The state has blessed a $5 million incentive package to help bring production of writer-director Quentin Tarantino's eighth feature film to southwestern Colorado in December.
The state Economic Development Commission approved the package Friday morning, allowing the state to beat out rival locales Utah and Wyoming for filming.
Minutes after approval, state film commissioner Donald Zuckerman signed the necessary contracts so production spending could move forward in the state.
Budgeted at $44 million, Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" would be the most significant production undertaken in the state since the 1969 classic "True Grit" was shot here.
"The whole movie's going to be shot here, exteriors and interiors," Zuckerman said. "They're going to build it on a ranch."
The film's Colorado budget includes $15.7 million for payroll, including a Colorado crew of 168, and $9.35 million in other in-state spending, including lodging. The state rebate of $5 million represents 20 percent of that spending.
Prep work should begin early next month with shooting expected to start on Dec. 8 at the Schmid Ranch, on Wilson Mesa 10 miles west of Telluride. The crew would be housed in Telluride and take a break over the Christmas holiday.
The nearly 900-acre, high-mesa ranch, homesteaded in 1882, is under a conservation easement, which will require that the land be returned to its original state after filming is completed.
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