Even though Russell Crowe’s new movie, “3:10 to Yuma,” was filmed in New Mexico, the production crew came to Denver for a casting call last November. About 200 actors showed up.
Such is life for Colorado’s film industry, flush with talent but faced with a dearth of major projects largely because of the state’s paltry incentives to lure movie productions.
“You look at New Mexico, they’re getting projects left, right and center,” said Allen McLain, who worked with the Screen Actors Guild to set up the “Yuma” casting call. “They have so many projects that they draw people from the Denver market to work down there.”
Since 2003, New Mexico has given $30 million in tax rebates to production companies that did the bulk of their filming in the state. Colorado started offering incentives only last year and can offer up to $600,000 in cash rebates this year.
“When we get calls from major production companies, 99 percent of the time the first question is, ‘What are your incentives?”‘ said Kevin Shand, executive director of the Colorado Film Commission, a nonprofit organization that works to attract projects to the state.
Colorado was one of four states in the running to land “Yuma” and its reported $50 million production budget.
The lack of funding for the industry not only hurts Colorado’s ability to attract top projects, it also prevents the state from offering much support to budding local filmmakers like McLain.
A Denver native, McLain remains faithful to his hometown even though there could be more opportunities elsewhere.
“We enjoy living here in Denver, and we don’t want our souls pulled out of our chests by sort of involving ourselves in the craziness that is the Hollywood rat race,” said McLain, executive director of Globe ville Studios in Denver.
Globeville is shopping a horror film set at a hot springs, with hopes of shooting the movie in Colorado.
In the meantime, the company is busy shooting commercials and holding casting calls for other film projects.
Another local filmmaker, Deborah Fryer, maxed out her credit cards to film a documentary titled “Shaken: Journey Into the Mind of a Parkinson’s Patient” that recently won the Accolade 2007 Humanitarian Award.
“I moved here from the East Coast. I sometimes wonder, ‘Did I make a mistake to come to Colorado?’ because there is not a lot of opportunity built in here,” said Fryer, who teaches yoga to make ends meet.
Signal of change
There are some signs of hope for Colorado. Denver-based Frontier Airlines is offering support to the industry, and another local company, Starz LLC, recently launched its own movie-production company, Overture Films. Although Overture is based in Los Angeles, its top executive reports directly to Starz chairman Bob Clasen in Douglas County.
Frontier Airlines is a key sponsor of the Colorado Film Commission, and its senior director of marketing and sales, Dan Vorlage, is a member of the nonprofit’s board of directors.
Vorlage said the industry needs help from the public and private sectors.
“Corporations need to step up more and support the commission,” Vorlage said. “Also, you look at the incentives the other states are doing. … The Film Commission is not suggesting that we lead this incentives arms race, but the gap between us and other states is getting just so wide that we think there’s room to close it more than it is today.”
Frontier provides the Film Commission with free travel and will soon be showing a video showcasing the organization during its flights.
McLain said Starz’s Overture venture can help the local industry because it creates a major player with knowledge of the film industry. Overture’s first six films, however, are being filmed outside of Colorado.
“The key issues are where it makes most sense from a creative point of view to shoot it, and then secondarily, what kind of tax benefits or subsidies one might get,” said Tom Southwick, a spokesman for Starz. “‘Last Chance Harvey’ (a film starring Dustin Hoffman) is set in London. No amount of changes in the tax laws would cause that film to be shot anywhere else than London.”
Overture’s first film, “Mad Money,” was shot mostly in Louisiana, another state with rich tax incentives.
“In one sense, it really doesn’t make a difference where the production companies are based. It’s where they do their production and where they do their post-production,” Shand said. “But the other sense, having a company like that here can be very good for us because they’re going to get to see some of the locations that we have here and they’re going to be able to meet some of our crew.”
Under an incentives program approved last year by the state legislature, Colorado provides a 10 percent cash rebate on film productions of at least $100,000 if the production company spends 75 percent of its budget with Colorado businesses and hires 75 percent of its crew locally.
Shand said the commission will push to get more funding during the next legislative session. Ultimately, $10 million annually may be needed to turn Colorado into a major player in the industry.
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com. Visit his blog at .
$600,000
Colorado rebate to production companies this year for doing the bulk of their work in the state
$30 MILLION
New Mexico’s refund to production companies since 2003
$6 MILLION
Film production Colorado can generate under its film incentive program
$500 MILLION
Average annual film production in Louisiana since 2005
$1.2 BILLION
Total cost of films produced in New Mexico since 2003
“Shaken: Journey Into the Mind of a Parkinson’s Patient” (2006)
Documentary by Boulder filmmaker Deborah Fryer, who says there are few incentives to film in Colorado.
“Mad Money” (2008)
Produced by Overture Films, whose parent Starz has its headquarters in Denver.
“Resurrecting the Champ” (2007)
Samuel L. Jackson, right, and Josh Hartnett star in a film set in Denver.
“3:10 to Yuma” (2007)
Western starring Peter Fonda was filmed in New Mexico but held a casting call in Denver for 200 actors.
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (2005)
Some scenes in the action flick with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were filmed in Colorado.
