Colorado treasures its long and loving relationship with the film industry. Before Hollywood produced little more than farms and fields, Colorado served as a center for motion picture production. Colorado was first used as a location site for the filming of the Festival of Mountain and Plain shot in Downtown Denver in October 1897. Between 1897 and 1923, hundreds of movie shorts were filmed here, with titles like Girls in Overalls, Pirates of the Plains, and Small Town Vamp.

The Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago pioneered the film industry in Colorado, opening a Denver office around the turn of the century. They shot more than forty films between 1911 and 1912 in the Canon City area, and stunt rider Tom Mix became a local favorite. But Selig left for warmer weather in Prescott, Arizona and eventually, Los Angeles. In January 1914, the Colorado Motion Picture Company moved to Canon City. After shooting half a dozen movies, their lead actress and cameraman drowned in a tragic accident while filming signaling the end of the production company.

In 1947, a Hollywood production crew journeyed to the area to shoot a prison story titled, Canon City. They hired local Karol Smith as a still photographer. After the company left town, Smith discussed the positive economic impact of location filming with his childhood friend, theatre owner Harold McCormick. They approached the Chamber of Commerce, and with this support, Smith trekked to Hollywood in the early 1950’s. Tucked under his arm was a book of photos of mountains and prairies and rivers and roads. He showed them to any producer who would listen to his pitch.

During the studio heyday in Hollywood and at the height of popularity of the Western, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, MGM and United Artists discovered that Colorado was a perfect site, offering spectacular scenery. Later, other producers chose the state for its diverse locations, services, crews, equipment, talent, and cooperation - and locals took note of the benefits.

On July 1, 1969, the Colorado Motion Picture and Television Commission, better known as the Colorado Film Commission, became the first legislated Film Commission in the world, established to promote the state for location filming and to serve as a liaison during production. The bill was introduced by then, Senator McCormick. Karol Smith served as its first Executive Director.

In 1970, Smith hired Sue Anderson, a student assistant from the University of Denver. She became the program’s first location specialist. Anderson wrote her master’s thesis on the birth of the Film Commission movement and this document became a blueprint for the establishment of similar offices around the country. Prior to the formation of an official association, Anderson organized the first Cineposium, a gathering of the handful of Film Commissions then in existence and hosted it in Denver in 1976. This educational conference is still held annually by the Association of Film Commissioners International.

Smith directed the Colorado Film Commission until his retirement in 1989. He also served on the advisory board of the Association of Film Commissioners International. Smith died at the age of 73 on June 30, 1992.

Stephanie Two Eagles joined the Colorado Film Commission in 1978 as a student intern and was subsequently hired. She has worked on thousands of projects as location/marketing specialist. In 1991, she created Colorado Camera Ready, a two-day certification program for communities wanting to attract production to their areas. Over 200 community representatives throughout Colorado have been trained to establish and operate local film offices through the Camera Ready seminars. Stephanie Two Eagles was asked to manage the Colorado Film Commission in December 2000. In March 2003, funding for the Colorado Film Commission was eliminated due to a state budget deficit.

In August 2004, Stephanie Two Eagles retired after 26 years with the Colorado Film Commission. She served on the Boards of Directors of Association of Film Commissioners International, the Denver Film Society, and the Colorado Film and Video Association, as well as on advisory boards for the Colorado Film School, the Digital Animation Program at the University of Colorado at Denver and the Art Institute of Colorado.

Today more than 300 Film Commission offices exist worldwide, in every state and many US cities, throughout Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, as well as places like New South Wales, Peru and the Arctic Circle. It is recognized globally that Film business is good business.

But motion pictures are only part of the long affair that Colorado has had with filming. Commercials became big business in the 1970’s and remain so today. Local production crews earned a solid reputation in the industry when Viacom produced nearly fifty episodes of Perry Mason, Father Dowling Mysteries, and Diagnosis: Murder in the state during the 1980’s and 1990’s. Television projects, documentaries, sports programming, independent features, commercials, industrials, catalogues, music videos - all of these are produced and shot here regularly, and they bring revenue and employment to the state.

The Colorado Film Commission was relaunched in June 2005 with the hiring of Martin Cuff, former Director of one of the world's busiest film destinations Cape Film Commission - Cape Town, South Africa as a private, non-profit organization with a limited amount of seed money from the Governor's Office of Economic Development and International Trade Office with the organization initially being supervised by The University of Colorado at Denver. The new offices for the Colorado Film Commission are housed at the Advance Colorado Center, 1625 Broadway in downtown Denver. The goal of this new entity is to become financially self-sufficient within a 3 year time frame so that the Colorado Film Commission will not be reliant upon State funding. Martin Cuff's primary tasks were to formulate the structure and mechanics of the new organization, seek public comment and buy-in and additionally to begin the fund-raising drive for the Colorado Film Commission.

Kevin Shand joined the staff of the Colorado Film Commission in December of 2005 serving as the Director of Locations Colorado. He was elevated to the position of Executive Director of the Film Commission in May 2006.

During his time with the Colorado Film Commission, Kevin has been actively involved with the creation and subsequent passage of Colorado’s first Film Inventive Legislative Bill that was recently signed by Governor Owens and working with communities across Colorado to help bring film and commercial productions to Colorado.

Kevin Shand began working in the film community when he was hired as Film Commissioner for the City of Modesto in 2000. He quickly expanded the film office to serve all nine cities in the Stanislaus County region.

Kevin Shand was also active with the California Film Commission, Film Liaisons in California Statewide and was elected a founding member of the Film Liaisons in California Statewide Board of Directors when it was reorganized as a non-profit organization in late 2004. He has also been an active member of the Association of Film Commissioners International since 2001.

A highlight in Colorado’s film history is the special recognition given to Denver-based filmmakers Donna Dewey and Carol Pasternak who were honored with Oscars in 1997 for their documentary short, A Story Of Healing. And in 2004, Sandy McLeod was nominated for an Academy Award for her documentary short, Asylum.

As changes in popular taste, competition, industry structure, and especially technology alter the landscape of filmmaking, every locale struggles to remain in the big picture. One thing is clear in Colorado: Our love of film is here to stay.