Growth – Visualize the Harvest Now
Good morning everyone. Get your hot coffee beside you and settle in to discuss a few updates. Again as always I’m proud of all our readers from the world over. India, China, Sweden and more all joining us here to discuss life and art. Where to even begin? So I’ve just returned from a whirlwind trip to AZ for a business lunch and to discuss the future endeavors of Collective Development Inc. (CDI) moving forward.
Some of the talks involved WILD FAITH which as you know is performing quite well in the theatrical market for just a small grassroots operation. The Goodrich Quality Theaters has expanded our release. Wild Faith now coming to HOLLAND AND GRAND HAVEN and FLORIDA! Please click the links and invite your friends and family!
HOLLAND:
https://www.facebook.com/events/244440026119489/?ti=icl
GRAND HAVEN:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1962675287380657/?ti=icl
GIBSONTON FL:
https://www.facebook.com/events/292497647953384/?ti=icl
Next weekend WILD FAITH and CHASING THE STAR will go head to head at the International Christian Film Festival. CDI will be well represented by EP Rebecca Lawlor and our duel nominated leads in WILD FAITH and our director Mr. Jesse Low. CHASING THE STAR was also nominated for soundtrack, Best lead actor, best screenplay and most inspirational. Both are up for Best Film so it should be interesting.
We are working hard to get the film into other areas where the demand is high. Keep contacting your theaters and requesting the film and also getting us a contact to management speeds up the process. I’m very appreciative that the audiences are receiving the film so well.
Part of my AZ meeting was over WILD FAITH and the home video roll out. I will have to wait to make any final announcements on the future of the film but it looks very good. Not only for the feature film but for telling the ongoing stories of this group of beloved characters.
CDI will also be moving forward with a production deal. They like our ability to put the right team behind a script and to execute on schedule, budget and with quality. We’re in talks now to identify the slate of films that we’ll be doing over the next couple years. The first film under this deal will likely shoot this fall/winter with development starting soon after MBF (Man’s Best Friend) goes into post.
MBF is coming together great. Cast and Crew are being brought on boards and we’ll start filming later next month. I’m very excited about the power of this story. I’ve almost got a firm hand on my character that I’ll be playing in the film. We have a powerful cast that will participating on this movie. I’m excited to “play” with these talented folks.
The meeting also talked about THE CHRIST SLAYER That will move fully into sound and music next month. The final tweaks are being done and we’ll be releasing the Official trailer this Summer. Maybe targeting my Bday month (June) as the release of the trailer. Along with Forty Nights and Chasing the Star – the trilogy will be complete. I’m excited to see where this all leads. We’ve been steadily recouping against our advances and this year will start even more TV/Foreign play. I’ve been getting lots of fan (e)mail on Forty Nights and I’m humbled by the kind words.
All these smaller films have been directed at team building. Getting the right cast and crew in place around a certain script. I’ve noticed that many people struggle in this industry because they play the short game vs the long game. You have to invest with your time, do so with people going somewhere. By this I mean making the effort to grow and improve their game.
Our budgets will be climbing slow and steady over the next couple years. We’re working to develop loyal tribal members who want to be part of good art and business. We’ve got deep contacts nationwide but we’re trying to develop our Michigan crew base best we can. We hire on accountability and we do vet people. Having a great attitude with a strong skill set is what we look for. I’m still amazed at how some step out of line wanting/waiting for something better to come along and allow others to step into their spot. Maybe they step out for better art? Maybe they hope for a better paying gig to come along. I would say the latter is more likely why some people step out of line. But a few paid weeks out of ones year to stay with a team constantly moving forward seems like a smart move. I’m just from a different time and have a unique way of thinking about these matters but it’s helped me survive all these years while watching many fall. Choose wisely.
IN OTHER NEWS…
ASHES OF EDEN – This Shane Hagedorn directed piece is trending upwards nicely on Amazon Prime as people discover this little gem.
WICKED SPRING – This old gem is being discovered by a new audience online – also playing Amazon Prime.
Before my biz trip I recorded a commercial narration for a director amigo – so if you occasionally start hearing my voice in the commercial arena you’ll know why. I’ve enjoyed doing these little gigs. Far easier commitment-wise versus the feature film work. So as I’ve said before – if you think I fit something make me an offer. Pending my schedule and your offer I just might say yes.
I’ve got many things to do today including our second soccer match. We lost our first game 2-1 having only half as many players. That is our fault not theirs but we did good even with those numbers. Today should be much better and either way I love being out there kicking it again. The work in the yard continues. Might till the garden this week and the hops have already started to grow. I’m looking for my favorite mushrooms but they’ve not yet appeared.
Have a great Sunday and rest of your week.
DJ
‘MBF’ Updates, ‘Wild Faith’ NEW Cities and more…
I have a full day so I’m up and typing before the coffee is even done brewing. What an exciting past week. This week looks to hold even more excitement. I want to welcome some of our new blog readers. Look at the diversity in where people live but a commonality in their passion for the arts and life entwined with art.
Let’s get right into it. Here is a great PR release that focuses on the ‘Warrior Spirit’ and gives praise to our Native American talent. I know that Abby Mason who wasn’t mentioned in the article and played our school teacher also is from Cherokee descent. Actually many of us probably do carry those blood lines and I’m proud of the relationships I’ve had with the tribes over the years. Most of that comes from just respect of the people, culture and what they’ve been through. Take a read about a few of the actors in ‘Wild Faith’ our mid-western now in theaters.
Cherokee Robert Bradley with a find close to his home in Maggie Valley, NC
Last week ‘Wild Faith’ played Goodrich Quality Theaters in Hastings, MI and due to the large attendance it has added a family friendly show time of 1:40 today. Take the family down to the show and experience Michigan in 1875.
This coming week ‘Wild Faith’ will play Monday & Wed in Jackson, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. If you enjoy the time period this tale is something you might truly enjoy. There is a reason some have watched 3, 4 and 5 times on the big screen. I think as a society being swallowed up by technology audiences find it relaxing to see how life was a handful of year’s ago.
I also want to thank Dee Freeman for having me on her show to talk about the writing of ‘Wild Faith’ which was a rewrite on an early script called ‘Wild Michigan’ – Dee was the author of the book adaptation. See what changes and what stayed the same. I need a few reviews online with Amazon so if reading is your thing –
The push on THE QUEST TRILOGY continues and I had some wonderful fan email this week about how these films were seen at just the right time in their lives. These films both played in theaters and so will the third installment ‘The Christ Slayer’ around Christmas time. If you enjoy our storytelling style these films are well worth the watch. If they go back into the theaters as a holiday event picture do yourself and favor and see it on the big screen. But they can be seen right now on Amazon Prime. Look for the new trailer to release this summer once Jesse Aragon (Our DP) gets done with the color correction.
MBF (Man’s Best Friend) is in heavy pre-production. I’m proud to announce we’ve locked in our director of photography Mr. Pat Dowdle. Pat’s been with us on a few films now and his positive attitude and developing style makes him a perfect fit for this next story. We’re interviewing a few people for the unit production manager position to work our office under the producer staff. I will also be looking at editors this week. But the script and schedule is locked and soon our cast and crew will be full. The ship is fueled up and ready to travel. I’m excited about seeing so many friends again and telling this powerful story.
This week I also have a quick turn around trip to AZ to discuss the Collective Development Inc. production deal with our distributor. We’ll be discussing the future of ‘Wild Faith’ and the production slate of films. I’ve been doing a lot of writing as of late and I think we’ll be just fine. A TV series and a few films a year would be just fine with me.
NEW Lights put up around the office.
This weekend I put up some new lights at the office. I have a commercial voice over this week and today is our first outdoor soccer match. We’ve had a handful of people report in that they’ll be missing the first game. It’s about making the best hand with what you have. I think despite us playing a strong team we could take it. I’m coming to play in good shape and I’m ready to throw down. It will be a battle.
Keep fighting for your dreams.
DJ
“Wild Faith” Rides Into 4 New Cities – Several Development Updates
I’m sipping the hot hazelnut (coffee) on this frozen Sunday watching the squirrels eat the left over squash and strawberries from last night. I want to welcome our readers from Chile. We’re glad to have you with us as we recap another strong week of updates.
Let’s start with the music video I participated in as camera talent. I was approached about acting in ‘My Ghosts‘ a music video. I was taken by the story/concept script for the music video. The artist (Trey Connor) was strong in his genre and style and the director (Tomaki Boaz‘s) previous work showed he’s a strong developing storyteller.
