Sloan comes to the film office with strong credentials as the state prepares for the arrival of Sundance Film Festival in Boulder in January 2027. She most recently worked at Denver-based SeriesFest, which often calls itself the Sundance of television and attracts major streamers, networks and stars to the city each year.

She acted as director of artist development there for six years, following a four-year stint as deputy film commissioner, from 2012-2016, for the aforementioned office of , and worked as a producer in the film industry.

“This is a pivotal moment for Colorado’s film, television and media industry, made possible by the hard work of industry professionals and economic development leaders across the state,” Sloan said in a statement provided to The Denver Post, having beaten out more than 120 other candidates, the state said. ““We have an incredible opportunity to build lasting infrastructure, expand opportunity for creators and crews, and strengthen Colorado’s position as a premier destination for storytelling.”

Sloan will report to Colorado Creative Industries, a division of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, directed by Josh Blanchard. The film office operates on legislatively-approved money to support local film production and provide tax rebates to draw productions to the state, despite Colorado being dwarfed in budget by neighboring states such as New Mexico and Utah. Colorado Creative Industries funds local projects, promotes nonprofit arts projects, and manages state art districts, among other responsibilities.

Sloan’s industry experience is crucial to her position, said Randi Kleiner, co-founder and CEO of SeriesFest.

“She’s absolutely a visionary and very, very effective,” Kleiner said. “Pairing her industry knowledge with her passion and effectiveness, I think she’s going to turn to really big ideas and real results.”

“She’s an extremely connected, personable, wonderful person,” Zuckerman told The Denver Post. “Working with her, it didn’t take her long to realize what was needed for the office. She’s diligent and extremely hard-working.”

Some members of OEDIT last fall praised Zuckerman’s work and wondered why the state gave no further explanation of his firing beyond “unsatisfactory behavior.” Zuckerman declined to comment on the matter.. Eve Lieberman, executive director of OEDIT, has also declined to comment on Zuckerman’s firing.

Zuckerman was praised for building up the state’s film office, garnering legislative approval for millions of dollars in filming and film-festival credits and incentives, and attracting movies such as Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” to Colorado. He was also credited for securing the Sundance Film Festival, which will move to Boulder in 2027 after 44 years in Park City, Utah, the state where it was founded.

This story was updated to clarify that the film office and Colorado Creative Industries both fall under the OEDIT umbrella.

Jay Seaton, who serves on the state’s Economic Development Commission, which is part of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), told The Denver Post that he hopes Zuckerman will be celebrated for his contributions to the state. “I mean, this guy just delivered Sundance.

“I had no idea that he would be on the outs. … He’s a very unique animal, and it’s unfortunate that we’re losing him,” he added.

The comments came during a regularly scheduled meeting of OEDIT, where Zuckerman was praised for building up the state’s film office, garnering legislative approval for millions of dollars in filming and film-festival credits and incentives, and attracting movies such as Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” to Colorado. He was also credited for securing the Sundance Film Festival, which will move to Boulder in 2027 after 44 years in Park City, Utah, the state where it was founded.

“(It’s) incredibly remarkable to see how, under Donald’s leadership, we were able to make something happen with very little resources,” EDC chairwoman Carrie Schiff said Thursday during the meeting. “I’m not sure how you did that, with the last miracle being your call to (Sundance board chairwoman) Gigi Pritzker that launched us on the path we are now on with Sundance.”

Zuckerman was fired in September from the job he’d held for 14 years. His boss, OEDIT director Eve Lieberman, has declined to discuss her reasoning for the firing, both at the time and again on Thursday. A press statement from the office only said that deputy film commissioner Arielle Brachfeld would serve as interim Film Commissioner.

A termination letter for Zuckerman obtained by The Denver Post, dated Sept. 12, said he “is being terminated effective immediately as a result of unsatisfactory behavior.”

Zuckerman declined comment to The Denver Post — although he did show up digitally on Thursday at the EDC meeting. “I’m turning 80 this year, but I’m very actively involved with Sundance and very actively involved with … the Stanley Hotel,” he said during the session, adding that he hopes to still serve on the SPACE board (Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education).

