Voices of Hawaii

Excerpt from a pilot for 26-half hour documentary series for PBS about the Hawaii rarely seen.

Concept: “Voices of Hawaii,” an original series conceived by Iliani, told the stories of Hawaii in first person, intending to reveal the heart, the soul, and the challenges of these magical and misunderstood islands. The series was intended for a mainland audience to take them behind the images of the tourist trade and immerse viewers in the ineffable beauty of a people, a land and a culture rarely seen. Since Hawaii is the species extinction capital of the world, our hope was that we could also make mainlanders aware of how their actions can nourish or destroy a land and its culture.

Execution: The pilot was shot in one week on Kauai and represented 3 of 21 diverse story categories: Agriculture; Health and Healing; and Hawaiian music. The many story categories represented on the web site and in the marketing materials represented all the islands and their rich diversity. A 79-week production schedule included 39 weeks of shooting on the islands, and targeted to return a sizable percentage in Hawaiian salaries and fees.

Distribution: The series was not fully funded and the pilot lived on the “Voices of Hawaii” web site.  It was also used to pitch major underwriters and interest potential distributors at the annual NATPE convention.

Success: The Hawaiian PBS station, KTEH, agreed to be the PBS series sponsor. The video and marketing materials were successfully presented to Hawaiian Airlines, American Express, Verizon, and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau and received financial support, but insufficient to produce the entire series. One focus group participant said she could feel the sand beneath her feet while watching.

This project was completed by Iliani prior to founding TrimTab Media.