July 18, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Marianne Virgili, CCE
Executive Director
Marianne@glenwoodchamber.com
970-945-6589

Roaring Fork Valley continues to attract commercial filming

Glenwood Springs, CO - The greater Roaring Fork Valley continues to prove an attractive draw for commercial filming productions including national commercials for Daimler-Chrysler automobiles that were shot near Shoshone power plant on June 26 and will begin airing this week.

An approximately 45-person crew worked on the Glenwood Canyon shoot most of the day on driving scenes that took place from Shoshone power plant to the Hanging Lake Tunnels, said production manager Brooke Johnson of Production Services West in Denver. Crew members from Denver and Los Angeles were assisted by local State Patrol officers as well as officials from the Colorado Department of Transportation, Xcel Energy, and the Eagle and Aspen districts of the U.S. Forest Service.

"We had to mitigate a lot of things with the amount of equipment," Johnson said. "Without that cooperation we would have not been able to film in that exact location."

The Glenwood Canyon shot for Dodge vehicles featuring a new power train warranty will first air during "C.S.I." on July 18. The spot will feature vehicles from a Ram to an Intrepid driven in Glenwood Canyon, said Kristen Novak, account manager for BBDO Detroit advertising agency.

"Everything went smooth. The area was beautiful," Novak said of the local shoot. "Everyone was extremely helpful, very friendly; it was a great experience."

The extensive setup for the commercial featuring professional drivers included car-to-car, boom camera and motion control time-lapse shots, Johnson said. He said the national commercials were directed by Klaus Obermeyer Jr. of Aspen and produced by Flying Tiger Films from San Monica, Calif., for the Michigan advertising agency.

Traffic was not interrupted on I-70 during the all-day shoot as experienced State Patrol officers assisted with a "running road block," the production manager said. The City of Glenwood Springs and the No Name water association also provided special temporary water hydrant permits to fill water trucks so that the roads could be wet down for shooting purposes.

"The cooperation was marvelous. They helped put it together with very little notice," Johnson said.

After completing the Shoshone shoot, the production company filmed another series of national commercials on June 27-28 highlighting three vehicles for Jeep shot in the Castle Creek area near Aspen. The commercials featuring the power train warranty on Jeep Liberty Renegades, Wranglers and Grand Cherokees driven on mountainous Forest Service roads will begin airing during "60 Minutes" on July 17 and again during "The Agency" on July 20.

Initial contacts by production companies for these and other filming projects frequently are made through the Glenwood Springs Film Commission spearheaded by the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association. The chamber is in the process of creating an informative, promotional Web site for the local film commission at www.glenwoodfilmcommission.com.

Assisting the efforts of the local film commission is the newly created Roaring Fork Valley Film Group, a volunteer board of area community members interested in and involved in the filming industry. The mission statement of the board is to "work to attract and service the entertainment industries to the Roaring Fork Valley, including Garfield, Pitkin, Eagle and Gunnison counties through networking, communication and education as well as working with state, regional and Valley film commissions and agencies."

Film board members and Glenwood Springs chamber Executive Director Marianne Virgili recently attended an extensive Colorado Camera Ready seminar in Grand Junction presented by the Colorado Film Commission state agency. The Camera Ready workshop trained volunteers and film commission leaders on how best to attract and assist production companies that want to film on location in Colorado. The program teaches community contacts about the industry and how to respond to inquiries in order to draw filming dollars to their areas.

"In addition to our beautiful scenery, our communities welcome the revenue that is generated by the crews that come to film here. The Roaring Fork Valley continues to attract filming projects," said Linda Gerdenich of Aspen, co-chair of the RFV Film Group. Aside from the possibility of employing local professionals, filming projects utilize local services ranging from catering to car rentals to accommodations.

For individuals interested in helping to promote filming projects in the area, the Roaring Fork Valley Film Group meets regularly. For more information, contact board co-chair Gerdenich at 920-5082 or lindage@ci.aspen.co.us.

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