April Masini

Entertainment Executive, TV & Film Producer

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Entertainment Executive

April started a fascinating career in front of the camera as a model and actress, but before long, she wound her way behind the scene — and up the ranks to entertainment executive, and for over eight years, President of Al Masini Productions, where she raised tens of millions of dollars financing internationally recognized TV and feature film productions, including “Baywatch,” “Blue Crush,” and “Miss Universe Pageant.”

One of April’s most widely recognized accomplishments (other than discovering Jason Momoa) is having relocated “Baywatch” television production from Queensland, Australia to Hawaii in the United States — but more interestingly, that accomplishment is entwined with her personal style of tenacity and grit — and that was what brought attention to her success. When Baywatch Producer Craig Kwasizur told April, “It’s too late. The train has already left the station,” she replied, “Well, your train has just been diverted down a new set of tracks.

Just as Baywatch creator and producer, Greg Bonann, was about to board a plane for Australia, having just inked the deal relocating the television series there, Kwasizur stopped him, phone in hand, saying, “I think you should listen to what this woman is saying.” That woman was April — and Bonann did listen – and in that dramatic phone call, Baywatch Hawaii was born — and then-Governor Ben Cayetano subsequently announced, “Baywatch (Hawaii) will mean not only employment for more than 150 people locally but also expenditures in the state of over $20 million annually plus the program will in one year display Hawaii’s beauty, people and diversity of activities to 5.7 billion viewers worldwide — a definite stimulus for tourism.”

Interesting Factoid: Jason Mamoa’s first acting job was for me…. I discovered Jason at an open call for Baywatch Hawaii. Jason Mamoa was 19.

April continued production and marketing pioneering shortly after the creation of her own company, Masini Enterprises, Inc., by use of the state’s newly passed Act 221 to bring Hawaii tax incentives to Universal Studios, allowing for $16 million in financing for feature film “Blue Crush.” The resulting relationship that she expedited between Universal Studios and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, facilitated Hollywood’s joint promotion of the state along with the movie, in exchange for funding. It was the first time a studio made a commitment to foster a mutually beneficial cross-promotion between the film and the shooting location.

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April also co-chaired and served as Event Coordinator for the 1998 Miss Universe Pageant, creating and producing nine back-to-back, uniquely themed, world-class events including Hawaii’s largest weekday parade, and “Share Aloha with the World” essay and illustrations contest for children, Hawaii’s largest and most successful statewide contest. The artwork and essays from that project remain on display throughout Hawaii’s airports today. Donald Trump refers to the 1998 Hawaii Miss Universe Pageant as “the event that established the bar, and standards against which all pageants are measured.”