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

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The Battles to Create Art – Updates and Release Info!

Announcement art for ‘The Secret of the Kingdom Chip’

Hazelnut coffee makes me smile. It was a wild week but much good to report. I am trying to think where to start. Yesterday at a family trip I had BLT pizza and it was very good. A local place makes a Reuben pizza we like but this was also VERY good. We had our final regular reason soccer match against a strong team who had beat us previously 5-2. We battled back from being down 4-2 to tie it and took the lead 5 to 4 before they tied it 5-5. And we got the winning 6th goal with just minutes to go. It was a great battle and my favorite game of the season. We finished the season in 4th and now we go into the play offs. With property/yard updates the deck stain and seal is almost done. A second coat on the stairs and a little trim should finish it off. It looks great. The berries are starting to slow and the other veggies and herbs are still kicking. Fall will be right around the corner. I was reminded of that with-

Wild Faith Christmas! We did a listen at the studio of the next CDI film releasing into theaters and it was awesome. Our artists did a great job and the world comes to life with great performances throughout. It reminded me that Christmas is around the corner. How the wheel turns. But the music was just incredible and brought even more to powerful moments. As I fight the battles that all the films bring it was good to see the sum of the hardworking there right in front of us. Now a big screen watch before prepping for the theaters. As it moves out of the studio- ROM COMS MUST DIE (RCMD) moves in!

RCMD was looked over for dialog and audio and now will move into the studio for the musical score! In a few weeks we’ll be sitting down to look over this feature film! It is comedy and pokes fun at our own industry. The actors, the filmmakers and all the struggles it takes willing a film into existence. The HD trailer is almost done and we’ll look at the best time to release that but it will be soon. I have not seen a watch through yet that doesn’t include a lot of laughter.

THE SECRET OF THE KINGDOM CHIP – Casting is close to done and crewing is on-going we added an artist or two. We worked to get our insurance quote and art department work continues. I’ve been pulling in all the business paperwork now that our account is open. Communication can be an occasional issue with people’s busy lives but we have timelines we need to stay on so that can sometimes provide an unwanted challenge. But we also have sponsors starting to really flow in and help support this story. We’ll be announcing some more in the coming weeks and we are appreciative to the ones already onboard. I love the statement I heard this week and we say it often, “if it was easy anybody could do it.” But we know it is not easy and not everybody can do it. We have a month plus before we roll cameras and we will be ready. Several awesome updates but a few I cannot mention until we get the PR approval.

Harsens Island Revenge will play next week both at the Riverside Cinemas and Emagine Macomb Aug 22-28 both in the Detroit area. I don’t know if it will expand into more in the Detroit area but I can assure you it will be worth the drive. The Purple Gang vs WW1 vets! Iowa it is coming your way next. Friends in Algona now is the time to start calling the local theater. We played great there with Silent Night in Algona and I’m sure they will enjoy this film as well.

WRAP UP: I’m ready to hit it hard again this week on all our fronts. I’m going to try and make the Emagine Macomb kick off showing on the 22nd. I’m going to keep on all the business for The Kingdom Chip and be ready to tell that amazing story. I appreciate all the help I’ve been getting from our team. We’ll be pushing the showings of Harsens Island Revenge and getting it also ready for the 10/6/25 home video release. Wild Faith Christmas will look to premiere in Lansing followed by Alpena ands Owosso along with as many theaters nationwide that we can book for the next 5 months or so. This winter will be a Wild Faith Christmas tour!

I’m going to wrap it up so we can hit a breakfast before the local flea market. I will have my brother and a few friends about this eve before I hit the ground running for another week of film work. The chickens have been doing their job and the eggs have been plentiful and yummy. I’ve also been doing a touch of developmental writing here and there. I will lean into that more once I get more off my TO DO list. I hope each and everyone of you had a recharging weekend and have a productive week ahead. Until we chat next week be good to one another and keep following those dreams.

DJ

Posted by  |  August 17, 2025 | Categories: Blogroll | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Movie Updates from the ‘CDI Tribe’ – ROLLING!

