Movies such as Con Air and Dante's Peak were made with help from the Cablecam.
The Cablecam works by suspending a cable between two large A-frame towers with a camera-carrying platform travelling along it. One person drives the device while a second does the filming. But it can also be operated unmanned to allow it travel at speeds that would be unsafe for on-board drivers.
It can span as much as a 600m-wide gap and be used as high as 25m off the ground. It has proved particularly useful for those hard-to-get shots down rivers and up mountains.
I felt there was a technological gap between the helicopter and the crane,
he said.
The Cablecam can go so many places that cranes can't and when you're filming, helicopters are often too noisy, whereas what I built is quiet and fast.
In February he received a fax telling him he had won an Oscar.
It was the day before my birthday and I thought someone was playing a joke, he said.
But then the invitation arrived with lots of gold lettering. I'm sure that stationery was worth more than my couch, he chuckled.
Bayliss is in New Zealand working six days a week, 12 hours a day on a pilot movie at Bethells Beach, west of Auckland.
Called Forbidden Island, the pilot is being made by top Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling, creator of such hits as Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place.
It's Gilligan's Island meets The Twilight Zone with a dash of The X-Files, said Bayliss.
Most of the crew are Kiwis, but the principal actors are American.
Born and raised in Te Puke, Bayliss left school at 15 before he could sit school certificate.
I wanted to go surfing, he explained.
His love-affair with film-making began when he was 17 or 18 and his sister worked for a small production company.
One day she phoned me for a job. I was the grip and had to track a camera down a stream, he said.
After discovering he had a talent for camera work, Bayliss was hooked. In New Zealand he has been part of production crews on films such as Mr Wrong and The Lost Tribe.
But it is Hollywood where Bayliss has truly made his mark. Fifteen years ago he got his start in Tinseltown on the television series The Hitcher.
Other credits include Godzilla, True Lies and Terminator 2. He said filming Terminator 2 under Titanic director James Cameron was his favourite job.
Cameron was excellent, but tough as hell.
On the Forbidden Island set, Bayliss looks every inch the Hollywood man. Handsome, if a little tired, in jeans and a checked shirt, he brushes his hair before having his photo taken and is coy about revealing his age.
After Bethells, Bayliss flies back to the United States to prepare for his next project - travelling around the world filming the story of mega yachts for a United States travel channel.
