Hawaiian script supervisor who's worked all over.

Books & papers

  • Reservation Dogs — Book · 7 mentions · first at
  • Chief of War — Book · 4 mentions · first at
  • Queen Sugar — Book · 2 mentions · first at
  • Magnum PI — Book · 1 mention · first at
    The world, and she's been a part of some huge projects, shows like Reservation Dogs, NCIS Hawaii, Magnum PI, and some major features. She's also a member of IATSI local 665…
  • NCIS Hawaii — Book · 1 mention · first at
    The world, and she's been a part of some huge projects, shows like Reservation Dogs, NCIS Hawaii, Magnum PI, and some major features. She's also a member of IATSI local 665…

Companies & orgs

Full transcript with timestamps

Welcome back to the Big Picture. I'm your host, Brian Wallace. Today's guest is someone who plays a major role in how our stories get told on screen, Tiffany Tvaris. Tiffany is a Native Hawaiian script supervisor who's worked all over the world, and she's been a part of some huge projects, shows like Reservation Dogs, NCIS Hawaii, Magnum PI, and some major features. She's also a member of IATSI local 665, 871, and 161. And she's been a strong voice for our industry, advocating at Ledge, supporting our tax incentive, and helping push for more opportunities for Hawaii's workers. In this episode, we talk about her journey from growing up here in the islands to working on sets across the mainland and how she's using her position behind the camera to support Hawaii's film community and the stories we want to tell. Let's get into it. Here's my conversation with Tiffany Tavvaris.

Guys, guys, today we have a legend on the set. Um, she's very humble. I asked her to be on this show and she said, "Why would you have me on?" And the thing is like, "Why wouldn't I?" You know, you're Tiffany Tavar is born and raised here, but worked around the world doing all types of film television projects as a script supervisor. Thank you so much for for coming on.

Thank you so much for having me. I'm honestly so grateful that I can call myself a script supervisor and that I'm from Hawaii and that I get to work in film.

Yep. Um let's let's talk about how you got into film. Was that something that you always planned out to do um from from high school at a young age?

I think my entire life I wanted to work in TV. Like I don't remember a time that I didn't want to work in television. I left Hawaii and I went to moved to San Francisco and I went to film school, but I actually didn't finish. I ended up doing what a lot of local girls do. You leave for college, you meet a guy, and you end up leaving your dreams kind of behind and helping them follow theirs. So, I left school and went moved to Atlanta with him, and we started a business, uh, Prime Time Tickets and Sports Tours that ended up being super successful. Um, and so we made a lot of money our first year and I never went back to school and I was six classes from having my degree.

What? Yes. But but e even before that, how did you know you always wanted to be in television and film? Were you in entertainment as a as a young lady or

No, I never danced hoola or nothing. I have two left feet. Um was not an actor at all. Oh, maybe I did like one play cuz like I had to. I just really always I love to read and I love to just get like lose myself in my imagination in books and I always just wanted to tell stories.

So like I never wanted to do anything else than work in entertainment. Wow. Okay. And so um you went to what what college did you go to?

So I went to City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State. And then um I again I I interned at CNN and I thought I was going to do news. I was like super hype but while I was interning at CNN I kind of was like wow this is kind of boring. It's something terrible every single day and I don't think that I want to be a part of that.

Right. So, it was kind of easy to follow my ex-husband to to do his dreams because at that point,

I thought I was going to do news or tell those kind of stories and I was a little disillusioned

with my internship. So, I think it's super good for people to do internships because you'll see what you don't want to do.

So, I end up getting, you know, helping my ex-husband with this business and getting married and having kids. And then I split up with my husband and my brother had become a production coordinator.

So he was working in film and for my birthday he bought me a workshop as a script supervisor

which is a job I had never heard of ever. And um at the time I was living on alimony and I was like I don't want to take this class. I live on alimony like I'm I'm good you know. And he was like, "Tiffany, you're bored. And I think that this this job that is a job that will change your life. Like no lie, I see for you like living a incredible life if you just take this class." So I did and uh my script teacher became my mentor and I really never stopped working. She referred me my first movie and then I got five referrals from that movie and I never stopped working.

Oh my god. Where where was all this? Was this in LA? In LA. So I had moved from San Francisco to Atlanta then Arizona and then when in the dissolution of my marriage I moved to LA

and so I was in LA. Oh interesting. And what was your mentor's name? Kimberly Roer. Oh

yeah, she we're still super besties and um I think that I'm her student who worked the most of anybody she taught.

Of course. Speaking of work the most, you worked on everything. Uh Chief of War NCIS um you know, right now, what was your latest one? Reservation dogs.

