A small pool, awarded on merit
The number that shapes every Colorado plan is $5,000,000. That's the most the state can issue in film credits in a calendar year under HB24-1358, shared across every feature, series, commercial, and game that applies. A single $5,000,000 feature at 20% would use a sixth of it.
Because the pool is small, OEDIT doesn't run it first come, first served. The Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media (COFTM) recommends projects, and the Colorado Economic Development Commission (EDC) picks based on expected economic impact, jobs, and overall benefit to the state. It still helps to apply early in the calendar year, since the money resets each January.
The credit itself is a refundable tax credit: up to 20% of qualified Colorado expenses, or 22% if at least half of production happens in an Enterprise Zone. The amount can't exceed what the EDC approved, no matter what you actually spend.
Worked example: $1,000,000 feature in Pueblo
Assume at least half the shoot days fall inside an Enterprise Zone. Check the zone map for your actual addresses before you budget 22%.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total budget | $1,000,000 |
| Less: marketing and festival costs | ($25,000) |
| Less: out-of-state development and rights | ($40,000) |
| Less: flights booked through a national online agency | ($35,000) |
| Less: post finished in Los Angeles | ($100,000) |
| Qualified Colorado expenses | $800,000 |
| Credit at 20% | $160,000 |
| Credit at 22% (Enterprise Zone) | $176,000 |
The airfare line is the one producers miss. Flights count only if purchased through a Colorado-based travel agency or company, and insurance and bonding count only through a Colorado-based agent. Moving those purchases in-state costs nothing and adds to the base.
A $5,000,000 version and the wage limit
With $4,200,000 of qualified expenses, the credit is $840,000 at 20% or $924,000 at 22%. Wage limits matter at this level: payments over $1 million to any one employee or contractor are excluded, so a $1,400,000 actor deal contributes only $1,000,000. HB24-1358 also added payments to personal service corporations as a qualified local expenditure, which matters for talent paid through their own companies.
Steps, in order
- Submit the pre-application through the OEDIT portal with proof that at least 80% of financing is in place.
- If COFTM invites you, submit the full application: project description, pitch deck, bios, a Certificate of Good Standing from the Colorado Secretary of State, a budget top sheet highlighting Colorado spend, the 80% financing proof, and your tax year start date.
- Get on an EDC agenda. The commission meets on the third Thursday of each month, and materials are due three weeks before the meeting.
- Sign the state contract. All of this happens before principal photography and before you incur expenses you want counted.
- Shoot with at least 50% Colorado cast and crew, then have a CPA from COFTM's approved list review expenses under the office's agreed-upon procedures.
- Submit the closing package and claim the certificate on the company's Colorado return.
The closing package is bigger than most
COFTM wants more than receipts. The list includes Declaration of Colorado Residency forms for local hires, a payroll report with Colorado withholding and hours by employee, the workforce and vendor spend template, every call sheet combined into one document by date, a final crew list split into Colorado and non-qualifying crew, a Colorado vendor list with addresses, all cities and locations used, a copy of the finished production, at least five cleared stills, and distribution plans. A production office that keeps the call sheets and crew list organized during the shoot saves a week of work at wrap.
Activities must be finished by December 31, 2031, and the credit repeals January 1, 2032.
How Colorado compares
Arizona pays 15% base plus uplifts with a $125,000,000 yearly cap, far more room than Colorado's $5,000,000. New Mexico and Utah are the neighbors most Colorado-set stories get priced against. Model all three in the incentive calculator, see what counts as qualified spend, and read how film tax credits work. Every program is on the incentives hub.