I was trying to match their premiere date with one of our “Wild Faith” showings to give them a nice plug. The dates did not work out and they released the music video yesterday. I’m proud when I see young people not just interested in ‘playing‘ with the camera but developing their business. One wrong variable can decrease overall production value if not addressed properly. I enjoyed seeing the happiness these young filmmakers had in presenting their final work yesterday. The producer was proud of producing her first music video, as she should be. Of course friends and family first rush to give their congrats. And I see one individual whose response was something like “Umm do you want my honest response?” – First by logic alone, anyone who references an honest response is ultimately saying that usually they are not honest in their responses. But this “bait” was an obvious setup for someone to go against the grain just for attention. This producer wasn’t commenting on the video but the process of taking something from concept to final product. It’s a skill sorely lacking in many circles – you know who you are. So you’ve got this guy wanting to throw stones at young people not playing filmmaker but actually doing business as filmmakers. I usually stay out of such things but I had to call him on his withheld opinion. What enlightening words is he about to drop with his honest opinion? EVERYONE has or should have an opinion on everything – that’s called thinking. It doesn’t make anyones opinion any more special. Many have been brought up in the age of “say anything behind a computer” where class, politeness and sincerity is often overlooked. If this person had something truly caring and constructive to offer they would offer it in a private discussion versus a public tease of offering judgmental, opinionated honesty. ** NOTE: This individual clarified their post and brings up good points on “bandwagon liking” everything out there. I’m glad to be wrong here but know the rock throwers will emerge. That too is a skill artists must learn – to suffer the slings and arrows of critics. I say don’t ride the rollercoaster of up’s and down’s – steady as she goes is the best policy.
I can tell just by the words people manifest if they lead a positive life that opens new opportunities or a negative life whereas the world is always keeping them down. I’m not sure what this guy will respond with but if I was looking to hire someone – I know which individual will likely be presented with new opportunities. It’s pretty easy to identify the people who will continue to fill themselves with venom and spread it. Social media actually makes it quite easy for employers to get a psychological profile on people. Negativity is a poison that nobody wants in their work environment. If Trey’s music is a far cry from your daily dose of death metal like SLAYER – cool. There are many who don’t get the art of those bands who growl and slam about in mosh pits either but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable for those others who embrace it. I’m just saying, having an opinion does not always require giving an opinion. Sometimes best to say less or nothing if you’ve got nothing nice to say. Honesty can be used to help or hurt, the intention is what I look at. When done to showboat publicly it’s mostly used to hurt. When done personally and privately it’s usually done to help. NOTE IT. Enjoy this music video created by some hardworking young people making their way into our industry. What I love is I don’t have to make any apologies for the work. It’s solid.
Music Video for Trey Connor’s ‘My Ghosts”
Speaking of young people in our industry – I went to the local Lansing, Michigan CCFF mixer Thursday night to support this event. It is exciting to see so many passionate about our industry. Congrats to all those who work so hard to provide that experience. It was good seeing a few old friends down there. The coconut shrimp and other eats were wonderful. I hope they have a very successful 2018 fest.
As “Forty Nights” contines to play strong on Amazon Prime and other platforms along with “Chasing the Star” – the 3rd installent is under construction. “The Christ Slayer” trailer is finished save conforming and color correction which will start next week. Soon audiences will get a peek at Part 3 which will be in theaters on the run up to Christmas and home video for Easter 2019. It looks amazing and that is because of all the talented artists led by our director Nathaniel Nose.
We’ve just completed our Novi, Michigan theatrical run with “Wild Faith” and now we’re about to open in four new Michigan cities. HASTINGS! JACKSON! KALAMAZOO! BATTLE CREEK! These special event showings are happening because of you demanding it. Contact your theaters and get contact info for their management to pass along. We’re working on a dozen new showing locations and we’ll try to get close to you. We’ll keep moving and playing the film on the big screen all Summer until our Fall home video release. But do yourself a favor and go see it on the big screen. I may attend the first Hastings screening on Monday. So far we’ve had a great time touring with our (mid) western and I’m appreciative of our audience’s responses.
Next month “Wild Faith” will join “Chasing the Star” in Florida for the International Christian Film Festival. Both are up for numerous awards but I’m just excited about more people being able to experience these films on the big screen. Rebecca Lawlor our main EP on all three films in The Quest Trilogy will be there to represent Collective Development Inc. – also attending will be Shane Hagedorn, Lauren LaStrada and Jesse Low – all three who were nominated for “Wild Faith” and I wouldn’t be surprised if Garry Nation attends for his nomination of Best Actor in “Chasing the Star“.
MBF (Man’s Best Friend) – We’ve just received the last of our paperwork/funds and once I deposit the final check on Monday the new ship will be seaworthy. We’ll have our shooting script and shoot schedule set next week. Casting and crewing paperwork will be underway in the next two weeks. The process of “finding” the character has been interesting. I’m playing the title role in the film and love the challenges it presents. I’m excited about all the great talent we have gathering on both sides of the camera. This will be another great CDI story to tell. We launch the ship (roll cameras) in May and will finish in early June. Among the exciting developments is a visit from a major cable network to our film set. Let’s just say it has to do with ANIMALS🙂
I’ve also been in heavy writing and development mode – and I’m very excited about that. CDI is in talks on content creation for a few emerging studios. This could mean some very exciting on-going things for the tribe at CDI. We’ll also be announcing a new on-going commercial deal that CDI has with another major corporation. TV series and new feature films are all on deck. I’ve got a few really big meetings coming up this month. I’m actually more concerned with the travel arrangements versus the actual meetings. Talking business and films doesn’t stress me at all but travel and technology has done that on occasion.
I’m going to jump off here to seek some food and also do some creative writing. I hope some of you will make it to the “Wild Faith” showings. I have more meetings this week. I’ll also be prepping for my short upcoming business trip. I wish we had that teleportation technology in action. Enjoy the week ahead and be good to one another.
DJ
April Updates – Springing into Action
The hazelnut coffee is flowing and the sun shines- but the chill remains outside. We chopped up some more wood to feed to wood stove in the office this week. I’m pretty good with the ole axe which is not only a great work out but helps develop your focus. I have several items we can chat about. This week I’ve had good meetings, location scouts and several business insights. Let’s start with…
“Wild Faith” – after our string of sold out shows in Lansing and strong sales at Grand Rapids (which was just picking up speed) -we’ve now started our run at Emagine Theaters in Novi, MI and will play until the 12th. We might extend our week run if our weekend sales are strong enough. We did also just complete a ‘closed caption’ file which our distributor usually handles but having this pre-home video file will now allow our hearing impaired to also enjoy it in theaters. It will be added to our showings.
It will be playing in Florida at the ICFF next month and we’re working with several of you individually to try to get the film showing in your area. Hastings, MI where we filmed – please know we’re trying to set up at the theater. We might have to do weekday runs vs weekend as the main theater is under construction and they have studio obligations. So if you’re in the Detroit/Ann Arbor area and want to see this film get over to Novi where it will play until the 12th of April. Four shows daily should provide several opportunities. If you want it to play around you we need contact info for the theater/manager/owner and for all of you to reach out and ask for the film. Thank you for all of you who have come out to enjoy this film.
While we’ve been pushing this film out we’ve been working post-production on part 3 of The Quest Trilogy – The Christ Slayer. We’ve had a surge of “Forty Nights” watchers because of the Easter season. And if watching that on Amazon Prime you might as well watch part 2 “Chasing the Star” – enjoy. Part 3 trailer is being color corrected and music composed. It will release in the coming weeks to start building hype for the pre-Christmas theatrical release and the wide home video release Easter 2019.
Joining these biblical adventure films on Amazon Prime is our Civil War classic “Wicked Spring” and now “Ashes of Eden” joins it. The latter was directed by Shane Hagedorn and is a cool cautionary tale. I play an ex-military guy who tried to walk the straight and narrow but life did not quite allow that. It has many of the CDI tribe playing great dramatic characters. Check it out!
“Ashes of Eden”
MBF (Man’s Best Friend) is now in pre-production with dates to start filming in late May into June. We’ve been targeting our crew for the next film and locking locations. We had a tech scout last week. I ended up getting more emotionally affected by both the prisoners at the jail and even more so at the animal shelter. After touring the shelter and having my heart poked by several of the stares begging to be taken and given a loving home – I fought to keep composed. The idea is to use shelter dogs and we plan to do an adoption event for our picture dogs. Once the film is ready to play theaters I also want to do adoption events in every city we play to. When I was pitching our plan to the shelter workers I almost lost it. I was there as a producer but my emotions surged. I was embarrassed that I had to fight to keep it all together. I had initial worries about getting to the right emotional places with my character. Now I worry about too much emotion and audiences not being able to understand me. I really did a doozy to myself writing something that is so wide open with vulnerable emotion and plays to my weakness. But it all felt truthful and honest and so I know that will only help the performance. All this is before even factoring in fully the heartache of the military vets. But I saw lines drawn between vets, prisoners, adoption dogs – broken souls wanting to be whole. The film also has a cautionary tale woven within. I think most of my scripts do. I’m very excited to tell another story with our wonderful CDI artists. I just found myself missing the carefree, humorous nature of ole Ben Lily in our past “Wild Faith” tale.
Aside from all this I’ve been writing daily and getting some of the future content in line. I’ve been researching for the next biblical trilogy and working on some other exciting scripts. The new CDI website at http://www.cdiproductions.com is almost complete with phase one. Next phases include merchandise and streaming which is on deck. Please check out the website. This is where many of our castings and updates will be posted. The battle plans for the next couple years are underway.
I’m going to bring this to an end. I’ve enjoyed you all stopping by – next Saturday (April 14th) will also be the release of the music video I participated in. Trey Connor is the artist and the song is called “My Ghosts” – soon.
Be good to one another. Get out to Novi Imagine and travel back to 1875 with “Wild Faith” on the big screen. If you want to see more of our storytelling get onto Amazon Prime and take a watch.
DJ
C3 = Communicate, Collaborate and Compromise…Happy Easter
I see that several new readers have joined us from India. Namaste my friends. A handful of years ago I co-starred in a great spooky thriller in India entitled “Karma: Crime, Passion, Reincarnation” – what fun. It played in theaters but did not make it here. When we get the streaming part of CDI up I want to try to get that film on our platform. It stars Carl Weyant that others will see this Christmas in our third film in THE QUEST TRILOGY, “The Christ Slayer”. Speaking on this film, I’ve seen the first music draft of the trailer and now color corrections and final tweaks are underway. It is exciting to have this film preparing to meet the world around Christmas with a large targeted release next Easter. We also just had a bday for my co-star Josh ‘Ponceman’ Perry! (Fist Bump)
GREEN LIGHT. I’m also proud to announce all funds are committed and MBF (Man’s Best Friend) was announced in Official Pre-Production. It will film in May/June in Michigan with an amazing team gathered around Anthony Hornus as director. I’m playing a title role in this film and I’m EXCITED about being able to watch the performances. We have a tech scout this coming week and I’ll be reaching out to possible crew.
In a matter of days the music video I participated in entitled ‘My Ghost’ by musician Trey Connor will release around the 14th. I am trying to see if I can arrange it to play before “Wild Faith” on one of these special screenings. I’m very happy with their work and the story put forth in those few minutes is really powerful.
Let’s talk about “Wild Faith” for a moment. I always knew if this film could ever be made it would be powerful. I’m so glad I stuck to my guns all those years ago. I feel bad for the dishonest folks in CA who almost killed this project. I’m so very happy that the power of the story would not die. It’s a different movie from the original screenplay which you can read via the novelization. In many ways things in the story changed but the heart of the story survived the transplant. Budget is the #1 reason why we had to go from page one through the script. Names were also changed to fit the new players of our story. I’m so proud that the story made it into existence. The response is more than I could have asked for. Sold out shows. Listening to people laugh and cry in the theater has been touching. I love that people are now understanding it is a FAMILY movie. A history class full of middle school children set up a special screening at Celebration Cinemas. How amazing is that.
If you want the film in your area you need to 1) Contact your local theater and request “Wild Faith” and 2) Get an email/name of the manager of that theater. 3) Get us that contact info. The film is now moving to Novi, Michigan near Detroit thanks to our friends at Emagine Theaters. It starts playing on April 6-12th and if that first weekend is good we’ll likely get another week added. We’re in talks to try to bring it to Hastings area where we shot. Also we’re in talks with theaters in West Virginia and South and North Carolina. I can see Texas and maybe GA in our future. We’ll bring the film wherever the demand is and the business makes sense. I do know that it will be traveling to Florida to play for audiences at the Christian International Film Festival. We’ve been nominated for several awards and many of our nominees will be present.
One of the main films “Wild Faith” is up against is part 2 of THE QUEST TRILOGY – “Chasing the Star” which also has Dennis Therrian up for Best Score, myself for Best Screenplay and the overall ‘Most Inspirational’ which “Forty Nights” took last year. If you have not seen these two films both can be found on Amazon Prime, Christian Cinema and many other platforms. With this being Easter weekend both these films are a wonderful watch. “Chasing the Star” is more adventure and can be watched at anytime. There was no snow, jingles bells or Christmas carols. I know “Forty Nights” is playing Parables TV tonight I believe at 8:30pm not sure if that is EST or what so check your listing.
“Wicked Spring” is a beautiful Civil War era drama that our team produced many years ago. It can now be watched on Amazon Prime or the DVD has a great 44 min making of for those aspiring filmmakers. Joining this classic is “Ashes of Eden” which is now also on Amazon Prime. I really do appreciate all the fans that are now enjoying our past library.
ASHES OF EDEN
I could go on about development and such but I will leave that to next week. I’m just going to again talk about collective compromise. Every great endeavor is usually the result of mixed collaboration. Led Zeppelin 12 years of compromise and collaboration. Individually or paired Page and Plant are still not the same as Zeppelin. I think too many people want/need to win so absolutely that it comes at the expense of the whole. Same side of the table negotiation. Whereas both parties walk away with some degree of satisfaction. These same ideas can be applied in all areas of life personal and professional.
Poor communication usually leaves both parties unable/unwilling to look for that common ground. Good communication starts with respectful communication EVEN if the opinions differ. Most people fail right out the gate with condescending communication which just says that they never entered with an attempt to collaborate. Many want to be heard but don’t care if they’re understood. That is failure. When I see people shouting at one another or vicious text communications – I just see venting. Good maybe for the person unable to cope but it does little to advance any understanding.
T Rex and DJ Perry (Moses & Jesus) on set “40 Nights”
So now I try to see with compassion that people are so under their own self-inflicted negative rage. High blood pressure, anxiety attacks – people build their own prisons emotionally. So to bring this full circle – take yourself out of crisis-mode. Empty your cup of opinions and learn the art of good communication. Learn to collaborate with others and you’ll see amazing things happen. Life is too short to be angry all the time and for many this is just a phase in their lives. Whomever you are – be that someone in your actions and words that inspires others to be like you. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Try treating and speaking to others in the respectful manner you would like to be addressed. Before letting that “Conservative POS” or “Snowflake” comment fly from your irrational angered mouth or key board – STOP. Take a deep breath and be open to communicate, collaborate and yes, compromise.
Be good to one another. Happy Easter.
DJ
Thank you – Family, Friends and Fans
The sun is out and the hazelnut coffee is flowing. WHAT A WEEK! First I want to welcome our new readers from Romania. Our international group of artists is expanding with each week. For a few weeks now I’ve managed to stay a step or two ahead of the sick bugs striking people down. Family and friends with children and those working around large groups have been fallen ill. I’ve managed to stay the course and not get full-blown sick but my energy level has been tapped. Add the amount of business and the ‘Wild Faith‘ premiere kick off events and…walking a thin line.
Family and friends make the day extra special.
Our cast and crew premiere at Studio C was a wonderful event. I had one of those days I could not get warm all day. Body aches wanted to set in but I managed to pull it all together. Warmth was my fashion and so a nice warm sweater was just what the doctor ordered. It was this showing that meant the most because it was for everyone you see in the end credits. It was our investors, sponsors, cast and crew and I wanted them to be as proud of the work as I am. To say we had a positive reaction is a modest statement. This industry is hard with many projects that implode before take off or never get finished. The ones that do get completed often suffer from not being able to consistently keep the quality on-screen. That could be said about our earliest work but we always did the best we could with what we had. So many came in for the event which made it extra special.
We have a great CDI producer team and we would be unable to achieve what we have without these three – post supervisor Dennis Therrian and co-producers Melissa Anschutz and Anthony Hornus helping lead the charge.
The very next day was our public premiere with showings kicking off in Lansing and Grand Rapids. That was also just incredible and these are not the biased artists these are the paying public. The feedback from people I knew and did not know was overwhelming. I was happy I felt a touch better on Friday but Saturday was spent chilling and recovering. I even got to do some yard work which after our cold winter was enjoyable. “Wild Faith” will play twice a day 4:30 and 7:00 in both Grand Rapids (Woodland) and Lansing until Thursday unless they hold it over. It has been selling out the nighttime performance so we’ll see. We have even been getting members of the Living History community coming out in full period garb. How cool! Here is one of my favorite quotes from a Owosso Community reporter “The acting, location, and music causes a person watching this movie, made on a tight budget, to have the same experience as if they were watching an $80 Million-dollar movie.” – we try is all I can say on that.
Developing new directors is something I enjoy and this makes #2 with Mr. Jesse Low
NEWS PICKS
http://www.thedailyreporter.com/news/20180316/little-river-railroad-featured-in-film-opens-tonight
As noted last week “Wild Faith” is up for 4 awards at the International Christian Film Festival in FL. Best Film, Lead Actor/Actress and Director. Right beside it is Part 2 of ‘The Quest Trilogy’ “Chasing the Star” with 5 nominations – Best Film, Most Inspirational, Best Actor, Best Score and Best Screenplay. This film and Part 1 “Forty Nights” is a great holiday watch for the Easter season. The screenplay nod is nice as I’m working to take on a few work-for-hire and also sell off a few screenplays I don’t plan to produce. If you’re looking to buy a script or hire a writer – let’s talk.
Music Video ‘My Ghost‘ Directed by Tomaki Boaz
The day before the cast/crew premiere I was given an opportunity to play a part in a music video for artist Trey Connor with a song entitled “My Ghost” that will release mid-April. I had a great time working with everyone. With this music video and the recent promotional before Christmas I’m opening myself to hiring out on things that interest me. My feature film work keeps me quite busy but always will work to try to make a schedule work if the art entices.
Like a sleeping giant “The Christ Slayer” part 3 of the trilogy is moving ahead. Work on the next trailer and the film itself are underway. Just know something special is in the works and will be heading to theaters 4th quarter this year.
MBF (Man’s Best Friend) is CDI’s next film and we’re so very close to closing up business on this powerful story. More “fuel” came in and more next week. The ship is getting close to launch and we’ll work hard to bring audiences again, a very special story. Many ways to get involved with your businesses too. Our partners at the Red, White and Blue Project are taking donations into their non-profit for their educational side of the film. I’m working hard with our team to complete funding by month’s end and move into official pre-production. This will be another great film in the CDI fleet.
For those who want more 1800’s please do watch our “Wicked Spring” playing Amazon Prime now. Also if you’ve seen “Wild Faith” or any of the films take a few moments on Amazon or IMDB to vote and leave a review. I’m going to leave all this right here. I want to thank the huge outpouring of support for these films. I loved each and every conversation I had with people after watching “Wild Faith” – thank you again. We had general audience members come in from other states to see this film. Also people driving in and making it an event. The story is greatly needed in this day and age and we hope that we entertain and bring a little fresh air into the conversations. Love over hate.
Meeting supporter Kim Harris at the public premiere
I was proud to have my family and friends join me in the send off for this newest film. As film artists we don’t always get to see all our fans. To cite an example one title has sold over 300,000 DVD’s and I likely don’t know 298,000 of them. So I’m excited for all the people I do not know who will enjoy the film(s). But it also makes it that much more special to shake a hand and hear about your favorite character/scene/part of a film. Know that each and every one of you we don’t know are appreciated. To our fans around the world – thank you.
DJ
Theatrical Kick off and Award Nominations – Updates
Good morning. I want to do a welcome sip of coffee to our new readers hailing from Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. WELCOME. This past week was a whirlwind of organizing theatrical roll-out, development work and more. We also have some announcing of nominations on a couple of our films.
Multiple radio shows, podcast and more the last week to promote the start of our theatrical season with “Wild Faith” our (mid) western. Here is a link to one of them-
Showbiz Weekly
https://player.fm/series/michigan-business-network/all-star-team-creates-wild-faith-show-biz-weekly
More promotions can be seen at the social media site and/or the website
https://www.facebook.com/WildFaithMovie/
http://www.wildfaiththemovie.com
Our first theatre dates are March 16th-22nd at Celebration Cinema in Lansing and Grand Rapids, MI (Woodland).
International Christian Film Festival – This is the Oscar’s of the family/faith genre. Last year we had “Forty Nights” our 1st installment in THE QUEST TRILOGY nominated for Best Film, Best Lead Actor (Rance Howard), Best Score and Most Inspirational (which we won). Watch on Amazon Prime and other platforms.
This year the second installment “Chasing the Star” about the journey of the magi was nominated for Best Film, Best Score, Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actor (Garry Nation) and Most Inspirational (again) and so we’ll see.
But…like having two children on competing teams – “Wild Faith” our western was also entered this year. It is nominated for Best Film, Best Lead Actor (Shane Hagedorn), Best Actress (Lauren Lastrada) and Best Director (Jesse Low).
There is strong competition not just amongst our two films but from amazing talent like Ray Liotta, Judge Reinhold and Ashley Judd. I’m honored to be amongst the nominated films and to have two “children” gathering such attention is humbling. So Collective Development Inc. has 9 nominations and that’s something to be proud of.
You can watch “Chasing the Star” right now on Amazon Prime and several other participating platforms. “Wild Faith” will play theatrical events all Spring/Summer (I want to play a drive in) and will release to home video in the Fall on the run up to Christmas. If craving a good tale from the 1800’s please take a watch on our “Wicked Spring” also playing Amazon Prime and participating platforms.
The 3rd installment in THE QUEST TRILOGY – “The Christ Slayer” will be complete in August and play theaters on the run up to Christmas. Our distributor has the home video release set to target Easter 2019.
A busy season of releasing. But that also means we need NEW product. We’re a touch behind my ideal timeline for our next film “Man’s Best Friend” (MBF) but the account is open and money flowing in. We need the last few units committed before we move forward because once we start we finish.
In additional to that we have several developing projects. I had meetings right up to end-of-the-day Friday which will without a doubt bring new endeavors to the CDI tribe.
Other developments –
I’ve never acted in a music video. I was there when it all started MTV that is – and I like to see that the art of storytelling against a song is still going strong. Maybe not like in the heyday of music TV but still alive and kicking. I was approached about being hired to participate in a music video. They provided their earlier work, the work of the artist and a professionally written script. The subject matter holds some meaning to me and it felt – right. So I gave my interest and this coming week I’ll participate in my first music video front of camera. I’ll talk more about it once they are ready. Not my song or production so I’m letting them PR as they will. I’m sincerely excited about the project. I had just said a few weeks ago, if interested in me for something come with a professional proposal. It also worked amazingly with my schedule. It’s only a one day obligation so it really was a perfect storm. I’m looking forward to it.
The writing and deal making will continue this week. I’m excited that first cast and crew will get to see their combined work watching “Wild Faith” on the big screen. My family, friends and fans can also enjoy the film starting this week. (Friday) It’s always good to see one of our movies of with my parents. I think it helps justify all the worry they had in me as a dreamer building those “castles in thin air” teen/young man. It shows that I’m truly happy and doing what I was most passionate about in life. And for that I feel like the luckiest man alive on some days.
I’m going to continue to enjoy this day and rest my mind for the crazy week ahead. I’m not a person that needs all the hoopla of camera and red carpets but I will participate on these few occasions to collectively toast our finished story. I see it like a graduation party whereas we’re sending our “movie child” out into the world hoping it will do what it can to make our world a better place.
Thank you for all the support and I do hope you’ll give us a chance to entertain you.
Happy Sunday!
DJ
Marching into March! Updates!
So again this morning I enjoyed watching our squirrel friends eating the strawberry tops and some aged bread. My desk now looks out over the favorite feeding spot for our furry friends. Our yard is already a haven for wildlife with our acorns, mulberries, edible mushrooms and our garden full of abundance in the season. This winter we had a few cold days coupled with a heavy snow here or there but overall not too bad. This week I might bottle up the next batch of wine “Frankenberry” which was a use up of fruit taking up freezer space. We have a lot to celebrate as of late and I foresee more toasting in the near future.
This weekend started with a nice surprise bday gathering at a local place called DUSTY’S CELLAR. I had a great blond ale that tasted a lot like the last beer I made. Also had some aged ribeye that was wonderful. The full moon also allowed me a few indulgences. I eat junk food (donut, cake, candy bar, ice cream) only during 24 hours of each month. It makes those things a little more special and keeps my sugar/junk intake very low. To anyone who might try – it was only hard the first month or two. Sugar addiction is real and while I seldom partake I know it can be a real challenge. My funniest moment that night was walking into the wrong private room. “Someone order a stripper?” Just kidding – it was funny for sure.
This Sat I had a chance to see BLACK PANTHER and it was cool to see an exotic take on the superhero genre. We always see the NYC-type big city so it was great to see a story based in Afrika. My brother got to join us and that is always fun. A good movie in my opinion. I did re-watch “Raiders of the Lost Ark” this week while doing some desk work. That is truly a great film in my book. Okay, we’ve come around to talking about movies. I guess we can discuss our movies.
This week saw “Wicked Spring” premiere to digital streaming and remastered DVD this past week. It is on various platforms but Amazon Prime is the big one. Read about it here – https://www.prlog.org/12695043-digitally-remastered-cdi-civil-war-epic-wicked-spring-hits-amazon-prime.html
The Amazon link is here – https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Spring-Brian-Merrick/dp/B079HWQQKC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519913275&sr=8-3&keywords=Wicked+Spring
This film is the one we cut our teeth on as producers. This is a wonderful primer as we’re about to premiere our new 1800’s action/drama “Wild Faith” this month. We did a great Showbiz Weekly radio show and we have more PR leading up to the March 16-22 run at Celebration Cinemas in Lansing and Grand Rapids, MI. Tickets can be purchased now online –
You can also read an earlier version of the film here – I would appreciate any reviews-
Book your tickets here –
https://celebrationcinema.com/film-info/lansing/wild-faith
This past week and the week ahead will be important meetings for the film and possible TV series. I’m just excited to have family, friends and fans watch this film. Those that have gotten the advanced look have raved about the balanced blend and pacing which is a hard thing to achieve. On the indie level I see that people often become close friends with all the talent and there exists pressure not to cut certain scenes. This can be because of an insistent writer. Or not wanting to hurt feelings – but the overall film needs to be a deciding factor. I think those involved will be very happy. I’m also excited to have friends from out-of-town coming in to see the film.
THE QUEST TRILOGY
As the 3rd film “THE CHRIST SLAYER” is being worked on we’re about to put the Easter push on the first two films “Forty Nights” and “Chasing the Star” which are great adventures to watch at any time. But families gather at the holidays and these films are built to be enjoyed by the whole family. Have you watched these films? They can be found on Amazon Prime and several major platforms or on DVD.
MBF – We made some good advances on Man’s Best Friend, and we’re so very close to moving into pre-production. We’re into a slight push from our ideal time and so the sport theme in the film may change but it does nothing to our story. We’ve had some great strides made by the Red, White and Blue Project non-profit that is sponsoring some of the military vets so they can do some educational events as well as filming. If you want to see how your company or you can get involved feel free to reach out to me direct.
Aside from all these endeavors I’ve been looking at future acting possibilities and preparing to cut some checks back to investors. A few new deals underway and I’m just flowing with 2018. I had updates on a few projects I thought had faded out but apparently not. One could mean a script sale this year so we’ll see how that works out. Always good to have a few irons in the fire. But a few of those irons are RED HOT. Soccer season is also soon upon us and so I’m going to be increasing my conditioning. I had a good winter of healing last year’s battle wounds and I’m ready to go at it again. With our few nice days I was able to get a lot of yard work done. I’m excited for Spring.
Have a wonderful day. If you feel like supporting feel free to watch some of the films at your leisure at home or experience them on the grand screen. We will be announcing other play dates throughout the Spring/Summer for “Wild Faith” – have a great day!
DJ
Circle of Life – Saying Goodbye and Looking Ahead (New Poster Release)
I’m sipping on the hazelnut coffee and enjoying the sunshine this morning. Welcome readers from Finland – happy to have you here with us. So I returned on Thursday from my trip to LA. I had been wanting to return to LA to see one of my dear friends who now has a little one and wife. Several times I had debated taking the time to go visit but I’ve been in production or post-production for a few years now. Busy does not stop it just keeps going. Well I received an invite to a private family memorial for my friend, mentor and co-star Rance Howard. Rance has always been that voice of truth in an industry that often moves on lies and half-truths. He was a mentor/friend that often felt like a grandfather. He was a script consultant on a WW2 Christmas film I wrote. He was my co-star on several films including THE CHRIST SLAYER that will release to theaters on the run up to Christmas this year. I know that EVERYONE who met Rance loved him. I did not plan on any invite and knew nothing of the planning. I felt fulfilled and secure in the memories of the beautiful relationship we had shared. When working on a role Rance and I were like two ten-year olds playing. His wisdom was always a guiding force and I was content with my quiet prayers to a friend who passed. Weeks later I was surprised to get an invite from his sons to attend a private service. I did not want any stress/expectations around this event as the purpose was to celebrate a friend passing not business. So I quietly left in the middle of a massive snowstorm to say goodbye to an old friend and to visit another friend with new child. Circle of life.
To say that is was a nice tribute would be an understatement. It was a true look back at a farmer’s son who had an undeniable urge to be storyteller. The odds of this small town young man finding success in the industry were very small. I was his friend for a dozen years but I met many who had that gentle guidance for a lifetime. I realized just how blessed I was to have Rance in my life. One after another – family and friends stood up to speak of the qualities of this great man. To hear sons, grandchildren, directors and fellow actors tell their stories of how Rance touched them was beyond moving.
Tony Becker, myself (Slightly Beat up) and Rance Howard on “Ghost Town”
To have an opportunity to speak with his family and friends and share my stories of Rance and our relationship was beautiful. I know that Ron posted some pics and video of the tribute on his official Facebook so you can visit there. That’s what the family felt like sharing. It was interesting to hear the “family story” behind stories I heard from Rance and Judy directly. Johnny Depp retold the story Judy Howard had told us of her trying to convince Rance not to jump from a train at 80+ years old. She tried to get Johnny to talk with Rance but the long/short is Rance did it anyways. To be able to tell the family directly what their father meant to me was powerful. That day remembering Rance is one I will remember for the rest of my life. I got to hear some wonderful comments on our art. The family all knew about our films because Rance had grown a beard, which they lovingly teased him according to Judy. He kept that beard until the end of his life telling me he hadn’t had one in many years but he was enjoying the freedom of it. I was pushing him to go play a Jedi Master. I’m sure his family was also aware of the management/rep craziness when Rance told the X Files producers that a certain shoot date would not work because of Forty Nights. Knowing agents like I have – I bet that was one giant rant of “What the @$#@#% is Forty Nights and who in the hell is DJ Perry?” – He ended up doing both because he stuck to his commitment with us (never in question) and that was that. A free lesson for all of you out there. Don’t have someone’s back only until something better comes along. The “trade up” mentality is a common thing to starving talent who will climb at all cost. But as Rance once said, “if the cost is your integrity – you can’t afford it.” Free advice from one of my great teachers. I will miss my friend and I’ll be always grateful for the stories we told together.
Dean Teaster and Shane Hagedorn in “Wild Faith”
Now two days prior to my travels, our final film of WILD FAITH had been completed. Over the past year I depleted energy like everyone else in this hard industry. Often taking three steps forward and getting knocked back two. Raising money is always hard and executing with ever-growing expectations is even harder. But at that memorial I took stock of my own path and journey. I turned around and looked at where I started and where I’ve been. Who I’ve worked with and what we created together. And the most exciting revelation is looking ahead visualizing what I will work to create in the next dozen years. I spent the balance of the trip visiting with friends laughing, recharging and reflecting. I came back home ready to do what I do. Create. So I’m working hard to widen our investor base so we can create more often. The demand is there for our content and so we’ll work hard to fill that demand.
We’ve signed our first theatrical deal on “Wild Faith” at Celebration Cinema and we’ll release the show dates in the next few days. I’m very excited to see this play in the theaters and I’m just so damn proud of all the artists. The talks on home video and TV series are in full swing. I would love to have the TV show move ahead because many Michigan talent would get to be part of this beautiful world.
“Forty Nights” and “Chasing the Star” enjoyed a great Christmas season and I’ve been working with BMG on paperwork for additional foreign sales. BMG entered “Chasing the Star” into a few select festivals. I’m a person who likes to just target a few festivals. They take time and energy and often I just choose to direct that energy towards deal making.
So our distributor plans to make part 3 of Collective Development Inc.’s THE QUEST TRILOGY “The Christ Slayer” their flagship release at the upcoming markets. They got the sneak peek at the soon-to-release theatrical trailer and poster art. Additionally the hype over Mel Gibson‘s development of a sequel to The Passion of the Christ has been encouraging. That proposed film focuses on passover and the days that follow Jesus rising from the tomb. That is exactly the time period and event we focused on with THE CHRIST SLAYER. A final story filled with incredible performances by everyone including Rance Howard shining in one of his last feature films. So I agree this “piece” of the Jesus story is unique and audiences will be able to see our take a good year plus before the other film is set to release. I will be excited to see their take on the story as Jim does an awesome job as Jesus and Mel is one of my favorite directors. Audiences will be able to enjoy our film in theaters leading to this Christmas and home video leading up top Easter 2019. I’m going to let all of you see the theatrical poster HERE before the PR release this week.
Judy and Rance Howard, Anthony Hornus and myself on set “Forty Nights”
I want to also wish a happy birthday to Shane Hagedorn and Anthony (Tony) Hornus – two tribal amigos who share a special day. I’ve created much with both of them and look forward to many more. MBF is growing with more support and I’ve got a few talent I want to approach once all funding is locked. I’ll be back to that this week. We’re getting close but do not start anything you cannot finish. Exert patience and get everything proper with your ship before taking it out to deep waters. So to proposed cast and crew know we’re working hard to allow us to tell another great story.
Myself and Shane Hagedorn in “The Christ Slayer”
I also want to take this moment to thank Shane Hagedorn. I’ve been very busy the last few years. And you filmmakers know the films are like your children. So the films have gotten strong marketing but I have not really pushed my own acting. I’ve had no time to cut any character reels. Shane was kind enough to Christmas gift me with a ‘Jesus’ reel cut from “Forty Nights”. Now when you’re in 70+ min of an 88 min film picking the best 2-3 min can be hard. I’m appreciative that he did that for me. Now if you have not yet watched “Forty Nights” DON’T WATCH the reel. Go to Amazon and watch the film first. But I will use this reel to discuss future work on other projects.
DJ Perry as ‘Jesus’ in “Forty Nights”
http://www.imdb.com/videoplayer/vi1002682393
I’ve recently had a few west coast projects in my orbit picking up speed. I had a few new updates on C.U.J.O and the western RIFLE development. I cannot speak on these publicly but I hope they both launch. They will be great fun. A few other projects with Reel Frog (Book of Ruth) are advancing on the development board also. An animated venture is coming together piece by piece. Overall 2018, the Year of the Dog (My sign) is upon us. I will keep my tail wagging and trotting along.
OTHER MISC RE-RELEASES
WICKED SPRING should appear for streaming on 3/1/18 like VUDU, Amazon Prime, Hoopla and more. Please do check out this powerful film that we produced 18 years ago.
THE ACTOR – I’m hearing April release.
PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ (Animated for Children) – On Vimeo On Demand and coming to Amazon.
ASHES OF EDEN – has a new market push with a new distributor. INFO SOON
I’m going to sign off and go pour a last cup of coffee. It feels great to be back in my home state and I’m ready to show audiences our new films this year. I’m ready to work hard as usual to make new content. I tip my hat to all of you out there working hard. Do good business. Make an environment to create great art.
ENJOY THE FIRST RELEASE OF THE THEATRICAL “THE CHRIST SLAYER” POSTER
Be good to one another.
DJ
Back at It! Great Developments in 2018
Welcome new readers from Sweden, France and Russia. I’ve been to Sweden years ago with my overseas soccer team. I’ve never been to France or Russia but you never know. This week marked the back-to-business full steam ahead. I had a wonderful holiday and truly appreciated the downshift in schedule. I had to keep some work flowing but it is important to take those moments to appreciate. You don’t want to keep moving your goals back. Allow your self to enjoy where you are and to reflect on what made that journey easy or difficult. Learn.
These two knuckleheads were clawing the frozen ground seeking food. I hooked them up. Needless to say, they are now very happy and have joined the DJ Perry fan club.
These five talented men – I’ve co-starred with all of them previous to “Wild Faith” – I’m excited for all of them to see what they created. It is a goal for cast and crew to be proud of their involvement. Some don’t always appreciate the endeavor until many years later and some understand the life and love we put into these stories as they live it. Be appreciative of the friendship, the art and opportunity. Films are HARD WORK.
New meets old guard as we announced two more fine actors going the cast of Man’s Best Friend – MBF. Curran has only worked with CDI on one previous film and Greg, well he was in CDI’s first film and has done many films with us, so he has OG status within the tribe)
This past week has been spent organizing for 2018 and prepping for the new 2019 films. We took a few steps closer to financing fully our MBF film. I’m excited to return to that role once I lock this business down. I’m trying to get it done by the end of the month.
Wild Faith new trailer dropped (HERE)
The response has been great. But I can say in all honesty that the film is so much more enjoyable. The trailer is strong but the performances and characters created by everyone just make the world a place you want to return. I’ve got a few companies to run the final film by. I’ve held back from assigning to our current distributor only because I’m trying to leverage the TV series. The world is great and I can see a great opportunity to showcase more of the strong Michigan talent. The final audio and visual tweaks are being made. We’re starting some theatrical discussions in Michigan. Also we’ll be discussing a cast/crew/media showing and a Michigan premiere. It will be a fun spring and summer showing the film followed by a fall/winter push to home video. Exciting to see where it all goes. Some big eyes will be on the final film.
Josh Perry (Albus) and DJ Perry (Jesus) on set “The Christ Slayer”
The holiday season was a wonderful push for the first two films released in The Quest Trilogy. Forty Nights and Chasing the Star did very well and I’m sure we’ll be seeing the results of that soon. It will continue to play Amazon Prime and add new platforms, networks and territories. As we get to the end of January we’ll start to roll out a new level of promotion on the third film The Christ Slayer. I actually had a nice catch up with Josh Perry, one of our co-stars. We’re all excited to finish the trilogy. The first meetings over music and sound with our post supervisor Dennis Therrian and director Nathaniel Nose took place. I was shown the new trailer in the works. The first official poster should also be close to ready at the end of the month. The film really looks great and the trailer will be another great look. The teaser was intense but the trailer…smiles all around.
New releases this year for ASHES OF EDEN, WICKED SPRING and more…CDI Publishing launched with If I have any readers that enjoy doing reviews please do.
Dee Freeman is the author of the book based upon the earlier Wild Michigan screenplay. I have a few other books to post once the deal is done. Teaster (Dean’s Teaster’s Ghost Town) by Bob Terrell might be next. The KNIGHT CHILLS book starts a tour this year with author David Hayes. Again great to be working with all these artists.
TO BUY the KNIGHT CHILLS book * and movie
https://www.amazon.com/Knight-Chills-DJ-Perry/dp/1945940174
Lastly, we will be announcing CDI’s new website. We’re going to be expanding into streaming films with great talks coming from some of your CDI favorite actors and crew on the making of these projects. Direct Casting information to deal with our rush of reels and a new Merchandising section. Swag and merchandise has been one of the most asked about things and so I’m going to make efforts to grow that. You can JOIN THE TRIBE: Don’t hate, Create! – I was asked to take this saying of mine and put it to a shirt. Perhaps:)
Okay. Have a productive week everyone and try to stay warm. I’m going to cuddle in with this guy for a few and visualize the week ahead. Never stop dreaming. Never stop doing.
DJ
Films, Books, Posters and Other CDI Updates!
Good morning! Yesterday we awoke to a beautiful dusting of snow upon the ground in Michigan. The word is that the south is getting much more now and poor CA is just getting torched by wild fires. We had the first of our family Christmas gatherings yesterday and it was a true joy. Last week all our meetings were touched with the holiday spirit. My main push has been trying to communicate with all our potential investors and lock up the last units on MBF (Man’s Best Friend). The money aspect is never easy. I do see more people out there working to give confidence to investors and stand accountable vs asking for handouts. We’ve been through all that so I’m not going to beat that dead horse. What an awful saying, wonder what that originated from? Anyway…
Let me make a go at trying to share some of the great happenings this week –
A great promotional campaign by Christian Cinema features the entire trilogy. Forty Nights, Chasing the Star are both part of their 12 days of Christmas. The Christ Slayer even gets a plug all with the first trailer of Joaquin Phoenix‘s new biblical adventure. He is one of my favorite actors and also plays Jesus. It would be fun to have a beer with him and talk about our experiences in doing so.
Our distributor BMG also has a campaign with Amazon and they cut a trailer to promote CHASING THE STAR. As of today it has been seen by 213,000 folks. ANYTHING can be picked apart and because of some people’s “need to be right” or need to “appear in the knowing” – many often miss the greater lessons. All three films have great messages placed within them. Just like denominations you can debate the fine details but many spend so much time doing this that again they miss the greater message. Empty your cup and just enjoy the journey.
Here is an example – we ran a PR release on one of our co-stars in next year’s The Christ Slayer.
A beautiful casting choice that should inspire people to open their minds of acceptance as Jesus likely would have. This was posted all over social media and yet one person, a loudly proclaiming member of the organized religion of Christianity, made me shake my head. I did note they do some filming of sorts, but rather than see the beauty of the story, they chose to voice negativity in a passive aggressive way. Because they claim that at the time of Christ, down syndrome may or may not have existed. Surely being with a handicap or dealing with disabilities DID exist and that IS what is being represented. I feel DEEP pity for the shallow nature and deep pits of despair that some people chose to exist in. As I stated, all features are fiction even if they represent non-fiction events or happenings. I myself have noted blatant things in films that are not likely true to history, but I always know I’m watching a story. I try to think before I speak so even when I too fall victim to a negative thought or reaction, I’m not ruled by it. I overcome it. I will not be a person living in a glass house throwing stones at others. To those rock throwers- I’m also ready to watch your filmed story so I can be shown how it’s really done. Most of those asked to present their art would stand alone in their negativity surrounded by the shattered glass of their own actions and deeds. Don’t be one of those people. But also if you ask for feedback you do have to accept feedback although, many could learn to communicate their ideas much better. So in actuality I just feel pity for these folks. I have no room in my life for these people and they surely don’t deserve counter-hate. Hate is a powerful emotion on par with love – so instead in 2018 these people will get my pity, no more. 2018 is the year of “Mister T” philosophy. In ROCKY III – When asked if he hated Rocky, he replied, “I don’t hate Balboa, I pity the fool.” – Lesson: Don’t be a fool.
Chasing the Star is now in the UK and Netherlands and I hope to bring more updates soon.
UK Celebrates the Release of ‘Chasing the Star‘
Also happy to announce that our children’s animated feature “The Patchwork Girl of Oz” will get a 2018 release. Follow the social media site here for news and updates.
https://www.facebook.com/The-Patchwork-Girl-of-Oz-123271044354343/
You know I like to give my blog family the first news – as many of you know WILD FAITH our western is almost done. We were watching and making notes on the new theatrical trailer and WOW! This film originated in concept in another script I wrote many years ago entitled WILD MICHIGAN. It was wrought with hardships from the writer’s strike, dishonest Hollywood companies and even an investor who was killed. To see a beautiful story at the heart of so much pain and discouragement it was shelved. I was ready to leave it there. But fast forward many years and a new streamlined version of the script was created. It was shot for about 1/10 the original budget. It was shot because of passion for the story and themes which remained true to the original. That previous script/film never got made. In truth, it was one of the few real ‘failures’ in my career. So when the opportunity came to release the book written by author Dee Freeman off my original first draft script – I decided to honor that film. To do this we did not change the book to match the new script/film. It stands on its own as a tribute to a different attempt at a film. A different story whereas even several of the characters have different names. But some themes remain and if you want to read this earlier version here is the sales link. I will be doing some PR in the coming weeks. I hope you will take a read on the film that almost was. Following that, in a few short months you can watch the film that IS. Either way, this amazing film had important messages and themes and wasn’t meant to die on a shelf. I’m thankful for that.
Other books will follow…CDI Publishing is born:)
KNIGHT CHILLS book
Other Updates
The PR on the new 2018 release of “Wicked Spring” will be forthcoming.
The NEW Collective Development Inc. website will launch Jan. 15th, 2018.
The Official first poster and second trailer for THE CHRIST SLAYER is getting close. They will be released early in 2018! Makes sure to watch Part 1 & 2.
Several development projects in the works and I even agreed to participate in a non-profit project shooting one day this month. It will be nice getting back in front of my old friend – the camera.
I hope you all enjoy the season and make that extra effort to be kind to strangers and family alike. Put down the stones and your hate and see how that feels. Note that the energy flows both ways.
Speaking of energy I’ve been using Maple Holistic‘s Eucalyptus essential oil for my sinus flow. I again would recommend the brand for those who use oils. Thank you Maple Holistic’s for allowing me to share with my circle. For a free sample – ( https://www.mapleholistics.com/free-sample/ )-
Be good to one another!
DJ
The Loss of a Mentor – and Film Updates
We have our first readers from Iraq and Spain and so welcome to ‘Clawing our way to the Middle‘ blog. I’ve got the hot coffee in hand and seeking the right words here. Last night I was having a few old friends over to the office to sit by the fire and talk old times. Just before people showed up I heard news that my dear friend Rance Howard had passed away. We met in Benson, AZ while shooting on ‘Miracle at Sage Creek‘ and bonded over breakfast at Denny’s with his wife Judy. Rance later went on to join us on “Dean Teaster’s Ghost Town” whereas he played the father-like figure to my character. Rance loved our church scene in that film. Here is a few clips.
He could not join us on “The Book of Ruth, Journey of Faith” because he was working with his ole friend Andy Griffith. But when The Quest Trilogy came along he grew a beard for the first time in many years. He was excited to play “The Devil” after a lifetime of good guys. Play it he did in all three “Forty Nights” and “Chasing the Star” out on Amazon Prime now. His devil turn in “Forty Nights” won him best lead actor at the International Christian Film Festival. I’m proud that we still have “The Christ Slayer” coming in 2018 but I’m a touch sad that he will not get to see it. I remember on “The Christ Slayer” the two of us in that boat in the middle of the night – holding hands. We shared so many deep talks both about the role and about life. To pass at 89 years of age – working right up until the end is an inspiration. He was truly a mentor to me. One man who had truly been there and done that and he actually cared about my career. Very few people take that kind of time and nurture but you can see that manifested in his own family. He was supposed to play a funny role in “MBF” and we had always wanted to do this “Algona” WW2 POW/Xmas script but that was not meant to be. He was my source expert when I was writing. He was a dairy farmer and had first hand experience of WW2 so his input was vital. I know that Rance touched many people’s life and made us all feel important. He would walk between working with Russell Crowe followed by DJ Perry and never made you feel any less. Actually the opposite, as he made you feel great about being a storyteller. He was deep with his characters and he always came with lots of notes, ideas and intuitions. He will be greatly missed.
Where do I go from there…?
Forty Nights and Chasing the Star has been getting a great holiday push here in the US/Canada. Chasing the Star has been licensed to Netherlands to a network called Family 7. Forty Nights might be right behind it. Also the films are looking to invade the UK and I will have more details on that soon.
The Christ Slayer is just finishing all the VFX and final edits preparing to move into post music and sound.
That means…
Wild Faith is preparing to come out of post sound/music. The VFX are all in and end credits are being tweaked. The last step is color correction along with the audio mix. I’m excited to roll this film out and I feel good about our chances of rolling a series out behind it.
The storm cometh
MBF – now has the bank account open. We need to start collecting paperwork and checks and also drum up the final investment units. We’ll be announcing more castings in the run up to Christmas. A lot of wonderful support for this film.
If yesterday put anything front and center for me it’s to keep following your path. I don’t know how many films I have still in me but I’ll keep creating and moving forward. Cherish those mentors in your life while you can and remember to turn around and mentor those around you. The holidays have been filled with joy and today we will decorate the beautiful tree.
Be good to one another.
DJ
Pushing Christmas Sales and Prepping to Attack 2018!
I’m sipping coffee on this peaceful Sunday. Beside me is a new 5 gal of Green Goblin 3.0 wine started on Halloween and by 11/4 on the full moon it was bubbling like a possessed spirit had invaded it. See what I did there? The spirit, okay back to the blog. New readers/followers from The Netherlands, welcome. Readers from Israel has been following us and again, thank you. I love this space – open for artists to stop by and listen to a story or two. To get a few updates and let you know that these battles we fight to create our art are natural. Part of the process of healing people with the power of a story. A medium that weaves so many emotions through so many of the human senses.
David Gries in THE CHRIST SLAYER
It’s been a strong week of organization and prepping to move into 2018. New announcements on MBF, our next CDI film. We added David Gries and Shane Hagedorn two other fine artists. I’ve worked with both of them and these roles are in caring hands. March will be a nice mix of old and new talent working together. This coming week I plan to open the bank account. Small steps on the path to production.
THE QUEST TRILOGY
American Film Market is underway and BMG has Forty Nights and Chasing the Star there right now. We made some announcements that the films were making their way to the UK. I also see evidence that Asia might be getting the films next. I was notified of a Singapore government ratings for Forty Nights. I will seek to confirm but I really do hope that our fans to the East can enjoy these beautiful films.
Domestically our recent goal now that we’re past Halloween, has been making people aware of the first two films in the marketplace for Christmas. Amazon Prime now has both FORTY NIGHTS and CHASING THE STAR. Watch them back to back and if you enjoyed them give them a little word of mouth or post a review. I think those films are just starting to travel a long journey of being exposed to artists worldwide.
THE CHRIST SLAYER is the 3rd film in the trilogy and it’s moving right along. We released a still of it being worked on in post VFX. (Here)
This third film will bring things together nicely. The poster is on the 3rd draft and getting stronger with each one. This film is preparing to enter music and sound design in Jan 2018.
For that to go in WILD FAITH needs to come out. The music first draft is DONE save tweaks and end credit roll. We’ll start putting that together now. I have high hopes that once the film is done the full merit of a series will be seen. We’re soon to sit and watch the film with the music in. Right now mixing and balancing is underway. The 10 sec of remaining VFX footage is what we’re dealing with still. But the plan is in motion and I’m confident we’ll complete that shortly.
Knight Chills 20th Anniversary
We’ve also been delivering materials to our distributor for WICKED SPRING. It is an interesting feeling bringing that film to the forefront again. I did that role 17 years ago. Crazy. KNIGHT CHILLS had a new release with the book this year and that is a great little Christmas story. I’m smiling – but I will admit for people who have not been exposed to my work having KNIGHT CHILLS, FROM VENUS or IN THE WOODS be your intro is…scary. Zac, Frank and Alex are all great roles just not current representations. These films like others have gathered fans to which again I’m appreciative. My debate as of late was to accept invitations to participate in Comic Cons on occasion to celebrate these old works. I guess as I pondered it I got a touch of insight into Jeff Daniels who wants to be known for his dramatic excellence but people often just remember DUMB & DUMBER. How many sick, lonely, troubled and just bored people did that film make laugh? Giving relief by way of 90 mins of humor. Who are we to judge what people will enjoy? Hence art is subjective. Also some of these early films had so many rocks thrown at them. Some justified but many just the rise of the troll in this new medium of inter-webs:) I still hear the AOL dial-up. But if people can embrace these films more power to them. At the 15th anniversary to sit in the Alamo theater (Kazoo) and watch people shout, laugh and play the drinking game associated with IN THE WOODS was a joy. As we move through the present towards the future we must always make peace with our past. I’m getting there. I’m looking into the “Appearance circuit” although I’ve always wanted people to see the characters before the actor. I have met thousands of fans over the years and I’m appreciative. Although I don’t appear at many of these events it’s because of new work. I had a distributor friend ask if I was going to be at AFM. (Film Market) Actually I’ve had many ask. I told this person I was in MI overseeing post on two films while we prep for our new one. I would like to attend an AFM in the near future.
In addition to MBF prep we’ve been reviewing and looking at several other CDI & CDI associated projects. I think we’re preparing for another strong slate on films. As always I really do appreciate you stopping by. I hope the season is productive and wish you all a strong week ahead.
DJ
‘Chasing the Star’ Release, Behind-the-Scenes and the NEW CDI Project INFO.
A little peanut butter toast and coffee to greet me on this fine morning. Last night I got to toast my longtime friend and film associate Dean Teaster for his 60th birthday. His property was looking just amazing. You can tell he’s put some serious time into it and it’s a very zen place to chillax. The tree fort is amazing and the cleared forest around it with the strings of lights, looked magical. A classic rock band, catered BBQ and a HUGE bar fueled the gathering into the night. I released my first burning Chinese lantern (pretty cool) and also watched the BIG fight to end my night. I hope my buddy will enjoy many more trips around the sun. A great time was had by all.
This week was full of film developments on many fronts.
The Quest Trilogy –
THE CHRIST SLAYER continues to move down post production looking to release next year. Meanwhile most of the attention is currently on CHASING THE STAR. The official release date is 9/5/17 but a few retailers have released early. Here’s the first Faith and General Market sites that you can rent/buy from.
Simply Grace magazine will run a featured story on Chasing the Star in November and Television On Demand becomes available Oct. 2nd – additionally were once again invited to attend the International Christian Film Festival 2018. We’ll see if we can follow our great 2017 run we had with FORTY NIGHTS. Here are a few of the recent reviews.
https://www.facebook.com/WildFaithMovie/
MBF
So this week we’re getting our summary for our new project MBF out to our past backers. We’re also going to be approaching our many sponsors that have supported our past projects. If you’ve got an interest in learning more on investment and/or sponsorship for your product or service, reach out to me directly at perrydj@aol.com
Additionally we’ve got first paperwork for a new deal on an older film in the library. Can you guess which film that might be? HINT: We’ve had the main theme of the film in our news headlines. Stay tuned!
This week business will continue to charge forward. At home – Our beans are slowing but the tomatoes are coming on fast and furious. My one pumpkin ‘Jack’ that was attacked has turned orange and so we do have one! The rhubarb/mulberry wine is ready to rack to the secondary. After a time in the secondary it goes to bottles. I’m also going to look at when we can do the shake siding on the office/fort. I really put in some time on the yard this past week which included discovering a large ground bee nest. I only got stung three times but now that’s been taken care of. Our furry boy Luke is on the mend and I hope that trend continues. Also today we have one of our last soccer games of our season before play offs. We’re looking like we might have low numbers today but we will battle with whatever warriors show up. Time to refill the coffee cup. Have a great week ahead.
DJ
Holiday Weekend Updates
Well last week we had a nice jump in readers and I’m not sure exactly why that was – maybe people like the more random format? I just came in from the second full day of working in the yard. I gave a good mow with trimming and we put in the garden. Also built a new garden entrance and basically just got the summer stuff into full swing. As noted before the HOPS are growing like mad and we’re about to have raspberry explosion. The mulberries are also prepping to ripen soon. This year we did more tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers and more. It makes for some really nice salads and sandwiches. This year we’re also trying some various lettuces. I’m also going to plant some gourds and will try pumpkins again. The pack has enjoyed the outside time. I hope to also be putting the last of the upper siding on the office in the coming months. I’ve been doing a lot of organization and rearranging. I’m just trying to get ready for the projects that lie ahead. Let’s try the random updates again.
Sir Kallio stalks in “Knight Chills”
The book for “Knight Chills” is on target to release this year and I was given the book art that was commissioned by the distribution company and it is COOL! I will look at giving a sneak peek in the weeks ahead.
A deal for the other CDI books might also be in the works so some of the other scripts that had been novelized might be heading to you. Ghost Town, Wild Faith – might be a few to get things rolling.
I also saw a first mock-up draft of the new CDI website. I’m excited about all the interactive attributes that will allow for a much better experience.
I’m beginning talks with a few other distributors for R-rated content within CDI. The thrillers and horror films past, present and future need to have the same flow as our family/faith distribution. So those talks will be happening this Summer.
“Forty Nights” continues to bring some great and inspiring fan mail. The film just went up on Amazon Prime and will continue to expand.
Amazon Prime
https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Nights-DJ-Perry/dp/B06ZYK8WNL
On set “Chasing the Star” with Logan Kishi
“Chasing the Star” was delivered to our distributor BMG this past week to prep it for the Sept. 5th national launch. Exploring some new theatrical runs as the Michigan run came to a close.
“The Christ Slayer” has a first edit! We’ll be reviewing that this coming week. We got to watch a select scene from the film as a teaser and I was very happy with what I saw. Trailer and poster will be up next.
“Wild Faith” we’ll be reviewing the sound design this coming week as music is preparing to go full speed ahead. This trailer and film is generating a lot of hype. The film is deserving as you’ll all see once it’s released. We’re exploring all the possibilities for the ongoing series.
I’ve been working hard on making writing time and I’m closing in on a feature script that I feel strongly about both creatively and business-wise. I’m also in talks on a few possible paid work-for-hire gigs. I am looking forward to getting back in front of the camera just looking for the right role. After coming off “The Christ Slayer” I’m looking for a really strong script/role to sink my teeth into.
I hope you spend some time with family and friends. I have a few more gatherings with just that tonight and tomorrow. I think I might need to shut down for 15 minutes. Just a quick checking of the eye lids for holes.
Be good to one another.
DJ
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 
TEN Exciting Updates on this Fine November Day.
I’m listening to the icy rain outside – thankfully I got most all the yard winterized. I had a GIANT branch larger than most trees, trimmed. (Ruby’s Tree Service in Lansing) It had grown over the house and path to the office. It was big enough that the roof and house might slow it down if it fell. That said, it is now down and while part of the yard is littered with logs I will have lots of firewood for the coming seasons. I had a Viking Thursday that started early with stowing all the yard stuff under the deck and ended with a little whiskey sipping around the wood stove with a few ole friends. Let’s look at a few updates from a week of business.
Aside from that, it was a week of disappointment in my alumni school Michigan State University. In football we’ve been doing good but Ohio hit us like Mr. T’s Clubber Lang in Rocky 3. We will see if the Lions do better today. The house Halloween stuff got put away and the Thanksgiving stuff is out. Soon the Christmas tree and I for one can’t wait. I love having a tree in the house. I find it inspiring. So those of you in the reach of the cold, stay warm. I hope you have a productive week and spend some good time with friends and family.
Be good to one another.
DJ
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November 12, 2017 | Categories: Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tags: actor, amazon, Amazon Prime, AMF, Armed Forces, Asia, Bedias, Bollywood, CDI, Chasing the star, Clubber Lang, Collective Development Inc, comments, credits, December, deck, distributors, DJ Perry, family, football, foreign, Forty Nights, friends, ice, India, lions, logs, MBF, Mr. T, MSU, netherlands, networks, posters, rain, reviews, Rocky, Rocky 3, Ruby's Tree Service, studio, Texas, The Christ Slayer, Thursday, tree, UK, vets, VFX, Viking, Wicked Spring, Wild Faith, winter, wood stove, yard | Leave a comment