The 2021 Telluride Film Festival will be a five-day event (Thursday, 9.2 through Monday, 9.6) or one day longer than usual. For four years straight (’16 through ’19) Hollywood Elsewhere stayed at the Mountainside Inn, or the poor man’s Telluride lodging option. (I was also booked there last year until Covid stepped in.)

In ’16, ’17 and ’18 a four-day Mountainside rental was $1100. It went up a hundred or so in ’19, and then last year it jumped to $1400 and change. The Mountainside’s five-day fee for next September’s festival including taxes is $1700, I’ve just learned. And all you get is a modest-sized motel room with a king-sized bed, a bathroom, no closets, a little freezer and a crummy little writing table and a chair.

So I’ve put a deposit on a bigger, roomier place in the woods. It’s a mile or two beyond the Telluride airport (about a 12-minute drive) — two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, outdoor deck, nice kitchen, etc. $1600 and change but I’ll probably be splitting the expense so I’m only looking at $800-something. A short drive in and out of town every day in not a problem.