Oh, the lowown. The lowown. Okay. Yeah, the lowown. And and this job has taken you everywhere, right? I mean, I feel super blessed. I've been I've worked in Romania, Russia, Greece, um, all over the country. I I've been really lucky.

What has been so far your your favorite show that you you've ever been a script supervisor for?

I mean, I've really had some cool shows. Like I am really grateful for a lot of shows but three

in particular um of course Chief of War the creation of the kingdom of our people and to be a script supervisor who's born and raised in Hawaii and is Hawaiian like there's no greater story to tell. So it feels pretty epic to have gotten to be a part of that. It was the hardest show I ever worked on. ever.

Really? Oh, did you not see Did you not see the fight scene? I could I could see how I I know I know that fight scene on the lava rocks. How many cameras did they have,

dude? I mean, don't get me started. No, I'm kidding. I mean, there were so many different units. It was It was cha beautiful chaos.

And we were on the lava and I mean, we It was magical. Yeah. But it was hard. Yeah. And and a lot of people don't understand how special it is for um people in the film industry grew up locally cuz there there are a good amount of us. There's a bunch of us at at this point that our families have been in the industry for a long time. We grew up in the industry before getting in the industry, but we never get to work on anything that we care about. And you know, we we do spend our time on short films, locally written things, but we're always on cop procedural shows.

We're always on vacation movies. We never get to work on anything um that means something to us. So, you know, for you like and and for all of us, you know, being able to be a part of that that movie somewhere uh that show some way or another, I don't think people really understand that.

No, I mean I am from Hawaii. I'm Hawaiian. I'm the only one here who of the script supervisors who was born here was Hawaiian. And it's like the creator got me ready in time that I could tell that story like that is inc amazing.

And in turn they got one of the best and this is you know my opinion but also just your your work is just like they got the best script supervisor that they could get out there, you know. And I know you're humble and you never verify that, but I can say it it went both ways. They got the best and you got to work on something you're very passionate about.

But all the script supervisors of Hawaii are incredible. Like literally like Brenda did Lilo and Stitch and my partner Diane did um White Lotus the first season, you know, Lindsay on Rescue. She's running up and down the beach and Aaron, my partner on Magnum. Like all of them are freaking amazing script supervisors.

I've been blessed to work with all of them as well. I think Diane did what? Like did she do all of 50?

Diane and they alternated. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and I love both their style. Everybody got different styles when it comes to script supervising. Before we, you know, we keep talking about script supervising. For people out there that don't know what a script supervisor is, you want to tell them?

Well, I mean, I guess in its simplest form, I'm a paid nag. But but in its most complicated form, you know, I'm the eyes of the editor. I'm the paid best friend of the director. I'm the producer snitch. Not in that way, but my reports will let them know how we're doing in our day, what we're missing.

Um I mean, I'm kind of like the auntie of everyone on the set and I guess that's what I do.

Yeah. you know, and and it's like you the script supervisor is paying attention the whole time, you know, and like you said, you're you're like the dire you're sitting next to the director. You're sitting next to everyone in in Video Village,

but um you know, you're protecting the continuity. Yeah. In each shot, right? If something's out of place, you're the one who is kind of one of the last line of defenses here. Mhm.

Um, you know, and just overall comfortability right? Well, I mean, we work with artists every day and we shoot out of order. So, I'm basically there as like the gatekeeper, but also somebody who collaborates with these artists who are trying to maintain their continuity. And the love that we share really maintains the continuity. It's the relationships that I have with all of my onsets and they have with me that really maintains the continuity.

Yeah. And and that in our industry in general, it's about relationships, right? Like everybody says that for every job, but especially in our job, like you said, we work with a bunch of artists who may or may not be sensitive. Um, but you know, it's knowing how to speak with everyone that that allows everyone to flow, right? Like you you you're talking with camera, you know, a camera b camera c camera and and set decorators. So the way you the way you are, your vibe on set really like elevates you as a professional in my opinion.

Thank you. You know, I try to talk to everybody where they're at. So like I might turn and talk to camera in pigeon which is what we speak here and I'm from here from Khi so I can

Hey me too. We live near each other and then I can turn to the director and speak in proper English

because I did go to Marino and Sacred Hearts and that's just what we learned there.

So it's a lot of fun my job. I relate a lot. I relate a lot. you know, my my dad uh I don't want to say wasted a lot of money putting me through Eolani, but um I went to uh for a couple of years, but I I do and then I ended up as a grip is what I wanted to say, which usually you don't you don't need any education for, but it did allow my communication skills to be a lot better where I'm speaking to DPS from the mainland or camera operators from the mainland and I am able to I don't want to say translate but communicate with my crew or you know all the local guys here like okay this is what we need. So I I think weirdly enough that's a skill that that we took on.

