“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ― Sun Tzu

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Align Yourself With Joy and Hope – CDI Updates!

The hazelnut coffee just sets more mornings right. I’m looking forward to getting into talking about films but I wanted to speak into a few things. First, Disneyland – I made a mention after my blog that I felt was worth sharing here. The world and especially here in America feel so divided by interests. Be that religion, politics, sports teams – you name it. For the day at Disney I saw a mass of people unified by joy of Disney. All types of people old and young and all walks of life immersed in Disney. Tough looking individuals wearing mouse ears and eating mouse shaped pretzels, smiling like little kids. It was the most unity I’ve felt in a very long time. Walt Disney was a great man and his dream is still working its magic. It was an unexpected surprise and one I deeply appreciated.

This next observation is not aimed at any one person but at many. On a daily basis I see folks using social media mainly FB but I am sure it is elsewhere, as a venting board. Negative comments mad or sad or victim rants usually with no frame of reference. First on a personal level what you manifest affects you. If you feed just on negativity your outlook will be one of negativity. You are drinking that poison daily. To rant about something or someone without any reference screams out of balance. If someone deserves a tongue lashing by all means call them, text them, email them, write them a letter (Look it up children) but, don’t just rant publicly. This must tie into non-confrontational folks. Like in management proper addressing of issues is behind closed doors. Because you want to improve this person. But trying to give someone a public shaming makes one look weak. And in a work situation you want a balanced person who if unhappy will talk to management not go off and just bite the hand that feeds them. All those friends that see a public rant aren’t going to pay your bills when you lose a job. Personally you are defining you, your brand, your process of conflict resolution. People paint their own perception and bemoan why they can’t get ahead. I can think of at least a dozen people, good people, who self sabotage themselves. People post things hoping to be seen and they are often seen/heard but the message they send are usually not what they want to send out. I’m not saying don’t be human. But it is like not sending that email to your boss when mad. Sleep on it. Think on it. Send something when you feel balanced.

It hurts my heart when I see people caught in a negativity trap of their own making. When you post something positive you are not ignoring the ugly. You are giving hope. The negative has its followers and they will keep it flowing but consuming it non stop rots you. I could watch enough animal abuse videos before my first cup of coffee to ruin my day. But some share the positive stories that give us hope. And those people likely feel better as they go about their day. So try it. Also if you represent a brand, sometimes you as an artists, keep it professional. Many that are sponsored by major labels want to be associated with positive people. I’m proud of activists who devote their lives to their causes because they are often swimming in daily negativity. But, if you are selling yourself individually or as someone who manages people or projects you need balance. I’m getting off my soap box now but please understand that we each say something with what we show, say, do. That burden can be heavier when you’re a role model. Parent, coach, boss, John Cena – I think you get the picture. Advertising that you can’t handle stress is not going to help anyone. Go walk in the woods. Find your peace. Smile. Spread love. Be like Walt. (Disney)

FILM UPDATES:

  1. WILD FAITH CHRISTMAS – I’m excited for all the good folks who loved the original WILD FAITH to get their new adventure. 11/3/2026 is the DVD and streaming release date. We have Red Letter Awards in August and Will Rogers Awards recognition in September.
  2. AI JESUS – We have just about finished our delivery of distribution assets. I just need to make sure the stills and screen captures are to both theatrical and home video. Dreamscape Productions will be the point on the theatrical and they are prepping for all that. We might enter a few festivals and the BTS video should be releasing soon.
  3. ROM COMS MUST DIE – While we wait for the Summer studio films to blow over we are doing a brew and view in Lansing, MI on August 28th which is a Friday. Adam Towner and I will be testing the projection system at this studio and we’ll start promoting very soon. 10/2/2026 is the home video release date. This dark comedy is really going to stand out from the comedy horror pack due to being highly original. I hope many of you can join us on Friday the 28th of August.
  4. DEVIL’S PASS – The ship is fueling up and we are working the last few cast and crew spots. Logistics are being worked out and in about 7 weeks we will roll cameras. This is going to be a rip-roaring fun story to tell. It is always hard to get the foundation put in but we are done with that. Now it is addressing some of the support aspects of the film. On a personal note, last week I went to the local flea market and found two wardrobe pieces for my character in the film. A shirt and a hat like what I had identified to purchase but I only paid $9 for both versus $120 in my Amazon cart. I love to buy and keep my own wardrobe incase of sequels or just to have.

DEVELOPMENT:

RETURN TO ALGONA is likely the most developed of the new projects with over 1/2 the funding committed. I’m still in talks with brands/sponsors and we have not even opened the opportunity to investors yet. Being that this is a follow up film I will give the SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA backers a first opportunity. This is all preserving true history that is important to many good people. My goal is to have all the funding commits by the years end and I believe we will.

I am going to finish both MBF2 and WF3 by year’s end. That is another goal of mine. I know we have some projects in development with Curran Jacobs and Katharsys Media as well. I almost have the three finished films off my plate save promotion and that will open up a lot of time. I know I have a few other projects being discussed to produce with the CDI tribe and a few books that might tap into my screenwriting.

WRAP UP: I’m looking forward to a great week. We will be testing the ROM COMS MUST DIE this week and also I have a make up soccer match since wildfire smoke cancelled all the games in our league. I met this weekend with John Mashni who handles legal and assists me with all CDI’s dispersals. We have some great momentum and I’m thankful to be where we are. The end of this year will have many wonderful moments with releases, awards events and new filming. I want to take this moment again to thank all our cast, crew, vendors, investors, sponsors and of course our audiences.

I want to thank those artists that have reached out with scripts but we are not in need of any at this time. We’ve got enough scripts for a decade plus and if you don’t have funding it will not be considered to be in the production flow. It is a hard game as a screenwriter I know this first hand. But I try to answer all the submissions and give some positive motivation to keep submitting to people.

I’m going to just off here and perhaps eat a few eggs. I might try to do some more work around the property although I think heat and rain are making a return. Don’t ever give up on your dreams but always evaluate and adjust your plans. I do believe in hard work pays off. Smart work pays off faster. I think many fail because they focus on the fun parts but neglect the hard business part of the work. SHOW BUSINESS. Both parts are important but the latter will take you from hobbyist to professional. I just told a friend who has a relative working on his first screenplay to take business classes. You and your passion for writing will hone the writing part but what do you do once you have your masterpiece? I’ve optioned/sold only a handful of scripts in 40 years. It is not easy but it is not impossible. Again, dream on my friends! Dream on! Coffee cheers. DJ

Posted by  |  July 26, 2026 | Categories: Blogroll | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Family, Friends and Films – Updates

I’m sipping my hazelnut coffee and sitting down to reflect with all of you. I have had a rollercoaster of exciting highs and sad lows as is life. Last Thursday I headed to CA on one of the first real vacations in recent memory. It was a trip to Disneyland which I’ve never been to. I’ve only been to Disney World as a child a few times since we had grandparents in Florida. Just before leaving I heard from a dear friend that his father was moved into end of life care. His father was more than just a friend’s father. He was the head of the family that babysat me when I was young up until five years of age. But they stayed lifelong friends with our family and I recall many pool trips and New Year’s Eve parties in the 70’s with music, drinks, laughter and games. I will say goodbye this week. The morning of Disney I saw that one of our actors from SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA (SNIS) had beat stage 4 cancer! A few hours later I discovered that another amazing actor Garry Nation who had been in SNIA and a handful of other roles from CHASING THE STAR, MAN’S BEST FRIEND and HARSENS ISLAND REVENGE was moved into hospice. I dedicated that fun day to those on their way out. A reminder to never take any day for granted. The years click by and losing people is a part of life but doesn’t mean I have to like it. Like us all I still feel like I did in my youth. My immaturity dragged with me as life grows longer. I’m blessed that both my parents just had another birthday and I did as well. I am fully aware that not all people still have parents and I’m so appreciative. I’m appreciative of the good friends and family I have in my life.

The mountains that I climb as an artist have been many. It is never easy but always rewarding. There is conflict, setbacks and obstacles in all professions. I’m appreciative that I get to live my dream and I’ve sacrificed much to get to this point. I watched others achieve success professionally and personally while I struggled. But I’ve gotten to a place where I’m just steadily creating with our tribe of artists. Each one emerges into the world and is received differently. I’ve seen audiences laugh, cry and be deeply moved by our storytelling. I’ve heard from people whose life was made better by a story. I’ve had veterans shake my hand for bringing important topics to light. After much work we’re about to see three new CDI film release to the world market. We’ll discuss these and some other updates below.

CDI UPDATES:

