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

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Top 10 Film Updates “And at the end of all your rainbows may you find a pot of gold”

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Top of the morning to you all on this frosty, spring-like Michigan day. It is also St. Patrick’s Day and being that I’m largely Scot/Irish I’ll be toasting to your health today.

“May you have all the happiness
and luck that life can hold—
And at the end of all your rainbows
may you find a pot of gold.” 

My college alumni team Michigan State University advances in their Big 10 Championship and will play U of M today. Go Green!

I also subbed in for the last indoor soccer game last week with my new team. Nice guys and I look forward to a fun season. It was good to run the engine hard and get those running legs working again.

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(He WAS so small — about 50lbs and growing)

My little boy Finn is growing like a weed and giving us joy every day. Now the ice tundra is leaving us we can enjoy a lot more yard time. I especially enjoy the outdoor meetings at the fort that includes dart playing.

Today we will have the mother’s over for corn beef and cabbage and I’ll be drinking a few PB&J Porters from my friends at Elk Brewery in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

To the film updates…how about a TOP TEN for the BIG TEN tournament today.

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(Mr. Trace Adkins)

  1. The cat is out of the bag (what a bad saying) Mr. Trace Adkins has joined our WILD FAITH movie endeavor. You can read about it here. https://www.prlog.org/12759600-country-music-stalwart-trace-adkins-joins-collective-development-incorporateds-wild-faith.html
  2. The first of the theatrical screenings announced in Grand Rapids, MI – Get your tickets here. This is remastered and should be a great viewing experience. https://celebrationcinema.com/film-info/woodland-mall/wild-faith
  3. May 6th is the WILD FAITH DVD release and I’m hearing in Walmart in June or July.  Did I tell you how much I love the cover art? I do.
  4. We have just gotten word on The Christ Slayer that will be showing at the International Christian Film Festival. We’ve been nominated for 4 awards that we’ll PR this week. 1) Most Inspirational 2) Best Film 3) Best Director (Nathaniel Nose) and 4) Best Supporting Actress Melissa Anschutz – I’m super proud of our cast and crew. DVD and Streaming available now – in theaters starting April 19th.
  5. Upcoming director of LOST HEART Jesse Low and I are so close to a final script. I have a review once I finish this blog. It is really fun script – emotional and funny.
  6. LOST HEART Location scouting and vendor talks continue while our producers work to lock in the final investments. Northern Michigan is such a beautiful place. It will be great to have it in front of our cameras.
  7. Also with LOST HEART we’ll be announcing the addition of two knuckleheads to the cast, Mr. Shane Hagedorn and some guy, DJ Perry:) We’ll both be playing supporting players in this fine story.
  8. MBF: Man’s Best Friend has a locked picture edit and is moving into sound and music with Dennis Therrian. The story is really moving and I’m thrilled by the final story.
  9. Once MBF is moved over to sound the final VFX and Color Correction work will begin. Once that is complete we will cut a new trailer from the edited and color corrected footage.
  10. Last week I recorded two commercial voice over pieces. It went great and I hope the client is happy. I know the director was so we’ll see. Again, feel free to approach me with a project just come with an offer. This is not a hobby for me it is how we put bread on the table and wine in the glass. (Actually I make wine)

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(Looking ahead to the new roles)

I’m going to wrap this up so I can refill the coffee cup and get to my LOST HEART review. Have a great end to your weekend. Be safe and have a productive week ahead.

DJ

 

 

 

Persistence eventually wears down failure.

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Good morning! Usually in the morning I’m treated to sunshine but with the rain/wind storm rolling through and the time change, springing ahead, it is darker. I’m sipping my (enter sponsor coffee here) * yes I’m still looking:) and I’m going to share some of the updates from a very busy week.  But before that let’s see if I can pull any lessons from the past week to share with you all.