Hazelnut coffee cheers! I’m a touch slow moving today as we had a physical yet fun soccer match on Thursday losing 4-2. But even in a loss it is a win by way of workout. Also we have been putting in the time every day sealing and staining the deck and will likely finish up today save a few touches here and there. I was on the ladder doing karate kid paint the fence last night after we worked in one of our upcoming film locations. More on that in a bit. So I’m a touch sore and we have a make up game on Monday from a rainout and again a game on our regular Thursday. Also I have to tell the story of the ‘Black Mamba’ for those who don’t follow my two social media sites. I am not a big car person and it is a way to get from point A to B. In 2010 I bought a Saturn Vue in slick black hence ‘Black Mamba’ as the name. I paid it off in 2012 and drove it until last week. The muffler dropped from MI winter salt that finally caught up to it. I had it in the shop for a fix up when I got the call. The frame and such had some intensive rusting and the car was unfit to drive. It would be too costly to fix versus the price of the car. So looking at the two closest car lots three vehicles that interested me were found. In 24 hours I traded in the Saturn Vue and was in a beautiful 2017 Trail hawk Jeep. The name is still yet to be revealed but many people gave some great suggestions. I really do LOVE this new ride. Enough you say of these car ramblings. We have many movie updates underway. Let’s look at a few-

MOVIE UPDATES-

  1. Working backwards, Monday we open the official account for the new movie, The Secret of the Kingdom Chip. We’ve been gathering up our paperwork and funds for deposit. We have been adding sponsors and yesterday we had a team working in one of our prime locations preparing it for filming. It went great and with the help we made great progress on the location. This week I started having talks about the remaining crew and those will continue this week. A few last castings and we will be good to go. We should be locking our actors schedule this week and getting that distributed. But the ball is rolling and we have some other great developments that I cannot yet talk about but will once I am able. Again if you want to align your company with our project and other great brands please reach out. You can follow along on our Facebook site just search the movie title.
  2. ROM COMS MUST DIE our dark comedy thriller has all the VFX inside of it and the sound design and dialog was checked at our studio by Dennis Therrian who will be doing the music, mix and help deliver. It will be awesome to see the music bring more life into this film! The trailer is forthcoming and I’m trying to get a status report of where we are at with that.
  3. Speaking of Dennis Therrian we are doing a listen through and watch of the final Wild Faith Christmas movie this Friday at the studio! After we will do a watch on the big screen and start our theatrical meetings. We are in talks with a few possible collaborators to help this heart touching film get seen in more theaters. The original film WILD FAITH is still going strong on all the platforms with tens of millions of fans. We hope they enjoy this new installment and that it opens the opportunity for the TV series to launch.
  4. Harsens Island Revenge will be playing the Riverside Cinemas and Emagine Macomb from Aug 22-28th! The real island is buzzing with excitement and we are happy they will get to see a movie on their history taken from the book of the same name by Karl Manke. I know we are about to release some Iowa dates so we will be promoting those soon. I know Forest City but I don’t know if it is one night only or a run of days. Algona Iowa should do a run we will see. Meanwhile we are preparing for the home video release on 10/6/2025!
  5. If you want to watch the last Karl Manke book to film we did and the last film Shane Hagedorn directed, take a watch here and let me know your thoughts in the comments. Best Years Gone WATCH HERE: https://youtu.be/U4lxhZ2CQkc?si=pWzggmWvb4oEyQ78
  6. Many people are asking about the CDI films here are several of them that can be watched free with ads. WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2Tn2MhKrkFOCsmKZaxoZCT1R5GEOEL3E

WRAP UP: These movies take a lot of hard work and they are hard work by a lot of artists. We have a good tribe of artists at CDI. I’m excited for this next role (The Secret of the Kingdom Chip) because it will be a lot of motion capture type work. I play an Avatar of sorts and I’m looking forward to that process. We will see if we can get the deck completed today. What is done looks so nice. We have been harvesting tomatoes and herbs from the garden for fresh eating. The mulberries are still kicking and are at their peak sweetness.

I hope you all have a great week as you move ahead on your own ventures be they personal or business. I’m ready to tackle the week ahead and keep the creative ball rolling. It was such good energy yesterday to be with good folks all working towards the common goal of telling a beautiful story. I might have to put a few eggs down before jumping into some work. The chickens have been doing great with everyone getting along and producing eggs. Until we speak again next week where I’ll be able to comment on the Wild Faith Christmas watch, be productive.

Coffee Cheers!

DJ

Posted by  |  August 10, 2025 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment