Silver Screen Coming to Maui County

Maui County News Release

We may be seeing more of Hollywood in Maui County. Mayor Alan Arakawa and his staff today announced that the county is in serious discussions with Relativity Media – one of the leading forces in Hollywood – to create a sustainable and more profitable film industry in our islands.

Relativity Media LLC is a media and entertainment company whose recent films include Salt, Despicable Me, Grown Ups, Charlie St. Cloud and Get Him to the Greek.

Arakawa and Relativity Media CEO and founder Ryan Kavanaugh have had numerous meetings while Arakawa was still serving as mayor-elect last year. Arakawa brought up the possibility of having a major motion picture studio here and Kavanaugh said he “couldn’t be happier” to work with the Arakawa administration in making Maui County “a major production hub.”  Since that time, the teams have been working closely together in preparing an overall strategy and plan to implement this major initiative.

“As one of the most beautiful places in the world, our goal is to help make Maui competitive with many of the other states and cities where our industry shoots hundreds of films,” Kavanaugh said.
He added that they want to help build studio infrastructure, along with developing proper tax incentives, and a training/deeming program for residents so that they can work in the industry.
 
“My goal is to diversify our economy and this is a proven and very real way to do it,” Arakawa said.