I work with many key grips on the mainland who actually went to college. So you know but your job is so creative how you come up with the ideas to put these rigs together like people don't understand how what your job really is. And I think being a script supervisor, part of my job is knowing what everybody does

so that I can make that connection to maintain the continuity, you know. So, you would say that um you know, your brother getting you this gift to do this workshop as a script supervisor, that foundation that you built through that workshop was huge.

Yeah, totally. Well, what it was is is I actually went to Kimberly's house a couple of times and she taught me at her house. So, it was just me and her and then she threw me into the fire onto this movie that she couldn't do.

And I learned on the set. It was wild. Wow. That's crazy. And what was what was that first movie?

Oh, man. or or I should say, you know, um what was some of the first I just want to get into the anxiety of being thrown into that fire as a script supervisor. How was that?

So, I didn't know, right? Like I was too stupid to understand um that I was really being thrown into a fire. And I I remember like this first movie I did, I was like wearing these high heels and like a dress. Like prior to this, I had been the stay-at-home housewife, so I hadn't worked. I was such a but I was super nice and gave lots of hugs and everybody helped me. Like this movie, Eric Roberts was in the movie. And in Eric Roberts, Ryder, I've worked with him three times, so I it's normal. He has these Q cards that might be like super big and take up the whole wall. It's like in his writer exactly how the size of them. So they're they would take up the wall. So if you shoot him on anything tighter than a 50, you'll see that he is reading.

Yeah. And bless his heart, he is a lovely man and I love working with him, but he works on a lot of movies, so he maybe doesn't memorize them that well. And sorry if this is wrong to say this is like a super secret maybe but I don't know

was a long time ago like 10 years ago. Um but another couple of shows I have been lucky to work on a couple of really cool shows that I think changed the face of of how people see themselves. Reservation Dogs was the first show ever that was created, written, acted, everything by all indigenous people. So to get a chance to work on that was also lifealtering.

And how do you get these chances? I mean obviously now your skill set speaks for itself but how does a script supervisor get brought onto a job?

I mean it's all referral. So I have never applied for a job or sent a resume. Somebody calls me or finds me somehow and then I they call me and then I talk. we either have a connection and it's a go or I'll refer them to a friend,

right? Um, that's interesting because, you know, on on a lot of sets there's maybe, you know, 12 grips, 12 electricians, you know, six makeup artists, but there's always only one script supervisor. So, you know, that must give a lot of, you know, people anxiety going into a position like that as a script supervisor. It's heavy heavy stress like it's our fault if there's a mistake on camera and you know how it how we work like we don't have you know all of the all of the chaos that comes with our beautiful circus makes that there's a mistake that'll probably happen during almost every setup

you know so it's like how do you mitigate that risk and how do you also keep calm

so for me I see I read the room and I won't be I won't care more than my director or my producer. Like I'll match to them,

you know, because it's a collaboration. If I'm caring so much about everything being perfect, but my director doesn't care,

you know, like on Reservation Dog, Sterling loves when I give him tidbits. I was like, "Oh, are you sure you want to do that?" He'll just crack up at me and he will literally in front of the whole set he'll be like, "Hey guys, Tiffany thinks I'm making a bold move."

But that's what that's where people have the confidence to to make bold moves. And what what was different about Reservation Dogs that you could see from every other set or every other production? Were there anything special that came up on on that project? Well, it was a lot of people's first time and so it was really the first year we did that show, there were no other shows like it on TV. By the time we came to season two, there were already five shows with natives in it on TV. So, it was like kind of incredible. But we were shooting in Tulsa, which didn't have a lot of local crew. So they brought department heads in and in order to shoot on the reservation and we shot on five, you needed to hire x amount of tribal members. And so we trained them, you know, and and um watching them grow and seeing Tulsa create a sustainable film community from this one show, Reservation Dogs, it's pretty rad.

How did you train them while you were working on the show? other people like it was I don't know you know like

did you have them come in on to set and so mentor basically yeah they were mentored so so it was a little mentorship program in the fact that we also really needed those bodies

to hire in order to shoot on the res and we shot on five res. Do you see anything like that here in in Hawaii in on any productions? I mean, I haven't yet, but I have seen some pretty incredible things happen on the set with with regard to my bosses trying to help locals rise. But I recently got to work with a local director that was born here named Khani

Barbage. And uh Kelani, it was my first movie ever with a local born director and it was incredible. It was probably my best working experience I ever had in this state.

