For years, Hawaii has been a popular destination for tourists, but now it's making a name for itself as a TV and film production hub.A reboot of the 1960s police drama "Hawaii Five-O," which helped develop the state's movie industry decades ago, is once again boosting its economy.

When the original "Hawaii Five-O",a police drama, premiered in 1968, it was the first television series to shoot on location in Hawaii. It helped to develop Hawaii's TV and film industry, and its number one economic engine - tourism.

Ever since 2010, when CBS began producing a new version, the state has been reaping the benefits.

"Hawaii Five-0" has contributed significantly to Hawaii's economy, not just in production, but in what they do to help promote the destination. "Hawaii Five-0" is a buzz word everywhere. Whether you're on Twitter or FaceBook or you watch broadcast television. For us, it is a huge enormous pump into our tourism economy, as well as our local economy." That is Georja Skinner, she is the head of the Hawaii State Film Office.

She says last year production companies spent $400 million filming in Hawaii, making it the state's best year ever.

Hawaii has also been getting good publicity from several recent movies that were made here.

"I think the whole "Pirates of the Carribbean," "Soul Surfer," films like "Just Go With It," these are big feature films that have really showcased Hawaii in a great way," Skinner says. "And we're very excited about "The Descendants," a film based on a book by a Hawaii writer, Kaui Hart Hemmings, and that film will be coming out this year. It is the first time that people will see Hawaii in a very different light than they're used to seeing it."

"The Descendants" is about a man whose wife is in a coma, and devastating information he learns about while she's dying. The lead is played by George Clooney. Alexander Payne directed the movie.

"Shooting in Hawaii is one of the reasons I wanted to make this film and not just for the obvious reasons; the sun and surf and all of that. My previous visits to Hawaii had taught me that there's a very interesting and complex social fabric there that I wanted to get to know a little bit more, as much as I could, and try to represent it faithfully on screen."

While luring film productions hasn't been easy, Skinner says tax incentives passed five years ago have helped.

"Some states will allocate funds that they give to productions to lure them there. We don't do that here in Hawaii. The most important thing about the credit that is in our state, is that it requires a workforce development component. And the studios, and all the productions, whether they're from locally based projects or national or international, they all use local labor."

To qualify for a tax credit in Hawaii, productions must provide internships or contribute to the state's public schools through funding, equipment donations or education programs.

"We compete more with global destinations, so New Zealand, Australia, Puerto Rico, often other tropical locales. but we're much more than just a tropical location."

Skinner says "Lost" ,the ABC TV drama, showed the world that Hawaii could double for places like Korea, Iraq, England, Africa and even Russia, covered in snow.

Now, she says, the new "Hawaii Five-0" is also reviving interest in the Hawaiian islands as a vacation spot.

About 10,000 people turned out to kick off the premiere of season two at a special screening on Waikiki Beach. Australian actor Alex O'Loughlin plays Detective Steve McGarrett, head of the Hawaii Five-0 crime-fighting team. Fans traveled from as far away as Europe and Australia to see the "Hawaii Five-0" stars on the red carpet. "I'm from Germany," said one fan , "and I came here for sunset on the beach and to see Alex."

"I'm from a town in New South Wales. It's my first time overseas," said another fan from Australia. "I got a passport for this very occasion. So I'm here to see Alex and the cast and I'm so excited about it."

"Hawaii Five-0" executive producer Peter Lenkov says you can't recreat the look of Hawaii on a sound stage.

"You know it's "Hawaii Five-0," so I think you couldn't shoot this show anywhere else," he says. "What gives it an edge? I think it's just the people, the location. It's just unique."

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（來源：VOA 編輯：Rosy）