That project includes the construction of the new Stanley Exhibit Center and Blumhouse Space at the historic Estes Park hotel, which broke ground at a Sept. 25 ceremony attended by Gov. Jared Polis, Lieberman and others.

Zuckerman attended the groundbreaking as well — and was given a ceremonial shovel — but wasn’t mentioned at the podium during remarks, despite working on the deal for the past decade. The $60 million project, which was approved during Zuckerman’s tenure in 2015, includes a $46 million contribution from the state’s Regional Tourism Act to support construction.

Former state treasurer and 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate also celebrated Zuckerman’s tenure at the Thursday meeting, as did board member Chris Franz, who said the office did a good job of figuring out how to build support and that Zuckerman “did a great job in maintaining the industrial base here so that it never disappeared, no matter how thin things got.”

“The guy has earned those accolades,” added Seaton, who is also the publisher of the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction. “I don’t think any of us really saw his exit coming. There’s no information around it, so we don’t know what happened.

“We’re all in your debt,” Seaton said of Zuckerman.

The fest, which runs Friday, Nov. 1 through Sunday, Nov 10, includes hundreds of screenings, panels, workshops, and parties; other celebs such as Patricia Clarkson, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, are also confirmed. But adding Mackie and the local premiere of “Elevation” is a last-minute coup, given his high profile in recent years.

“Elevation,” premiering nationally on Nov. 8, co-stars Morena Baccarin in its post-apocalyptic road tale. Mackie’s character and a pair of women “venture from the safety of their homes to face monstrous creatures to save the life of a young boy,” according to a studio synopsis.

Mackie’s 5 p.m. event on Monday, Nov. 4, in Denver, includes the Colorado premiere of “Elevation” with MCA Denver at the Holiday Theater, followed by a post-film Q&A with Mackie and director George Nolfi. Tickets are on sale now for $27.31 (including the service fee) at .

Mackie, who’s best known as winged Avenger Falcon and the new Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the MCU’s “Brave New World” is scheduled for a Feb. 14, 2025 release) plays a single father in the post-apocalyptic Rocky Mountains — a trope that����ap getting another flogging here, following a decades-long string of movies, TVs and video games that depict Colorado as ground zero for nuclear holocausts, zombies and hostile aliens.

Principal photography for “Elevation” began in November 2022 in various Colorado locations, and finished up in late March 2023. At the time it started, “Elevation” was confirmed as “the biggest production to come to Colorado since (Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 film) ‘The Hateful Eight,'” wrote Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman in an email to The Denver Post.

The film was mostly shot around Golden and Boulder, with George Nolfi directing, and Brad Fuller as principal producer, Zuckerman said. It cost about $18 million while employing nearly 300 cast and crew, according to the .

Watch the trailer below.

Mackie, best known as winged Avenger Falcon and the new Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plays a single father in the post-apocalyptic Rocky Mountains — a trope that’s getting another flogging here, following a decades-long string of movies, TVs and video games that depict Colorado as ground zero for nuclear holocausts, zombies and hostile aliens.

In the “Elevation” trailer, Mackie and a pair of women “venture from the safety of their homes to face monstrous creatures to save the life of a young boy,” according to a studio synopsis.

The trailer opens with a scene-setting elevation number against a black screen (10,458, which is about twice Boulder’s elevation of 5,430). Mackie’s unnamed character embraces his daughter as she runs toward him from a cabin, and a brief flashback shows explosions in a lush pine forest, informing us that civilization ended three years ago.

“We lost our homes, our communities, and most of the people we loved,” Mackie’s character says in a voiceover. Elevation numbers tick down like a wall clock as the group descends their high country perch in the 2:17 trailer. “We still don’t know why above 8,000 feet we’re safe.”

Of course, Mackie must leave the safety zone for the lower-elevation Boulder to get the life-saving medical treatment, which sets in motion the race against “earth’s new apex predators,” as Maddie Hasson’s unnamed character calls them. “Humanity’s final fight begins at 8,000 feet” is a very Colorado tagline, too.