Wow. So, I'm really excited about him. Actually, I'm excited about a lot of the young directors we have here like Justin Aon,

Justin Burbash. There's I if I said his name wrong, I'm so sorry. Kehani. Um, Erin Laauo. I mean, we have

some talent that's coming up that I'm very excited to sit next to. Mhm. Um, so you you would you say Reservations Dog Dogs is your second to Chief of War on favorite projects that you worked on?

I mean, it's it's a special one in my heart. Yeah. But I also worked on this really cool show called Queen Sugar

which was created by Ava and Oprah Du Ava Duivere and Oprah to um raise female directors in the DGA and people of color in every craft. So this little show that could did seven seasons in New Orleans and through that show they raised 42 female directors into the DGA.

That's insane. Yeah, they I I did I was lucky to do season five in COVID. They asked me season two, but my son didn't want to let me

leave him for seven months to do the show, so I didn't do it. But I'm so grateful that I got to do season 5 cuz to be a part of a show that is just created to raise people of color in all of their crafts and female directors, it was just so collaborative that honestly after working on that show, I wasn't the same.

Um and and again, how did that work while you guys were working kind of training people or mentorship? So the what we did to train the directors was we shot on two sides of the line.

So every scene we shot on two sides. So it actually made the cinematography even cooler

cuz you typically only shoot on one side. But now we have double coverage for every scene. So the directors didn't have to learn screen direction and all of the grammar of film making that script supervisors also are responsible for. um you put together a a class that was a weekly thing that you know you were able to train. Was it specifically script supervisors or just industry knowledge in general? So when I went when I got asked to do the show in Tulsa Reservation Dogs,

I felt it was my kana um because I was coming to do the show because they didn't have a script supervisor that was ready to work at that level.

I felt it was my responsibility to help raise one. So I started offering a free class in the community like every other week and um I think I started that season one and season two by the time season two came back I had realized that the no I started season two and season 3 we came back and the girls that were in my class had not been able to do short films or grow in the time that we were gone. one, it was slow, and two, there just wasn't film. So, season three, I which I believe your Grace joins my class in season 3,

which I was so proud of her. She zoomed in at like 4 in the morning because of the time change. That was awesome.

But so, season 3, I realized that the locals weren't able to rise. There wasn't enough film.

So, I added a second day to my every other week class. um where I would ask a different department head to come in and talk to my my uh people my students which there were seven and so every week every other week a different co-worker would come in and tell the people in the class about their creation story how they got their start all about their jobs

and really I was trying to get them interested in another craft because there were seven people and I had already knew that the girl from my first class had not been able to rise. So out of that, the seven people that were there, three of them were already on our crew, but the other four all on the heavy days got to play.

Wow. Like they came in on art or props or set deck. And so when we were out doing the pilot for the lowdown because the reservation dogs ended and we were making a new show,

I decided that I was not going to teach and I was going to focus on Lissa who I had been mentoring for a couple of years and I was going to do something else for the community. And um we were on a lightning hold and I got this idea that I was going to ask all my co-workers to show up for the community if we went to series. And um so that's what we did during the season while we were filming the lowdown every week for seven Saturdays. Um I got all my friends to show up and and talk to the community through Sterling, my showrunners foundation, the Tulsa Film Collective.

And then the Tulsa Arts Collective hosted us and got all the snacks. So totally free to the community seven Saturdays during I think it was like a 12 three month shoot and um they talked about their crafts, they mentored and we reached 350 people and I think we had 167 people on our weight list totally free.

How do we do that here? How do we do that here? We need that over here. Well, honestly, the next time I get a job, I'm hitting everybody up.

Yeah. Yeah. And that that says a lot because you're working, you know, TV hours for five days a week and then you're you're coming to something else on the sixth day when you're beat.

Yeah, it was a lot. Like honestly, I was it was this season I was kind of tired because all my sat a lot of my Saturdays were to this. But if we come back for a season two, we have a diff some different plans how we'll reach the community and my friends the sound mixer will teach how to get sound. Good sound.

I was going to say who was your favorite uh guest or honestly I love them all. Like we're all artists. So I I really love hearing everyone's creation stories.

Um do you prefer working on television or feature films? And I mean, everybody loves a movie,

but the truth of the matter is is you kind of make your community in TV cuz your co-workers become your family and there's a beautifulness to like loving your neighbor and seeing them every day.

Do you ever feel locked down like for a person like you who's, you know, experienced so many different avenues of script supervising, do you ever feel locked down on one specific show? Well, the beauty of TV is if you're a commitment phobe, you get to sit by different directors every week.

