Ear to the ground

“Prepare for a lot of dumb Durangoans fumbling around with their new iPhones.”

– A piece of colored commentary on the upcoming AT&T takeover of much of Durango’s cellular community

Lost Hollywood

The push is on to bring Butch and Sundance back to Colorado. A bill has been introduced in Denver to restore the Centennial State to the silver screen.

Colorado was once a Hollywood darling and saw more than its fair share of celluloid. In Durango alone, crews selected the local backdrop for everything from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “Around the World in 80 Days” to “City Slickers” and “National Lampoon’s Family Vacation.” But Colorado has recently fallen into the B-movie zone, and producers have been drawn elsewhere by lucrative incentives, often in New Mexico and Montana.

However, Rep. Tom Massey, D-Poncha Springs, is sponsoring a bill that would add a surcharge to movie tickets sold in Colorado. If signed into law, the 10-cent charge per ticket would generate an estimated $4 million per year to boost the efforts of the Colorado Film Commission.

Meanwhile, a different breed of Hollywood has been preying on showbiz-hungry Coloradans. Last week, the Colorado Securities Commission slapped Poker Junkies Productions and Abundance Entertainment with cease-and-desist orders.

The companies had been cold-calling Coloradans to invest in the production of a movie to be called “Poker Junkies.” Abundance told investors that they were raising $15 million for the film and promised 110 percent return and the fabled “red carpet treatment.”

“You will get to go to the Hollywood premiere,” read Abundance Entertainment’s promotional material. “You get to have dinner and sit next to Gene Hackman at the dinner banquet, passing him the salt. When the credits roll, BOOM, you’re an executive producer. You are treated right.”  

Deal maker

Tinsel town is calling for at least one Coloradan. Durango’s Alexandra Wheeler is about to trade it all in on “Let’s Make a Deal.” The local woman will appear on the CBS game show next Mon., Feb. 21, at 10 a.m. on KCNC (Channel 16) and KREZ (Channel 13).

“Your neighbor could win a fantastic prize behind the door or even a luxurious vacation behind the curtain, and hopefully avoid a Zonk along the way,” the show’s promoters crooned.  

The original Let’s Make a Deal was hosted by Monty Hall and was a television game show staple in the 1960s and ’70s. Audience members dress in outlandish costumes in hopes of winning cash and prizes by making deals with the host. The resurrected program is hosted by Emmy Award-winner Wayne Brady.