The movie, also co-starring Morena Baccarin (“Deadpool,” “Serenity”), is produced by some of the same folks as “a Quiet Place” and “The Purse,” both franchise-birthing titles that drew viewers to theaters en masse. “Elevation,” which is releasing exclusively in theaters on Nov. 8, seems both grittier and more action-oriented than those, but we’ll see when it’s finally here.

Principal photography began in November 2022 in various Colorado locations, and finished up in late March 2023. At the time it started, “Elevation” was confirmed as “the biggest production to come to Colorado since (Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 film) ‘The Hateful Eight,'” wrote Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman in an email to The Denver Post.

The film was mostly shot around Golden and Boulder, with George Nolfi directing, and Brad Fuller as principal producer, Zuckerman said. It cost about $18 million while employing nearly 300 cast and crew, according to the .

Watch the new trailer below.

But the economics behind the state’s planned rebates for season 2 of Amazon Prime’s “Coach Prime” mini-documentary series, whose producers have said they plan to spend $4.9 million in Colorado during filming, help to quantify some of it.

That was the message last week when the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media announced that “Coach Prime,” was already shooting here. (Season 1 debuted last year while Sanders was still coaching at Jackson State University in Mississippi.)

The state office — part of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (COEDIT) — said the $4.9 million spend could result in $500,000 in rebates to SMAC Productions, Inc., which is making the show. To lure and hold productions in Colorado, the office promotes rebates on qualified local spending to out-of-state efforts like this one.

But different rebates apply to different productions, said Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman. “If I was a citizen and saying, ‘Is this money well spent?’ then you look at the multiplier effect, where their … spend will have a $9 million impact. It’s to the benefit of the state.”

The multiplier effect, which the office touts in its drive for larger budgets from the state legislature, looks at the total economic impact of the production, from direct production spending to its secondary effect on local restaurants, bars, hotels and other services.

The state’s , which has in the past rewarded films such as Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” “Furious 7” and “Our Souls at Night,” specifically offers a performance-based rebate for up to 20% of qualified expenses. To receive a rebate, Colorado-based projects need to spend at least $100,000, while out-of-state projects are required to spend $1 million or more. Projects must employ a majority of Colorado residents in their crew and the spending must be audited.

“Another element is making sure at least 50% of the crew hired per project is Coloradans,” said Airelle Brachman, deputy film commissioner. “And with smaller projects like (the Amazon series), they try to hire 80%.”

“Coach Prime” will employ 17 locals out of a total crew of 32, according to documents filed with COEDIT. That allows them to train to a level where more out-of-state productions would be willing to hire local camera operators, sound crews, and others, rather than importing them from Los Angeles.

The film office paid $17.1 million in incentives to 72 projects from 2013 to 2019, . Feature films and TV series only represent about two-thirds of the incentivized projects, while video games, commercials, and one-off programs make up the rest.

The program has come under fire from legislators in the past due to misallocation of funds and what some lawmakers argue is an ineffective and unaccountable system, The Denver Post has reported. Before the pandemic, the legislature was granting as little as $750,000 a year to the state’s film incentive fund, forcing the COEDIT to shift money from other programs to keep the fund from completely collapsing and production crews disbanding because of a lack of work.

It was revived in late 2021 with a record $6 million boost. But that still makes it less than competitive with states that offer up to 30% in rebates or more, and that have budgets upwards of $100 million, such as New Mexico.

Zuckerman said the less obvious examples of his office’s rebates include a 300% jump in lodging, food services, and other business when “Furious 7,” part of the “Fast & Furious” film series, set up in Salida in 2017 to film a precarious chase scene on Pikes Peak.

“Three members of the crew came through and bought $17,000 worth of knives in Salida,” Zuckerman said. “And two people on the crew bought houses in Salida. When all these people from California drove out for (Quentin Tarantino’s) “Hateful Eight,” they bought $140,000 worth of snow tires in Telluride. These are the numbers you don’t see.”

Colorado’s film industry could surpass $1 billion in annual sales and grow into a nationally attractive scene for filmmakers if legislators can commit to offering more economic incentives, according to a study released by the state in January.

The tourism bump is a significant part of that calculation. Estes Park’s Stanley Hotel, the inspiration for Stephen King’s “The Shining,” now sees 200,000 visitors annually paying $30 a pop for ghost tours, Zuckerman said. It may be an outlier case — “The Shining” is legendary and known globally — but it shows the potential.