Yeah, that's true. So, honestly, it's always a different thing and everybody's vi like no two days are the same.

We're shooting in all kind of cool places. There's like always fun people around.

Yeah. And I know um like on Hawaii 50 and other shows, they do like a like you said, it's a different director every episode. So you you you prep with one director and then shoot his episode. So you kind of get a week off from set and then you have ba basically a week on set right?

Well, that's only here in Hawaii. Really? No place else does this? Yeah. So no place else does this. Um and on the mainland you're expected to do all of the episodes.

Wow. And and why do you think that is? I mean, you know, for continuity, some people believe that one person should carry it,

and it's just how it's always been done, but I love how here we alternate. So, like, you can enjoy the beach. We're in Hawaii.

Yeah. Like you can actually go hiking, you know, you can have a life. So, I I enjoy alternating, but when I'm on the mainland, I do all the episodes and I like that, too.

So, it's just different. Where do you feel like um you know because you're you're a great um you know you're a great example of of someone who's you know been around the world experienced a lot of different sets and a lot of different cultures and a lot of different places. What do you think is unique about working and shooting in Hawaii?

Man, I mean we have some of the best crew in the world. Like honestly, if you can't reset a rock in 10 ft of water, don't do props here. Right.

I mean, Hawaii is beautiful. Like in the meetings that I have for TV shows here, like our landscape is a character,

but Hawaii can be anywhere if we use it that way, too. But I mean, I just honestly love working with the us,

you know what I mean? Like, we're from here. We get to do TV here, and I I love that. Do you feel like other people like working with us as well, whether it's here in Hoy or or elsewhere?

I mean, we're the coolest. Like, go on. I mean, like, we make making movies a lot of fun. Like, we had so much fun at NCIS.

Yeah. Yeah. I But our bosses were the best, too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we had something special on that show with Tim and Eric and Matt Bozac. I don't know if you know this, but I always chat with the PAs or people, you know, find out what their dreams are and where they want to be in TV

or film or what like what their dreams are. And on NCIS, I was able to let Tim, our producing director, or Matt Bozac know, and they took meetings with everybody. So, I think that show it's a bummer that it's gone because I think that it would have raised a lot more locals moving forward.

No, I agree. Like, um, for example, Eric Hayes, um, great UPM and like you said, I felt like he was different from a lot of other UPMs. Um, I I have a nonprofit called Humble Heart. And back on 5, I always saw our catering food kind of go to waste, you know, and I and the caterers, Miguel and the gang, I I love them so much, right? Super cool. Always help me with my outside um you know, whether I was, you know, at a shelter feeding everyone. They they actually made the food for me on my outside things. So I asked him, I said, "Hey, what do we do with all the leftover food that that we don't eat?" Cuz I saw how how much it was. And he said, "Oh, we don't really do anything." thing. I said, "Oh, how come let's go donate it someplace?" "Oh, we cannot, Papa." Um, it's liability, you know, if someone gets sick. So, I said, "Oh, okay." So, that was that show. But I revisited that on NCIS with Eric Hayes. Because Eric is

approachable like that, right? He always come on set, say what's up to everybody, and I said, "Hey, you know, um, I kind of found Aloha Harvest, and they actually take on the liability of our catered food." So, he went above and beyond and because it's corporate, he went up the corporate ladder, fought for us to to have this system, set up a refrigerator at our studio that we could put all our our leftover food and Aloha Harvest would come and get our food every single day. But what I'm saying is like that that's rare, you know, and so we need

Well, Eric Hayes is a rare UPM. We knew that we were going to go home safe every day.

You could feel how he cared about us. Like that's not normal. also. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a bummer we only did uh three seasons and I was uh

but um yeah, you know, I think I I'm biased, but I do see um when people come to Hawaii, we we make a difference in their lives, you know, and I think they feel like their quality of life shooting here is better. And you can't really put a number on that or a budget on that, but I I feel like that is a selling point of uh bringing shows here in Hawaii, you know, and um I am I'm very passionate about um training, you know, the next generation and sharing our knowledge and I know you are too. Um, what are some of the ways that you you feel like you can share your knowledge or are or or do you what's your dream as far as um if you could give back to the film comm community here?

Oh dear. But you know what? That's a big question. Yeah, it it is. I guess I'd like to because you probably won't say this, but you work on a lot of local short films here for free.

I do. Yeah, I do. So, anybody with a bigger dream, I feel like they should have the access to having a script supervisor who has sat out next to over 150 directors and have worked with like 80 some different producer groups. I feel like our local kids deserve that benefit to sit next to me so that I can kind of guide them similar to how I worked on Queen Sugar and Res. Like it's I love being working with people on their first time. Yeah, I think um I think that's important to do. What What are some of the short films that you've recently worked on?

