Denver director Monty Miranda heads for the (Hollywood) Hills

Monty Miranda's Skills.

Colorado’s small film scene lost one of its stars recently when Monty Miranda, director of the upcoming indie caper Skills Like This, packed up and moved to Los Angeles.

"Yes, I signed with a new production company in Santa Monica, BeachHouse Films, and my manager had been campaigning for [my wife and me] to move for about a year for more opportunity in the TV and movie worlds," e-mails Miranda, a longtime Colorado film advocate.

Between shoots of new work in Arizona, though, Miranda says he’ll be back in Denver to help get Skills ready for theaters. The Denver-based movie, which was lauded at the South by Southwest Film Festival and and other fests, is due to be released nationwide next spring. We hope to see him around these parts often. After all, without him, there’s not much of a local film scene left. -- Joel Warner