  1. Working backwards starting with AI JESUS. we’ve almost delivered all the assets and we should have home video dates by the end of the month. But some exciting news is that we’ve partnered once again with the good folks at Dreamscape Productions to once again take point on the theatrical release of the film. This film talks about the good, the bad and the ugly of technology and especially AI that is a hot topic everywhere. It has been an amazing tool but one that is causing a shift in society whereas a process or service can be done in seconds and at no real cost. This threatens many occupations as many advancements have over the last several hundred years. I’m not PRO or AGAINST certain technologies. As a storyteller working in our medium I try to responsibly work with each new technology. Before digital we shot several movies on film. Before drones we hung a camera man outside a helicopter to capture a beautiful landscape. You can’t stop advancements, evolution and change. But ignoring some business because they used AI to create a banner or poster is a little extreme for me. But everyone is allowed to have their feelings on something and I respect that. But this film also examines what AI may or may not do to religion. It is a very deep film but wrapped in a lighthearted comedy very much like the O’GOD films from past years. But it does mix in a little WAR GAMES vibe also from many years ago. It will go to theaters for a while before it hits streaming and DVD. We will explore a premiere for this film soon. Also consider a watch on CDI’s THE QUEST TRILOGY of films. That being FORTY NIGHTS, CHASING THE STAR and THE CHRIST SLAYER. Follow our FB page!
  2. ROM COMS MUST DIE – The new home video poster has been released and the film is continuing its pop up tour of theatrical and a few brew N views. The next looks to be in Lansing, MI at the Midtown Brewery on August 28th. That will get locked in next week. I would like to see a few specialty drinks and I think this will be a fun romp. The DVD and streaming release on 10/2/26 and that will be exciting also. We hope to announce a few more Aug/Sept theatrical screenings once we are past the Summer glut of studio films. I will continue to give a few special media sneak peeks as we get closer to the home video release. The response so far has been great! A dark comedy dipping into horror that makes fun of our own independent film industry. If you like to laugh CDI has had a few great comedies and some films just have really funny moments. Check out BEST YEARS GONE, BIGFOOT, UFOS and JESUS for a few good laughs.
  3. WILD FAITH CHRISTMAS – One of the most exciting releases for me is the follow up to WILD FAITH. That film pulled a large audience, tens of millions who loved the characters and the world. We tried to launch a season 1 TV show but anywhere the money lingered also loss of creative control also lingered. So we made a second feature film and what a beautiful film it is. The TV series has been updated to take place after the second film but I expect many of the same roadblocks but maybe not. But I will say that the 3rd feature film working title WF3 is underway. One of the biggest responses I got from people having just seen film 2 was when will film 3 come out. We will do either a 3rd film or the TV series…or both! But I am very excited to release this second one. It might go into a few theaters again on the 2026 Christmas run up. But 11/3/2026 is the DVD and streaming release and the tens of millions of fans can finally see the film. We don’t control the theaters that will play our films. The owners are starting to see the value of independent films again so maybe that will help theaters and filmmakers. Go and watch the original and get ready for another adventure.

DEVELOPMENT– When the going was good we really put the pedal down on the production slate hence why we have three films releasing this year. We at CDI entered into an exciting project called DEVIL’S PASS working with a writer/company that I’ve admired for a few years. Along with our friends at McGraw Multimedia we’ve been putting everything together. There has been a few parts of the process that went a tad slower due to multiply parties but we’ve worked out each and every issue. The bank account opened last week and I’m wrangling to get all the committed funds into the account. Everything follows an order of business and I like being ahead of schedule versus playing catch up. It is hard when everyone wants everything done ASAP. But we have an incredible team of cast and crew that is almost complete. I’ve been rather uncomfortable growing out this facial hair to play this next role. But it’s the way every film and acting role has developed. Step by step. Layer by layer.

RETURN TO ALGONA – the follow up to SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA our WW2 film is in development. We’ve started talking with sponsors and we’ll soon be also talking to investors. I was further inspired watching BAND OF BROTHERS in full finally. Again our film looks at the changes from the 40’s to the 60’s. My goal is to try and have all our commits to fund by the end of the year. We would film in Nov of next year if we can achieve our goal. If you have interest in supporting this film feel free to reach out. We have over half the funding committed.

Again, I could go on about Development as that is always underway. But I only like to discuss when things start to become solid. But this is the years of work behind the scenes by producers that never gets seen. Many show up on set ready to film but don’t understand the time it took. Countless hours that can result in nothing or in a new story coming into the world. I hope I can keep doing this until late in life. Family, friends and films.

WRAP UP – We came back from beautiful CA weather to humidity. As if that wasn’t enough, add wildfire smoke. I was ready for a good soccer match last Thursday but the league cancelled all games. That is a good thing with how bad the smoke was. The plants have been growing well in the heat and humidity. The chickens have enjoyed the property with lots of shade and areas to keep cool. I hope the smoke stays away so we can play our soccer match this week and our make up game too. Today we have the flea market down the road and so I’ll be stopping down to see if I can find any character items. I love slowly pulling together all that. I’m going to go get after a few eggs. I hope you all have/had an enjoyable restful weekend. I had calls right up to 6 pm on Friday and was ready to rest my brain. I will be ready to attack my TO DO’s for next week and give everything I do my very best effort. So until we speak again next week I hope you all have a wonderful productive week ahead.

Coffee Cheers! DJ

Posted by  |  July 19, 2026 | Categories: Blogroll | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment