Rest, Wins, Losses and CountingYour Blessings!

(Wild Faith Christmas is coming!)

The colder weather slowly creeping into Michigan makes sleeping a deeper experience. I’m happy that I do get such a good rest at night. I know that is a major issue for many people. You need to check in your daily pressures and troubles at the door and allow yourself to get a good rest. I believe that the proper wind down is important which is not eating late at night. Herbal tea is good for relaxing the mind and body. I read every night for a few to relax my mind. I’m on the last story of the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I had a good meeting yesterday with one of our enthusiastic young filmmakers who will be serving as a production assistant. We reviewed how to read a schedule and call sheets. It was great to see his excitement and he even showed up early for our meeting. All good signs. We have been still looking for two crew folks that we could work without but would be nice to have. It is hard with some of these individuals to get full commits for a handful of days.

If you haven’t guessed my writing has gone off in the direction of our next film, The Secret of the Kingdom Chip or just The Kingdom Chip to shorten it. We roll cameras in a few short days. I’ve been pulling in our resources and aligning everything. I drafted all the cast and crew agreements and still need to do a few more docs tomorrow for my producer team. The art team has been hard at work. Our studio scenes are on point and I’m excited to work those as well. It is odd that most of my acting work was done in advance and will also take place after the shoot. It is an exciting new experience for me.

We have been reeling in many new sponsors who align with our next film. Also we have a few investor slots we’ve been working. But most of that is our marketing and such for next year when the film is complete. I’m so happy that Anthony Hornus is back directing. His previous films Man’s Best Friend and Silent Night in Algona are fan favorites. This film features a lot of technology and is about technology and spirituality. This week we’ll get our extras in order. There is a casting call for extras on the FB page for those in the Owosso, MI area who want to appear in the film. We still have more to do but we are close to being ready to roll.

Harsens Island Revenge – This amazing film continues to play at the Marine City, Riverside Theater in Detroit until the 18th. It will play Forest City, Iowa on the 14th of Sept and we’re trying to get more theaters in before our Oct 6, 2025 home video release! DVD and streaming! This has been an amazing journey and I’m so proud of the film and what all our artists achieved. We had 8 nominations at the Red Letter Awards last night with our Director Carl Weyant representing. It was not our night which I do understand as our film was a lot grittier than many of the showcased films. It is a cautionary tale about greed and also explores love between Catholic and Jewish leads. We are appreciative for the recognition it received. Congrats to the winners. We have a few more festivals that our home video marketing team has us lined up for but we’re happy just having audiences experience our story. Come 10/6/25 everyone can watch it!

Wild Faith Christmas – The much anticipated sequel to Wild Faith was shared for the first time with folks outside our film group. The selection committee at the 10th anniversary Wild Bunch Film Festival. The first movie brought home 13 awards as I recall. We don’t know if we’ll get any nominations but we did receive word that we are an official selection. This beautiful film will enter into theaters in November and play throughout the winter. In 2026 we’ll see it release to home video but once again we will try to get it in as many theaters as we can.

ROM COMS MUST DIE – This film is over at our composers and we’ll get our director over there with us to discuss themes. This funny and insightful film will look to have a premiere at the end of the year. After that we’ll book theaters into 2026 and set up our home video release. For those wishing to have a first look you can see the teaser trailer on the IMDB.com page for the film.

LOOKING BACK: As the nights become longer and curling up with a good movie becomes something more of us do, time to re-watch a few classics. If you have been feeling the heaviness of the world perhaps a re-watch on The Quest Trilogy starting with part 1 Forty Nights, part 2 Chasing the Star and part 3 The Christ Slayer. These lead in nicely to our follow up but stand alone film The Secret of the Kingdom Chip. I know one of our new collaborators just watched and loved LOST HEART. If you are awaiting Wild Faith Christmas give WILD FAITH another watch! Man’s Best Friend, Best Years Gone, Ghost Town, Silent Night in Algona, For the Love of Catch.

WRAP UP: I’m reminded how precious life is upon seeing a posting that the younger brother of a dear friend passed away. I just called to wish him happy birthday and now I have to call about something not happy. I’m going to see my younger brother tonight which I’m very happy about. I love seeing him weekly and during soccer season even more often. I love seeing my close friends and I love my movie family too. The people in our lives make it all worth while. Again it is why I did not move to Hollywood. Whatever advances in my career would not have been worth diminishing the relationships in my life. I’m blessed to still have both parents. Many of my friends don’t have that.

Again awards and recognition is nice but when I hear from someone who has just finished a watch on one of our films and it moved them…that is the sauce. We don’t tell the stories for awards we tell them for our loyal and growing fanbase. These films are hard work and this new one has had its trials and tribulations but it will be another classic in the CDI collection.

I’m going to wrap this up and call my friend. I plan to make some breakfast with some eggs. I’ve been slowly preparing the property for the coming winter. I want to hit one of the few remaining flea markets today. Might watch the Lions while doing some work. I hope each of you have a great week ahead. Don’t look past all the blessings you have right in front of you. Your family, friends and for me, my fans. I’m recharging and ready to hit the week ahead of me hard. We start filming Thursday to Sunday so look for my next blog to release on MONDAY the 22nd and MONDAY the 29th so I can report on the filming blocks. Follow the FB page for TSOTKC and we’ll be posting pics and videos as we film. Have a great week!

Coffee Cheers! DJ