Oh gosh. Um I I worked with Grace on 53 Tuesdays. Oh yeah, I see the previews coming up.

Yeah, we collaborated on that. Um that was really awesome. We did the first day together so I could see where she was at and

yay. Yay to Grace. Um, and then she did the next day and then I did the final day.

Okay. So, we So, the young filmmakers kind of got a mix of the two of us. Um, what do you feel is lacking here in Hawaii when it comes to, you know, maybe training or just in general in our industry? What are we lacking compared to LA or New Orleans or Atlanta?

Well, um, we need more creators. We need no more number ones that are from here to create a sustainable film community. We are good enough.

So, you know, the key grip being from here, the makeup department head, the like these are all creative positions that can be sourced here. And I think that the more that we hire locally from top to bottom, the more people will feel good about their jobs because I think there's a bit of an apathy that comes on when you think that you can't rise, you know, when they're always going to bring the key grip from the mainland. I in your position that's not true, but I'm just using yours as example because if you feel like you can't rise, then you don't try hard enough.

Yep. That's true. So, I think I think anybody with a bigger dream that is local or has chosen Hawaii to be their home, we need to find a way to support them whether they're in the union or the non-union world because

we all started somewhere. So, I think if we can tell all of all of us that are already at this level

to help our friends. Yeah. Give back. Give back. Yeah. And I I try to do the same, you know. Um, I I try to give my time on on short films and we have a lot of people who do support local filmmakers, you know. Um, I I

Gerard Elmore. Holy wow. Didn't you work with him recently on something? No, but the energy I actually went to the PF film festival

in New York because my the the premiere of Lo the Lowdown happened to be also there in that same week. So, my cousin Canoy and I flew up there and went to see uh Piff and Gerard spoke so passionately about the arrangements and about all of his work. I was like, "God, I got to know him. I got to volunteer." The answer is yes, Gerard. I'll come play with you for free.

And that's so crazy. Was that the first time you met him? So, I had met him like a couple of other times, but that was the first time that I had seen the energy that is Gerard. I know exactly how he gets things done cuz that passion is just undeniable and contagious.

Yeah. What he's developed at Ohena Labs and you know it's like right in line with what we got going. We're passionate about helping filmmakers and this guy from A to Z is really doing that.

Oh, it's it's incredible. Like just hearing him speak, I was like, "Oh, I got to hit him up. I got to volunteer. Like how can I help?" And and that's the whole point, you know, I think we just need to connect the dots, you know. Um, fortunately, maybe we're all busy working and this slowdown has kind of forced us to do so and and connect the dots, but if we were to do that, I think we would find there's a lot of people here operating at a high level and and if imagine if we all just got together, you know, and that's kind of been one of the goals of my podcast here, you know, is just like hopefully people could see the local faces that it's not just Hollywood, you know, We have people born and raised in in Klehi, you know, went Marino. Uh went Sacred Hearts, went Eolani, went Puno, went um McKinley, wherever.

Kalaheo, DOE is good, too. And and um we're we're now, you know, from from training or from experience are operating at a at a pretty high level that that we just need to connect the dots, come together as an industry. Um you you're part of Locos 665, right? Yep. And you serve on which committee?

Uh the I am the co-chair of the community outreach committee. Oh, interesting. And and what really is is involved with that?

Well, I felt the need to leave Hawaii to actualize a dream in the entertainment world. So, I really am trying to catch the kids at their schools, you know. So I I any school that requests us to come check to come and do a career fair or come talk to them, we'll say yes and I'll bring a couple of friends and we'll go talk to the kids and and I go for 665. But the truth of the matter is is I'm going to plant the seeds and hopefully the people who sit next to me every day, which is the director and the writer,

because we need more of that here. So, I'm hoping when I go to these schools, I want to talk about our cool jobs like makeup and hair or props and art and production design, but also I'm hoping to reach that one kid that has a story in him that could be our Martin Scorsese. Like, that's my goal of going into the schools.

That's awesome. You know, and you do that on your own time. Um, where can you see us? Um I think you've you've g given testimony in in legislative sessions about how we need um support from our state to have the film industry here. What is your perspective on on that and how can how does that help when the state gets behind us?

Well, I'm praying that they fix our credit um this this go around. And I I like what HFA what you guys have been you know the tax credit that you guys have put forward. It sounds fingers crossed that if they agree to this or we can get this passed. Yeah.

Looks like we'll get a lot of work back. Yeah. Especially if we're trying to incentivize television where we like to work.

Yeah. And and again, it's mainly about bringing everyone together. And that's why the Hawaii Film Alliance was made was because we all been working kind of in our separate corners. And it it takes all of us coming together and working as one and pushing forward. So, like even inviting someone like you into our group for input, you know, we're made out of a lot of subject experts, you know, and and that's really critical um when speaking to legislation because a lot of times they don't know. I I think it's a it's a communication issue that they don't know. Number one, it's a lot of local people depending on this industry to survive. And then number two, what it actually injects into our local economy, you know, and then also culturally what we're able to share with the world, right? And so, yeah, I I'm pretty confident with um the progress that HFA has been making u with speaking with legislators and and getting really ahead

of the game with the support of everybody here that we're going to get something done um that'll make our 2026 a little bit more busy. Speaking of, do you have anything coming up?

Not yet, but I I'm sure something will happen. My fingers are crossed for a couple of things and we'll see.

Okay. You know, what about you? Um, yeah, we'll see. You know, until until I'm working, until I'm carrying some sandbags, then then I'm happy and I know I'm at a job, but uh in this industry there's there's so many moving parts. There's, you know, there there's a lot to that. And uh but overall, would you say your your career has been pretty stable? has this, you know, you've been working pretty consistently.

My career has been pretty stable. I've been super blessed to have been booked most of the time. I mean, in the last year, it's been slow for everybody, but I I was able to do the Wrecking Crew in January and then jump right on to the Lowdown season one,

which was pretty incredible. Uhhuh. How was the Wrecking Crew? Oh, the wrecking crew was so much fun. Honestly, it is that was a blast like to get to work with Dave Bautista and Jason Mamoa whose passion moves the whole set like you know it's super fun.

Yeah, I got to work on that too and we did a lot of cool stuff. We hit up all like kind of the you know we went Makapool Lighthouse uh and working with Yeah. Dave Bautista is really humble cool Filipino guy biggest

I'm part Filipino too. one of the bigger Filipinos I've seen. Uh but but he looked great and um we had a couple of local people on that too. Um and again I I seen I think Kehlani was actually mentor had a mentorship through that movie. Khalani was the dire was an hell the director's assistant

and he was incredible assistant like I was like wow um and and on that show um we had a additional unit that needed to go and Anel actually like let Keelani handle a part of that. Yes.

No way. It was pretty awesome. And that's I mean not officially. No. Yeah. Yeah. Um

but but you know like that's the whole point right is you know we got to understand that these bigger movies that we fight for you know with getting the tax credits and incentives to draw these bigger feature films and shows here. It can't just be about local independent films. we need these bigger cuz look at that opportunity Khalani got and now you said you sat next to him directing his own project

but that's the kind of you know opportunities that those shows bring you know just like you you know training Grace on on NCIS right it's like that consistency of you know being able to bring somebody on and train them we need that right

absolutely yeah um I I guess you know someone like you, the people you like to work with or the people that you've seen become the people that you've seen become successful, what are some of the qualities that those people possess or what would you tell the younger person to either work on or or

Well, I think in order to do what we do, you got to be in shape because we go in all kinds of environment. So, you got to be able to move. You got to be fluid. You got to be resilient. You got to know how to read the room and like observe and pay attention. I think like all those simple well, not simple skills, but all those skills are super necessary to be successful in film.

What What don't you like to see on set or what? So, I I I don't have that many pet peeves, but I don't like it when randos yell boom. We see it. There could be something else we're looking for in that frame. Um I I don't like people eating loud potato chips in my video village near me during the take. Only those.

That's awesome. I would never know that. I don't think I've ever said boom in the shot.

No, I mean people run I know. I'm just like, we see it. Like, thank you. And if and if not, we hear Sean Rush pressing the button and going, "We see you Rod."

Yes. H Yeah. Um, what are your what are your hopes for the Hawaii film industry?

I mean, I hope that we can create a sustainable film industry where we don't need outside re like, we can do it all here. We can make our own stuff. We use our own credit. Like I believe that we could get to a world where our locals could be big enough that you know if we had like maybe five showrunners we don't need Hollywood we just make our own stuff. This is what my friend Sterland Harjo has done in Tulsa.

He is literally creating the sustainable film community that he wants because he wants to work in Tulsa.

How do we do that? We need showrunners who want to stay here, who believe in us

and um who love Hawaii like we do. Um I forget what I was going to say. No, I I um I was going to ask you in your opinion, how can people outside of our industry support our industry?

Watch our shows. watch shows that are made in Hawaii, you know. Yeah. Or DVR them and watch them in the proper amount of time that we can get the ratings.

Um, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. But I think if we help each other, that'll that will take us a long way.

Mhm. You plan on working uh for a long time more? Are you going to pass the torch anytime soon? I mean, I don't I'm not that old.

No, no, not at I'm not saying that at all but I mean, you know what? I feel like I this was a job that I was born to do. Like, I absolutely love being a script supervisor. My favorite thing is having the writer, the director get their vision actualized and like we're making their dream. So, I love doing that. But, I don't know. I've kind of been inspired lately by some other kinds of stories. So maybe there's some other stories that I am wanting to get involved with telling. We'll see.

Are you eager to get back on a movie or a show or you love going to the beach every day with your

h, you know, I love working. I love what we do. I love getting all the hugs every morning, you know, from everyone on the crew. But I also love going to the beach in the morning and going for walks with my mom and making her food and enjoying my family life. So, I don't know.

There's a silver lining for sure. When we worked so hard for so long that almost this break is like that exhale we needed

to see what's next. Yeah. Yeah. No, I feel the same same way. And like you said, like you got to be physically fit if you want to be in this job, you know, mentally fit, too. But, you know, that

I mean, we shot Chief of War on the lava. There weren't that many gators, so many of us were walking out to the lava. You got to be able to do that. And that's like hard lava, you know?

Yeah. And so like for me this time was really to try to get myself back physically, you know, and um anytime that we're off, right, I I stay intentional about trying to stay physically fit because, you know, like my dad been, you know, he just retired from the industry after 40ome years. He's in incredible shape, you know, and I always kind of like hope that I'm in his shape when I'm his age. Um and you know fortunately or unfortunately he worked till you know 68 years old. Um but I see a lot of people who who don't focus on on their physical fitness and they deteriorate quickly you know.

Well we work in high stress high stakes there snacks all day long. So you can if you're not intentional what you're putting in your body you could gain weight on a season. I mean, we literally have tons of food and food trucks as presents every Friday and stuff.

I know. You know. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Um, a lot of our uh I'm going to joke about it, but a lot of our actors, actresses when they when they get to Hawaii, it's almost like any kid who comes from the mainland to college here, you get your freshman 15, you know, on the show like

we're introduced. This is a manipula spam mus. Well, you know, I told you that this hour was going to go by quick and it did. It's always a pleasure um speaking with someone that has so much experience and willing to share their experience and um I I hope I hope um we work together soon on the next show.

I hope so too. If you if if I know you already did, but if you had to give one quick piece of advice to your upandcoming filmmaker, what would it be?

Just do it. Don't get up in your head. Write the story. Shoot the story. Pick up your phone. Like it's it's if you just got to do it like

Yeah. That's it, you know? Well, and also people will help you if they see you doing the work. You know what I mean? So, I'm always like, "Oh, what do you want to do?" I'll ask the PAs and they're like, "Oh, I'm writing something." Be like, "Cool." Couple weeks later be like, "How's that going?" And if they're like, "Oh, I haven't had time to write." I know maybe I'm not going to ask them again. But if they say, "Oh, I wrote all of this." I'll be like, "Send it to me." And then next time they come by me at Video Village and I have my writer there, I'll be like, "Oh, Ron, such and such is writing something." Because they did the work.

I'm going to connect the dots. But if they don't do the work, I'm not gonna waste that connector.

That's awesome. Yeah. You never know when your opportunity will come. And and and people are attracted to that. You do the work. People see you working. People put, you know, you're putting your time, your passion. That's what draws people to come help you. And I think that's a great bit of advice. Tiffany, thank you so much for coming on my podcast. I feel honored to have you and and you giving your time to us. So, thank you. Thanks, Brian.

I love you so much. I'll see you on the next one.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Tiffany Tavares | Native Hawaiian Script Supervisor on Building the Future of Film in Hawai‘i"?

In order: 0:00 Brian Wallace, City College of San Francisco, Magnum PI, NCIS Hawaii; 5:00 Chief of War, Reservation Dogs; 15:00 Reservation Dogs; 20:00 Reservation Dogs, Chief of War, Queen Sugar; 30:00 Aloha Harvest, Queen Sugar; 45:00 Chief of War.

What is mentioned in this The Big Picture episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Reservation Dogs, Tiffany Tavaras, Chief of War, Queen Sugar, Brian Wallace, Magnum PI. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Tiffany Tavares | Native Hawaiian Script Supervisor on Building the Future of Film in Hawai‘i"?

The episode runs 52 min; the transcript is about 9,040 words in 172 timestamped sections.

More from The Big Picture

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 7, 2026.