CASTING

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(Talented artists – surround your pictures with them)

I will comment on something that I’ve commented on before – casting. I’m reviewing close to our final cut of MBF: Man’s Best Friend and I’m just so damn proud of all the actors. It takes good words, scenes, story and interweaving to allow such performance. I do want to work in other people’s worlds and stories. But it is always a task because a good strong blueprint/script is required. I’ve noted before of hearing filmmakers brag about ‘no script’ or ‘winging it’ and it always SHOWS. I recently read a script that I was considering involvement with and I asked about the campy humor. I was embarrassed slightly when the response was that it wasn’t humorous it was 100% straight and meant to be intense and gritty. Um…okay. It was a pass on my part. I’ve been there. Done that. Got the tee-shirt. Spend 99 cents and watch it on Amazon Prime with my 1st starring role in a feature film. IN THE WOODS is a fun film and cult junkies love it even playing drinking games to it. But it was meant to be like ALIEN and the monsters when shown in the light, we thought a novel idea, come off…watch it:)

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(Note my costar Jim G who can also be seen in upcoming ‘MBF’ )

IN THE WOODS link

https://www.amazon.com/Woods-D-J-Perry/dp/B07P267H6T/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=In+the+woods&qid=1552228192&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Back to casting. I’m reviewing MBF and so proud of the performances by so many of my peers are excellent. And to the crew who worked so hard and harmoniously, you will be proud to be associated with this Collective Development Inc. film. I’ve been enjoying watching new reels. We consider all our past performers who brought great performances and were not any sort of issue. You cannot tolerate nonsense when doing something as hard as making a feature and trying to keep quality at a certain level. But every film only allows us a few players.

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(Greg Mason on set MBF with Duncan from Animal Planet)

To finish the MBF update, this week dialog work will begin once the picture is officially locked.

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THE CHRIST SLAYER – The DVD is becoming available at more places. Amazon had some glitch for a few days. It seems like that happens quite often. I saw that we were moving units nicely. I still like the DVD/Blu-Ray format. Digital can disappear, it happens. The April 19th Easter event screenings in theaters will be exciting.

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Speaking on that as we start the run up to myCinema‘s WILD FAITH theatrical. I’ve fielded hundreds of requests for what states? What theaters? I hope to have answers soon. This is my first run with these films and this theatrical outfit. I see others who like to overstate news but with so many set backs over the decades I almost always take the modest path. If we show in more than 2 states and 8-10 screens I will see it as progress. Now the myCinema is in 1000+ screens but I don’t want to get myself too excited or disappointed. It is a beautiful story as many of our story’s are and we just want to entertain. So I hope we do capture a large audience with these releases. I do hope to have info for everyone this coming week.

Also some of you were treated to a DOVE family review and some new artwork. You can read about it here.

PR RELEASE WITH DOVE REVIEW:

https://www.prlog.org/12758326-wild-faith-reveals-new-artwork-for-theatrical-and-dvd-release.html

If you have enjoyed any of these films please do leave a review on amazon, imdb or any social media sites that would apply. I know a few reviews that are in the works as we speak.

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(Mr. Robert Bradley on set ‘MBF’ with our Brown Boy)

LOST HEART 

We’ve been moving right along on bringing on investors, scouting locations, finalizing the shoot script and such. We’ve been announcing some of the players and this week we’ll announce a few more. Mr. Robert Bradley and Mr. Anthony Hornus will be playing roles and assisting with production.

This week we’ll be sending the new script around to some of the team. We’re also talking to many sponsors to participate in our Northern Michigan telling. If your company service or goods wants to consider sponsorship with us please reach out to perrydj@aol.com and I’ll discuss with you. We’ve had many companies participate and love adding to that family.

Misc Final Biz

I had a few great meetings with filmmakers this past week. We discussed some collaborations on a few films. If you are bringing something from the outside in most likely you will also have to bring the money. Our CDI funds are being directed at in-house projects that have distribution blessings. The idea of not spending the time, energy and money shopping is really nice. I’ve had other interested studios discussing possible production/distribution of non-family/faith material. As I noted to a friend recently the secret is ‘One step in front of the other. Balance. Focus. Persistence eventually wears down failure.’ Choose your associates and collaborators carefully or you’ll always be off-balance and having your focus pulled away from you. And the final product will reflect all those issues. 

Have a great Sunday!

DJ