“They do $6 million a year in ghost tours, and another $2 million in the gift shop,” Zuckerman said. “And those are people who aren’t even staying at the hotel.”

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But it’s not all bad news. The strike could lead to an uptick in the state’s already robust reality-TV scene, which includes fixer-upper shows such as HGTV’s “Rock the Block” and “Rico the Rescue,” and the Netflix dating series “Love is Blind.” Those are supported by Colorado’s production rebates, and without actors (represented by the SAG-AFTRA union) or writers (repped by the WGA), there are no picket lines to cross, said Donald Zuckerman, Colorado film commissioner.

“We’ve been telling anybody who wants to make something here that has actors to wait and see what happens,” said Zuckerman, also a veteran film producer. “We think the independents are going to be entitled to waivers. … Those producers have no say in the final outcome of this fight so why not get as many people working as possible? Then at least you have some income.”

SAG on Tuesday issued a list of 39 productions that were approved to continue filming during the strike, , amid 150 applications for the waivers. The shows can go on as long as they’re not affiliated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), or Hollywood studios. Zuckerman is hoping this will be the case in Colorado.

But with so much uncertainty — including whether SAG and WGA can negotiate favorable streaming revenues and limit the use of AI — there’s no timeline for a return, even as new Colorado productions languish amid stalled release, promotion and distribution schedules.

“A lot depends on how much money we have,” said Zuckerman, whose office’s operating budget last year came in at $500,000, along with $750,000 in incentive funding. “What we strive to do is first take care of the filmmakers and (actors) who live here.”

Colorado attracts fewer big-budget productions than states such as New Mexico and Utah due to the relatively small size of its incentives offered by Zuckerman’s — itself part of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Its budget, which is debated and approved by state legislators, goes as much toward union-skirting reality TV shows and out-of-state movies as it does car commercials and video game companies. However, Colorado’s film industry could surpass $1 billion in annual sales and grow into a nationally attractive scene if legislators can commit to offering more economic incentives, according to a study released by the state in January. That gives statewide boosters a reason to champion a swift agreement.

As of October 2022, roughly $30 million in incentives had been paid or conditionally approved for Colorado productions through the TV and film office. Zuckerman reported $182.8 million in actual and predicted production spend, and 6,023 cast and crew hires from the start of the program in 2013 through calendar year 2022.

Notable Colorado productions have included the Netflix original “Our Souls at Night” (Robert Redford, Jane Fonda), “The Hateful Eight” (Quentin Tarantino), “Furious 7” (Vin Diesel), Cop Car (Kevin Bacon, Cameron Manheim); and “Dear Eleanor” (Jessica Alba, Luke Wilson). Colorado also enjoyed screen time in the Bravo TV series, “Top Chef,” and since 2018 has granted rebates to 16 projects produced locally to air on Food Network, PBS, Facebook Live, HGTV and Velocity Channel, .

The diverse nature of productions would seem to give Colorado some wiggle room during the strike. But Colorado actors, writers and filmmakers are already suffering from strike disruptions, as well as recent moves by streaming services such as Max and Disney+ to unilaterally yank hundreds of hours of content from the platforms as a tax write-off.

“The strike is a pain, but it’s necessary because I don’t feel like we’re getting what we should on streaming,” said Ben Roy, a comic, musician and co-creator of the Denver-set sitcom “Those Who Can’t.” “It’s like COVID again: no one’s buying anything, no one’s talking about anything. Writing is often a nightmare anyway, and this isn’t helping.”

Roy watched as Max (formerly HBO Max) pulled all three seasons of “Those Who Can’t” from its platform. Not only is the show unavailable to stream anywhere, it’s not even available for purchase. Roy and fellow Grawlix comedy-trio members Adam Cayton-Holland and Andrew Orvedahl — who, like Roy, starred in and wrote for “Those Who Can’t” — can’t get a clear answer from their former network partners.

