Whenever Stefan Schaefer drives through Paia on the north shore of Maui, where he lives, the screenwriter sees comedy in the former plantation town.
The surfers and old hippies, the tourists and trustafarians, the New Age boutiques, galleries, juice bars and health food stores — all of that offers so many potential gags that Schaefer believes he can create a comedy series around them. With that as inspiration, Schaefer and longtime friend Jonathan Stern, an Emmy-
winning producer, are preparing to shoot the pilot for a comedy series that they call “Surf Break Hotel.”
The biggest laughs should come from the show’s main character,
Byron “Biz” Waggie, a washed-up surf pro who is forced to take a job at a small hotel and give surf lessons to tourists.
“He lives in a van that doesn’t drive and has to ride his bicycle to work,” said the 44-year-old Schaefer, who has been writing, producing and directing film and TV projects for the last decade. “He wants to be called ‘Biz’ or ‘All Biz,’ and he is always correcting people. It’s a bit of a running gag.”
There are other running gags: Waggie’s relationship with the hot young surfers who torment him; his rivalry with a younger, fit yoga instructor, a New Jersey transplant who thinks he can get more dates than Waggie; and Waggie’s habit of stealing comments attributed to big-wave surf legend Laird Hamilton — and getting called out for it.
For Stern, president of Abominable Pictures, a Los Angeles company that develops and produces comedy for TV, the Web and film, there’s something undeniably sad about Waggie. And that makes him funny, too.
“I don’t know if I would call this the most dramatic thing or the most comedic thing, and it could even be both,” said the 48-year-old Stern in a call from his L.A. office. “The main character, Biz, is ignorant of how far he has fallen since his heyday as a pro surfer and is blind to how other people see him. That is pathetic and sad, but that’s also where a lot of the comedy is.”
The pilot will be shot over three or four days next month in an unused building at the Paia Inn. The creators hope to have it polished and ready to market by April but have not had discussions with any network or content-streaming provider.
“We think the way to put our best foot forward is to show them what it is before we talk about what it is,” Stern said.
There is no specific timetable, however. One option is to pair it with the surf contest coverage shown by the World Surfing League, which offers online content and cable feeds from around the world.
If it’s picked up, the series could be a big deal for Maui. Although TV pilots were shot there — “Crowfoot” in 1995 and a revival of “Fantasy Island” in 1998 — no scripted series has been based on Maui.
No casting has been announced, but one idea is to integrate surf celebrities in cameos.
Schaefer and Stern have been friends for 18 years, having met in Brooklyn early in their careers. Stern produced Schaefer’s first film, “Confess.” Stern went on to create comedies (“Childrens Hospital,” “Hot Wives of Las Vegas”) while Schaefer worked on serious dramatic projects.
A regular Maui visitor, Stern said the show’s comedy will take its inspiration from a place most tourists do not understand.
“There is a little bit of a theme here: the working side of what appears to be paradise,” he said. “Even if you are going to the beach and surfing every day, you still have money problems and relationship problems, and problems with your boss.”
And if that sounds serious, Stern insists there will be laughs.
“I think there is a little story to tell about how wherever you are, the realities of life are inescapable,” he said. “We’ll find the comedy in it, I hope, so that people can laugh at all the things that might otherwise bring them down.”
AND that’s a wrap …
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
