Let the production madness commence: Two Hawai'i-based TV series are starting production this morning, bringing to three the number of major network dramas shooting on O'ahu.
   NBC's Honolulu cop drama "Hawaii" is kicking off what producers hope will be a long series run with an early morning blessing by kahu Franklin Pao at its temporary Kawainui Park base camp.
   Meanwhile, ABC's survivor drama "Lost," starts shooting today near the Pali.
   "North Shore," Fox's hotel drama, got the early green light and has been shooting here for longer than a month.
   A fourth show, the WB's "Rocky Point," will likely join the fray. Producers are in town this week to see if a suitable location can be found on O'ahu, Maui or Kaua'i, with a tentative shooting schedule set to begin August 31.
   Both "Hawaii" and "Lost" are being shot on location while their respective soundstages are being built.
   "Hawaii" is retrofitting the old Hopaco building in Mapunapuna.
   "Lost" is leasing the old Xerox Building on N. Nimitz Highway.
   State film commissioner Donne Dawson said the show's producers and the property's owner, the Weinberg Foundation, are considering changing the name of the building out of sensitivity to the 1999 incident in which seven Xerox employees were gunned down by co-worker Byran Uyesugi.
   The ABC show follows a group of plane-crash survivors on a deserted island. Production designer Carlos Barbosa is overseeing the construction of a "cave" set, where the show's characters will take shelter.
   Executive producer Damon Lindelof, who arrived in Ho-nolulu yesterday afternoon, said the soundstage should be completed in five to seven weeks.
   Lindelof has said previously that a permanent soundstage was necessary to keep the filming on schedule.
   "Otherwise," he said in May, "we're a slave to the weather."
   Before this year, Hawai'i's only soundstage was a state-owned one at Diamond Head Film Studio. NBC's "Hawaii" used the facility to shoot its pilot, but "North Shore" took it over when it became the first of the Hawai'i-based shows to get picked up by its network.
   Lindelof said the three shows shooting on O'ahu have a "good working relationship" that includes a no-poaching understanding with regard to local crews.
   He said the addition of "Rocky Point" could be tricky.
   SOURCE: Honolulu Advertiser Permanent Link | 10:46 AM