Stephanie Two Eagles' job is picture perfect.

• Author: BRONIKOWSKI, LYNN
• Position: Colorado Film Commission program manager - Brief Article

STEPHANIE Two EAGLES GETS the strangest requests: "Where can we can find a buffalo herd?" "Can we get 17th Street shut down and zoom helicopters through the cavernous skyscrapers?" "Will the wheat be knee-high by mid-summer?"

As program manager for the Colorado Film Commission, it is Two Eagles' job to know the answers -- and work out the logistics -- whenever the film industry calls on Colorado to film commercials featuring buffalo herds or wheat fields. Or the full-length HBO movie, "The Laramie Project," which wraps up production this month in Denver.

"Our role is to get filmmakers here by marketing to them, and then once they get here, do whatever troubleshooting is needed to make sure everything goes right," said Two Eagles. She began with the film commission as a Metro State intern 21 years ago, and in January she was promoted to head the state agency.

In the case of IMAX film "Mountain Madness," Two Eagles arranged to close two blocks of 17th Street -- after rush hour, of course.

She made sure the Federal Aviation Administration knew about the helicopters' circuitous flight pattern, then convinced building management to allow parachutists to jump from the top floor of a downtown skyscraper. "That was a challenging one because it required so many logistics to be worked out," said Two Eagles. "But that's our job. and I couldn't ask for a better job."

When the crew for "The Laramie Project" -- the movie is based on the aftermath of the slaying of gay Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard -- began filming the HBO movie, crew members turned to Two Eagles for late-night dining recommendations. "They work late and wanted to know where they could get something to eat after midnight," she said.

Those are the small details Two Eagles must tend to. She has a much bigger picture in mind for the film commission.

The agency, she says, can be an economic-development tool for the state, and a particularly lucrative one for smaller communities that have beautiful or functional locations.

The commission keeps an extensive...