“The word we’re getting is that it’s because they switched to this new Max platform from HBO Max,” he said this week. “So we’re hoping the show comes back at some point. But (the studio) can still do foreign deals, which we’re not getting (details) on. And that’s part of what the unions are arguing for right now — more transparency.”

“I think that the whole world is looking at us right now, because human beings in all different walks of life are being replaced by robots,” said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA, in a  this week.

It can’t go on forever, Zuckerman said, particularly as industry machinery such as publicity and promotion begins to falter with layoffs. Low-paid background actors, who make up about 60% of SAG, are losing their livelihoods, and the well-heeled studios are digging in for a long, expensive fight. About 78% of top companies have already rated AI and machine learning as critical revenue drivers, according to software company .

One solution is having the highest-paid Hollywood executives and actors take a 25% pay cut and “try to narrow the difference” between the highest and lowest earners, according to with mogul Barry Diller. Another is agreeing to some amount of AI in productions, given the expense of hiring, feeding and putting up background actors.

An agreement favorable to the unions would certainly benefit Colorado creatives, given their modest profile. But in an industry driven by multimillion-dollar profits and losses, that seems unlikely, experts say.

“None of these people have any money and they all have another job, and so what do they do?” Zuckerman said. “These are people who needed to get paid yesterday.”

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A narrative feature about the long-running Denver LGBTQ club Tracks, which was announced in June, has been approved to receive $800,000 by the state’s Economic Development Commission, according to a statement today from the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media.

That adds to a number of film and TV projects already underway in Colorado, such as the thriller-feature “Elevation.” The latter is “the biggest production to come to Colorado since (Quentin Tarantino’s 2015 film) “The Hateful Eight,” wrote Colorado film commissioner Donald Zuckerman in an email to The Denver Post.

“Elevation,” which will star Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin and Maddie Hasson, is shooting with George Nolfi directing, and Brad Fuller as principal producer, Zuckerman said. It’s the largest feature to come to Colorado in eight years, and will spend about $18 million and employ nearly 300 cast and crew, .

The producers of the historically-inspired Tracks feature “Making Tracks” were approved after saying they expect to spend nearly $4.5 million locally and hire 100 local cast and crew members. Production is set to begin in and around Denver in April 2023 and continue through July 2023.

Last month, Zuckerman and his office approved a Colorado Film Incentive for the reality-TV show “Rock the Block,” a home-renovation competition series from HGTV. It’s currently the network’s Nov. 1 competition reality show; the fourth season will be filming in Berthoud, Zuckerman said. It was approved for a $697,000 film incentive by the Economic Development Commission, in light of its $3.5 million local spend, with 46 local crew members. Production is set to begin this fall and continue through the end of this month.

Additionally, the premiere of the new History Channel series entitled “Denver Gold Rush,” was shot in the Mile High City in July and premiered as the series’ lead episode on Nov. 9 (it’s a travel show and isn’t based here permanently).

Along with ongoing reality TV series and various TV and online commercials, the renewed activity in Colorado is suddenly helping it catch up to neighboring states. The go-to state of New Mexico offers , depending on the production, and Utah offers up to 25%. Colorado’s program launched in 2012 with up to 20%, but some productions have negotiated for more — such as “Elevation’s” 25% rebate.

Colorado, whose film rebate muscle has been criticized as both too little and poorly managed by past state legislatures, is also anticipating “High Science,” a reality TV series of cannabis that comes with the pedigree of “Pawn Stars” and “Duck Dynasty” producers. It was approved in October for a $221,000 film incentive on an estimated spend of $1.1 million locally, with 26 local cast and crew members. Production has already begun and will continue through February 2023.

The “Elevation” project also comes with big names, including the writer of “The Bourne Ultimatum” (director-writer Nolfi) and the producer of the “A Quiet Place” horror franchise (Fuller).

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In director Jason Reitman’s take on Colorado Sen. Gary Hart����ap 1987 infidelity scandal, Hart (as played by Hugh Jackman) stages an unusual press conference at Morrison’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, hides at his cabin in Evergreen and considers damage control from his Denver campaign office.

In Spike Lee’s Oscar-worthy “B���������찭�����Բ�������,” Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first-ever black police detective, infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan via phone after answering a classified newspaper ad. Protests and secret meetings fan out across the Pikes Peak-adjacent city, adding to the late-1970s racial tension.

Each of these films, which were inspired by historical events and released theatrically nationwide this year, would not exist without their Colorado connections. And yet none of them was filmed here.

From indie flicks to big-budget Hollywood productions, Colorado has frequently been passed over as a filming location due to its relatively paltry state-funded rebates for productions. And the problem is not getting any better.

“When they were making ‘Hostiles’ (a 2017 Western starring Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike), in my discussion with Scott Cooper (the director) about locations, he told me they needed a fort. I told him about Bent����ap Fort (in La Junta). He looked it up online and said it would save a lot of money if they didn’t have to build it,” said Donald Zuckerman, Colorado film commissioner. “They had not locked locations elsewhere, and he definitely was very interested in coming here. Thereafter, he even had John Lesher, the producer, call me about incentives.”

At the time, Zuckerman’s Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media was receiving $3 million in annual funding as part of , and the “Hostiles” crew had about $35 million to spend on location shooting. But Colorado couldn’t compete with New Mexico, whose robust film program set aside $9 million for “Hostiles” — more than triple what Colorado could offer.

“We had very little money, so they didn’t come here,” Zuckerman said. “But they did come across the border to Archuleta County to shoot a scene with a lot of trees and hills, which they couldn’t find in New Mexico.”

LONG READ: The story of Colorado Springs’ first black detective joined the KKK — and became the subject of Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman”

Other films released this year, from the Coen Brothers’ to the new  shot scenes of varying length in Colorado, too, despite not getting state rebates. But Zuckerman is frustrated by what could have been if the terms were more attractive, given that his office’s budget was down to $750,000 this year — less than a third of what it was only a couple years ago.

That����ap due largely to a harsh 2017 audit that faulted the Colorado film office for making payments to companies that were ineligible for incentives. The report, presented to lawmakers on June 5, 2017, only looked at nine projects totaling $1.9 million — a small sample of the dozens of productions that received $16.1 million in incentives since the film office began awarding them in 2013. Not one of those analyzed met the requirements for proper documentation.

“I feel like we had issues, we made mistakes,” Zuckerman told The Denver Post at the time. “But ultimately the work was done here, Colorado did benefit, local people were hired, money was spent.”

That was under Gov. John Hickenlooper’s administration, which weathered criticism for supporting the film office — despite Zuckerman’s claim of a 40-to-1 return on investment for the film-money spent here. With governor-elect Jared Polis set to take office Jan. 8, there’s reason for optimism, Zuckerman said.

“We don’t have guidance from the incoming administration yet, but what I would like to see is a transferable tax credit,” he said. “Most states with big film programs have that, and the advantage versus a rebate is that a transferable credit doesn’t count against the TABOR limitation.”

That����ap significant in Colorado since, under TABOR, the state can only collect so much tax revenue before giving it back to citizens. What remains usually goes to the highest-priority programs.

“Every year when we’re looking for money, we’re competing with state senators who are looking to fund children’s eyeglasses, for example,” Zuckerman said. “It����ap hard to make the argument that film is more important than children’s eyeglasses. But if we weren’t fighting over the same bucket, we could compete with some of these other states.”

Colorado’s film-rebate program is only about six years old, but it has supported notable titles since launching such as “The Hateful Eight,” “Furious 7,” “Cop Car,” “Being Evel” and many smaller indie films, TV shows, video games and commercials.

An out-of-state company must spend at least $1 million here in order to receive 20 percent of it back, and the cast and/or crew must be made up of at least 50 percent Colorado residents — bolstering Zuckerman’s assertion that these productions have a measurable workforce benefit.

“In addition to crew positions being paid, there are all the secondary industries: hotels, hospitals, dry cleaners, car rental offices, retail,” said Mariel Rodriguez-McGill, Colorado’s deputy film commissioner. “We’ve heard anecdotal stories about people buying a second home here after visiting.”

