Good morning and welcome to all our past readers and new readers from Italy, China, France and more. I’ve not gotten into the coffee just yet but might have to take a pause to do that. It has been a whirlwind of activity as we work to finish a few projects and start a few new ones. I have had much to ponder the last week some positive and some negative (for others). Much of it stems from communication and professionalism and timeliness. If you get an email as part of a work flow process you should confirm that the communication was received. If you receive an offer and you are busy you should touch back and let the sending party know that you are busy but can address their communication shortly or at a certain date. If anyone is offering you work even if it (schedule or rate) doesn’t meet your current expectations, politely pass. Adding attitude or commentary that is negative is also foolish as a person could ruin any future opportunities and in several circles. It’s again why we at CDI are all about development of good attitude people. Feature film isn’t for everyone and some work better in short format. Anyway we are almost all crewed up. The cast is also getting down to our last few actors. We’ve started rolling out announcements on the German actors and we’re about to go scout in Algona with our main producer team and director. Let’s do a TOP TEN updates this week.

1. As noted cast and crew on SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA is close to being a full boat. Also scout trip ahead next week and it will be exciting to start locking some of this in.
2. We had a first day of filming on the ‘Off to the Races’ music video for VERTICAL BRIDGE getting racetrack and B roll of the smoking fast cars at the track but still need to shoot the performance of the band. That is set up for later this month.
3. The premiere for BEST YEARS GONE is set for Sept 18th at the NCG with two shows 6pm and 8:15pm with an after party at ROMAS patio right after the first show and past the second. It will be a fun night and we’re excited to show the film that is getting closer every day to being done. We have a FB event page to keep people updated and tickets will go on sale in about a week I’m told. A premiere poster is also being worked on so that will be forthcoming for the theater.
4. SMOKE & MIRRORS should be complete. I’m reaching out to get an update as the final VFX was being added. Our director recently became a daddy again so their household is adjusting.
5. FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH documentary should have a 1st edit next week and I’m excited to see it. I’ve been in a few discussions over this amazing piece and it will find a great home. Anyone will interest in grappling will enjoy this history lesson right from the mouth’s of some of the greatest in the art.
6. WICKED SPRING which was a film we shot back in 2000 is getting a new campaign release now that the distributor has converted it to HD for streaming. It is all done by cloning pixels, pretty amazing. But this film is over two decades old and still finding audiences. I will let everyone know where the HD film is streaming once I’m informed.
7. I had another great meeting over the WILD FAITH TV spin off HASTINGS and our next steps is to have a 3rd party discussion with the studio. The plan is 2022 filming so we will see!
8. MBF: MAN’S BEST FRIEND – This past week or so I’ve had no less than a dozen people in conversation tell me how much they enjoyed MBF. It is a touching and emotional film and I’ve also been surprised that many of the comments are from burly, tough guys. Dogs are a man’s best friend. Girls can keep their diamonds. I jest as several of the people saying how much they loved the film were also women.
9. These week we spent some time working to get BESTSELLER materials to the distributor with author Christoper Knight. I’m excited to see this film move out into the market – beware it is a bit scary.
10. LOST HEART/BIGFOOT, UFO’S and JESUS and our biblical trilogy THE QUEST TRILOGY keep gaining new audiences. If you’ve seen any of the films and enjoyed the story consider leaving us your thoughts at the film’s IMDB and Amazon pages.

This week also included a great soccer match, some yard zen, hops are almost ready to harvest. The garden has been putting forth veggies and the egg laying ladies are keeping at it. We had a Perry reunion this weekend and it’s nice to touch base with folks and we had some great food. This cooler weather is so much nicer than the humid heat. I know what lies around the corner. Today we’re going to the flea market and see if I can take a few items off the ‘Algona’ prop list.

This week will be a short pack for the ‘Algona’ scout trip and also resume talks with sponsors, vendors and final castings. End of the month I want to see paperwork start to go under cast and crew. We are almost ready to begin doing that. Once we get back on the 23rd from scouting we’ll start that process in earnest. I’m going to tag this up and upload it – I hope:)

Until next week when I update you all from Algona, Iowa – be safe and work hard.

DJ