But despite the large amount of reality-TV production in the metro area (including a recent season of and several reality-TV companies that are based here), and a growing film culture from renowned festivals in Telluride, Aspen and Denver, Colorado still can’t compete with states like New Mexico, Georgia and Louisiana, which have the rebates and film-ready crews to draw the biggest projects looking to shoot outside of Los Angeles and New York City.

New Mexico, the land of “Breaking Bad” and “Longmire,” recently announced that streaming giant Netflix would open a new production studio in Albuquerque, with a commitment in the state over the next five years, according to the Albuquerque Journal. The story mentioned productions such as “The Ridiculous 6,” “Messiah” and “Godless” as having been produced there recently.

“This big, opening scene in ‘Godless,’ which is getting a lot of attention on Netflix right now, was supposed to take place in Crested Butte,” Zuckerman said. “Movies don’t always tell us what their budget is, but they will call us and ask how much money we have left for them in a given year. If it����ap a big movie, and I say we have $350,000 left, I hear a click on the other end because that����ap the end of the discussion.”

Money is always the driving factor in production considerations, but if a film is willing to take less than Colorado’s effective rebate of 20 percent, Zuckerman is happy to work with them. “Our Souls at Night,” which stars Robert Redford and , shot at locations such as the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, and in Florence and Colorado Springs, in 2016.

“The larger projects we negotiate and often get them to come for considerably less than 20 percent,” Zuckerman said. ” ‘Our Souls at Night’ projected a $17 million spend, and agreed to come for $1.5 million — about a 9 percent incentive.”

With a filming legacy encompassing everything from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” to  and regular calls from producers looking for a gorgeous, Western location, Zuckerman knows Colorado isn’t finished yet as a big-screen backdrop. But something has to change.

“We could have a billion-dollar business here in three years if we wanted it,” he said. “But we would have to shell out a little money to make it happen.”

But, especially in a state like Colorado, where the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights hobbles budget-writers, it����ap long been reasonable to wonder whether it makes sense to give big tax breaks to millionaire Hollywood directors who decide to work here. Now an finds that Colorado’s film office (which doles out such tax breaks to movie producers, makers of documentaries and television shows, advertisers and even video game designers) has kept such sloppy records it can’t truly justify its own existence.

It����ap not out-there to suggest the audit could lead to the end of this program, though of course its defenders say any problems uncovered by auditors can be remedied. Officials should have known better. The more controversial a program, the better its rules and records must be kept.

No, the . There are no saucy details of high-flying decadence within the nearly 70-page report.

But the state auditor’s findings are maddening nonetheless. Revelations include that the state gave money to film companies that didn’t qualify for the tax breaks. A review of nine projects found that not a single one of them met all the requirements for proper record-keeping. Of the $1.9 million in tax breaks extended in the reviewed projects, $1.3 million of the incentives were paid out before a contract was even executed.

Film office officials didn’t have clear guidelines for how companies should document expenses. Several companies that received tax breaks failed to provide proof that at least 50 percent of workers employed on the shoot were Coloradans, a key requirement of the program meant to spur employment here. One company included payroll expenses for employees who didn’t have their state income tax withheld, though, of course, such expenses should only count when the taxes are withheld.

Companies turned in opaque expenditure reports that didn’t show where the money had even been spent, making it impossible to verify that Colorado benefited. Who knows? Maybe they spent it in Hollywood. Or Wyoming!

There were other problems, and overall the blunders and violations of policy led State Auditor Dianne Ray to conclude that the film office gave tax breaks to projects it shouldn’t have, and that the office isn’t able to verify its economic benefit to Colorado.

“When the Film Office is inconsistent in how it manages its incentives,” the report states, “it creates both the appearance and the actuality of inequity.”

The bottom line is that the film office, which has given out $10.6 million since 2012, can now hardly be trusted in its claim that its public investments are resulting in job creation and serious spending here.  film office spending, and wondered whether the economic impact the state reports as a result of the program actually adds up.

With more fundamental needs across the state, having a film office is clearly more a want than a need, even if it is cool to once in a while attract an auteur as famous as Tarantino.

Lawmakers should feel vindicated in their decision to dramatically reduce next year’s budget for the office and this is a place budget-writers should look to next time they’re trying to save a little more for school teachers, roads or prison cells for hateful criminals.

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