Post 4th of July Updates- Back to Business!
Good morning! I’m back to sipping the hazelnut coffee. I do enjoy the coconut flavor as a change but it is so nice to be back to my true love. It has been a crazy week with a lot of good business. The heat has been hindering at times but the plants love it. I feel bad for the victims of the floods and having been a camp counselor in my past I relate. A time meant to be a fun memory becoming a nightmare. The 4th of July Celebration is great as I do love and appreciate where we all live and call home. I use to enjoy fireworks as a child and young adult so I try to be understanding. But my reality now is having one dog who fears the loud noise. Once they start sometimes before the sun goes down my furry boy Finn is done going outside. He is restless in bed with several nights the huge BOOMS going until the wee hours. That also means him wanting to get up really early to go potty. So I’m up late and rising too early. I don’t love fireworks like I once did. Snakes, sparklers, jumping jacks, M-80’s, Roman Candles and more have been replaced by major explosives. I got out of the game with all my fingers, toes and both eyes so I’m good.
Harsens Island Revenge
Currently we are in a holding pattern with Harsens Island Revenge to see if theaters will give us dates. We just finished a run at the Wells Flame and are ready for more. We are still waiting on dates from Emagine and Fridley who ran SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA. We might start planning some dinner and viewings that a few places offered but we wanted audiences to see it on the big screen first. We know 10/6/2025 will be our home video release on DVD and buy/rent streaming services.
We received word from the Red Letter Awards that I talked about last week saying that in the last category of Best Supporting Actor we had two nominations. I received a nod for playing WW1 veteran Axel and Dean Teaster for playing ruthless Abe Axler. Those two characters are polar opposites and even have a run in at the climax of the film. I think Axel was a cool cat and I loved the role and he was an extreme version of myself. As for Dean his role was way outside of his true personality and add in the accent. I would love to see Dean win for the role but I have no control over that. Matter of fact you can just run down our cast list for people I believe could have been nominated for Best Actors or Actress but I am biased. I love the Best Film nomination because it reflects on everyone. Any selfishly I do hope to win Best Writer as it is something I truly love. I even had talks this past week about agent or management representation for literary. I would love to sell off a property a year.
Wild Faith Christmas
Now that the holiday is about over director Shane Hagedorn will be getting together with Dennis Therrian for last listens on music and sound design. The VFX are being dropped in and we are working on end credits. This film will be wrapping up soon and we’ll start to work on the theatrical placement for the run up to the holidays. For those eagerly waiting theatrically will be the only way to see it this holiday season. 2026 will have the film releasing to home video with the theatrical window running into 2026. Again if you have not seen the first one join the tens of millions who have and meet some of the characters in advance. I’m excited for a listen through that will be forthcoming.
ROM COMS MUST DIE – Monday we have a studio watch through to do last looks on the edit, color, VFX and sound design. Once we lock it up we’ll prep it to move over to Dennis Therrian’s studio for music and mixing. This film is just straight up fun and pokes fun at ourselves as filmmakers, actors and artists. I think the goal here will be to do a premiere in Oct. maybe even an event at the McGraw studio or in a theater. After we’ll run it in theaters for 2026 and end with a fall 2026 release to home video. We might do some horror fest showcases in-between.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA – Many have been stopping at one of the ad-based video on demand sites like Encourage TV, Roku, Xumo, Tubi, etc…to watch this WW2 home front drama. I did a watch on the 7/1/25 the release date and it was pure joy to watch this story again. This was directed by Anthony Hornus who we are about to talk about in development. Yes. He is getting back into the director’s chair to tell a very unique and timely story.
DEVELOPMENT:
THE SECRET OF THE KINGDOM CHIP – While this film stands on its own it also falls into a story that fits after The Quest Trilogy. For those unaware of the trilogy they are biblical adventures told with a Star Wars-like vision. Good vs Evil and the Heroes Journey play into the three films FORTY NIGHTS, CHASING THE STAR and The Christ Slayer. I really thought that I had put on the robe for the last time as I’m not funded on the level to tell of the return of J.C.. But this story pulled from the news and given a SciFi (For now) spin is a great follow up. The film has been hailed by several readers as the very best of my scripts. I’m not sure on that but I’ll take it since most all the others have been recognized for the script and/or film itself. I always say that the script is not just a box on a check list of development it is EVERYTHING. We are still in talks over the last few pieces of the funding but the finish line is in sight. We are almost done with the casting save a few that we will be doing some reads for. We have the development crew in place and the schedule is being worked on. We’ve landed on our locations and I’m very excited about the shoot end of September.
Misc. Development-
We have a handful of other film projects that are coming together. That can include script, rough schedule, concept art, budgets and such. I will be following up on more of these projects as we get others out the door. I will say that I did over the weekend start work on a highly anticipated sequel script. I’m in no rush but if it comes out how I imagine it will be very powerful. A hint can be found in a short video segment I posted this weekend. I even put a little Metallica music behind the clip for fun.
WRAP UP:
I see almost daily of artists taken while still in their prime. I’m painfully aware of the friends I’ve lost both in the filmmaking world and outside of it. It makes me really appreciate each day as a gift. The sun, rain, birds, squirrels, my loved ones and my beloved work family. I hope I’m blessed with good health to keep doing what I do. I hope my friends and family also enjoy this good health. Even watching some of Black Sabbath and Ozzy perform one last time due to Ozzy’s health issues made me pause. What if I could no longer do the things I love? I would hope I would find new interests and purpose. I joke when I get frustrated about our biz that I want to go bartend at the Moose Lodge down the road and just tell stories. But I know I would miss storytelling on the grand level that we have taken it. I was doing accounting breakdowns this weekend preparing to report and do payouts to our investors. I really appreciate all those good folks who have supported storytelling and the arts. I’m going to wrap it up here. This week will be fun with birthday gatherings, film mixing and more. I hope you all have a great week ahead. Thank you once again for stopping by and sharing a few moments with me.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
‘BEST YEARS GONE’ Races Into Their First Festival with a Checkered Flag! Plus 10 CDI Updates
Happy Sunday! I’m sipping the hazelnut coffee and happy that we did not get hit by that huge east coast storm. It went under us meaning we got the cold and a few snow flakes but not 20+ inches of snow. This past week flew by with me attacking the gathering of info for our accounting firm. This coming week the 1099’s will go out and I’ve been prepping things for end of year taxes also. We had one day this week we chose as “Viking Thursday” to cut firewood. We actually damaged the axes breaking one handle and losing the head on another. That means I’m in Axe fix mode this week but we got the job done using sledge hammers, wedges and a splitting ring. A splitting ring is a device that you place the log inside resting on a blade and hammer it down to split it. That day we worked was bitter but we got enough split for the next week or two.
The next CDI feature film is looking to be HOT ROD LOVE. The script is getting some amazing feedback and this week I’ll be breaking down more of the business aspects. We are looking at trying to hit an April/May shoot in Michigan. We’ll be announcing more on this property as we go. Now wait, didn’t CDI just do a race theme film? Yes. But that was circle track racing and this is drag racing. The CDI Race Trilogy? Haha, not really, maybe. The film is a comedy with some nice life lessons attached but it could be our biggest comedy to date.
BREAKING NEWS! So BEST YEARS GONE is prepping for its home video premiere run in June-Sept and in the meantime we’ll keep playing some theaters and also a few select film events. I will say that I’m not a fan of virtual events but with all these festivals going remote one thing stands out to me. Often the filmmakers that show up at the event and smoke have a better chance of winning because the fest gets a good acceptance speech (sometimes). So to me the one positive is that the films are really being evaluated on the content vs the political ‘schmooze’ factor. Our director Shane Hagedorn submitted us to a few select festivals. We announced that we had our first official acceptance into –
We found our yesterday that we were nominated for the following categories and actually won a few award. I’m so proud of this film and the cast and crew involved. First the SCREENPLAY was Nominated as one of the best. I appreciate this nomination greatly as I love writing and believe it is the foundation of every great film. Without a good battle plan you don’t have a real chance. I also think that having such strong source material from Karl Manke (book Hope From Heaven) also helped.
I feel our entire cast could have been nominated for the rich roles they brought to the story but this organization nominated three actors for awards. Melissa Anschutz and Randy Spence for BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS and ACTOR. It is only due to all these supporting performances especially by my costar Erika Hoveland that allowed me to be nominated and actually win BEST ACTOR for my work as ‘Gil Gilles’. But that’s not all-
As we all know the technical people behind the scenes help create and capture the world/story. I again believe that many of the crew were nomination worthy but Mr. Travis Hayward was nominated and WON for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY. And finally, my favorite nomination and WIN…
This award represents the TRIBE! We all made this picture what it is and again I’m just so proud of our cast and crew and excited for the world audience to see this film. Here is a great statement from our director Shane Hagedorn. But first a quote from a legend.
What we do come up with has no special right to call itself better. It’s just different. No, if there’s any excuse for us at all, it’s that we’re simply following the old American tradition of the maverick”.
-Orson Welles
And from our director-
“I am thrilled for our cast and crew on these major wins and nominations from Maverick Movie Awards. Although we filmed through the height of the pandemic of 2020, our tribe of artists and crafts folk banded together to create something unique and special–all the while overcoming many obstacles while doing so. Thanks to the team at Maverick for recognizing our art and best efforts”.
-Shane Hagedorn
Our release dates can be found on our IMDB.com page and updates are flowing out to our FB page also. I also want to take a moment to give congrats to my fellow local filmmaker/actor Michael McCallum, who was also nominated in the shorts division for ‘Best Actor’ and I believe had a few other nominations between two (?) shorts they had represented. I’m not 100% sure on all the nominations but I wanted to tip my hat. Two filmmaker groups from Lansing, Michigan getting noticed in London, England, nice.
Let me see if I can do a bullet point of some of the weeks activities-
- More “Silent Night in Algona” stills are being released on FB and soon (Feb) we’ll release a BTS video. Editing is underway with a first cut expected by mid-March.
- “SMOKE & MIRRORS” the short proof of concept short cut from the feature script is uploaded to film freeway and a few choice festivals will be chosen for this steampunk, spooky short starring David Gries and Melissa Anschutz.
- We are moving closer to a deal on FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH, our doc on the history of grappling/wrestling directed by our own Curran Jacobs.
- A verbal agreement has been made on moving forward with an app video game based on CDI’s first feature film from the 90’s KNIGHT CHILLS. The film is a cautionary tale about bullying woven into the awesome realm of role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Paperwork will follow this week.
- Look on Facebook ENCOURAGE TV for my buddy Josh “Ponceman” Perry promoting BIGFOOT, UFO’S & JESUS. If you haven’t seen the film you should. It is a fun romp and ‘Chip’ Josh Perry is a show stealer. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4724060584352381&id=124174114296086&ref=sharing&_rdr
- In the wake of THE QUEST TRILOGY push that will continue through Easter has brought up discussions on a couple other possible films set in the time of sand and sandals. These films come from a unique perspective different from most biblical adventures. So even if organized religion is not your thing, you might enjoy these three films which purposely shoot in a ‘Star Wars‘ original trilogy style.
- WILD FAITH and the developing WILD FAITH: Hastings TV series are growing stronger. As millions view the feature each year, enjoy the storytelling, the eight show series is getting closer. Now as people are getting back to work I hope to move some major pieces on the chessboard with this TV series.
- BESTSELLER is finally getting the home video release it deserves. I cannot wait to see the new artwork and such. It goes to digital rental I believe same day as BEST YEARS GONE (Sept 1st, 2022) This script is adapted from the book of the same name written by Michigan’s own Christopher Wright.
- I hope to do a follow up meeting soon to see what the evaluation of some of the old CDI library films yields at BMG. Some would need to be uprezed and conformed but that would be cool to see! Are you hoping for any one film in particular to come to the market in HD?
- WICKED SPRING is being introduced to new audiences and old audiences are getting to stream the film in HD. I want to try and do some collectors merchandise on this film in 2022. I’m thinking about a collectors poster. If you enjoy merchandise we have several items up from various films at the http://www.cdiproductions.com site.
I’m going to wrap this up and get on some bacon and eggs. Our chickens are doing well even with the frigid cold they are still kicking out eggs. I might look into my axe situation. This week ahead will be productive. I’m doing some more writing and have two other potential script writing projects. I do enjoy that writing time especially when it is freezing outdoors. If I missed anything – forgive me. This week I wish you all well and remember to have patience and be good to one another.
DJ
ICFF Win, HD and General Market Releases, Post Updates and ALGONA Pre-Production!
The birds were chirping a full chorus this morning and now I’ve got my hazelnut coffee with me and I’m looking forward to our weekly chat. My “soccer legs” are getting stronger now that we are three games in. Day one after our Thursday game my legs felt seized up but day two which is usually worse, brought recovery. The movement in all directions and running for so long really shocks the legs until they strengthen the tendons again in back, hips, knees and ankles. I also got a new free-standing heavy bag for in the yard. Our training days will be better now that we can unloose some kicks. My hanging heavy bag inside wasn’t positioned proper to practice kicks. I’m just upping my kicking game to get it back to where I once was. We joked that every decade the kicks got lower. But working on kicking and soccer go hand in hand. Either way I’m really enjoying it so far. I hope our Memorial weekend off from soccer helps the healing but doesn’t set back my progress I’ve made so far. I’m coming out of this Covid crisis in tuned up shape. Let me think – any big events sitting on my mind this week?
I was approached by a former co-star (Tommy Lynch) who is now coaching and counseling. He had a student (Matthew) that is an aspiring screenwriter. He was doing a video presentation final exam like many students. He was using MAN’S BEST FRIEND as the tone of his TV series. My friend told him that he knew DJ Perry and that he could get me to do an interview clip for his project. I did so. I hope that it turned out great. My thoughts are with all the students who had to face such a crazy time with Covid.
(Some of the CDI team at ICFF with ‘Lost Heart’)
FILM UPDATES
Let’s start with LOST HEART. The film was being recognized at the ICFF (International Christian Film Festival) this past week. We had multiple nominations and were given the bronze for Best Film category and Don Most won as Best Supporting Actor. I know that a handful of our talent led by Melissa Anschutz attended. While award shows are fine I’m sure the laughter around the dinner and pool are the most memorable.
LOST HEART is up next month (June) at the Crown Awards in Texas as one of five films nominated for ‘Best Picture’ along with MAN’S BEST FRIEND. CDI is also going to announce that this week the General Market (GM) release of the film is about to start rolling onto streaming platforms. Under the title BIGFOOT, UFO’S AND JESUS the mainstream will be treated with this wonderful story. We will also be releasing the new trailer with the GM poster art.
BEST YEARS GONE – Lots going on here with this film. The film even had a ‘biker bar’ pick up this past week to complete all the added footage. The color correction is progressing. Our first official trailer is getting close to an edit lock with director notes going over. The music and sound design is also moving right along. Our ‘Battle of the Bands’ is closed and the songs are being judged by our team. We’ve started to release some videos of judge John Two Hawks talking about his favorite three songs. Watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/Bestyearsgone
Next week we’ll have notes from judge Joe Pullin and after that from our team. We’ve also added a drop song coordinator in Taylor Dupuis (Pic Below) who just might be gifting us with another great ‘Roanoke’ song. We’ll be announcing the winner end of the month and prepping to shoot a music video. We also have a meeting this week about an event premiere at a race track and we are also looking to do an Owosso NCG premiere which is the home town of the book writer Karl Manke. More to come on this fine upcoming movie.
WILD FAITH/HASTINGS – The building of the TV series is underway. I had more send outs this past week and I think we’ll find even more sponsors as we move forward. I still have the goal of getting this TV series fully funded by Dec 31st. We will see:)
THE QUEST TRILOGY (Forty Nights, Chasing the Star & The Christ Slayer) – On Encourage TV part 1, Forty Nights is about a thousand views short of its first million watches. I’m sure this week we’ll break that barrier so be part of that. I love this series and think that it has still not found its full General Market audience yet. I’m happy that the circle of fans keeps getting wider. Here is a good review on FORTY NIGHTS that was brought to my attention.
https://medium.com/cbcpcinema/forty-nights-62ef6734c3b6
Please do enjoy all three films in this miniseries.
BESTSELLER is being delivered this month for its new campaign. The uprez of WICKED SPRING is done from what I’m told and I’m excited to see it. It will be nice to stream the story as an HD film. We’ll be discussing which other films to render into HD format. The trailer teaser for FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH is getting there. We examined a version 2.0 and discussed revisions. I cannot wait to see trailer 3.0 this week.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA is moving full speed ahead. Last week myself and Michael Walton were announced as part of the cast. We’re almost done with our German casting and starting June we’ll be returning to our weekly pre-prod meeting. Art department has been prepping its breakdowns and we’ll be addressing that starting in June. We’ll be announcing more cast this week. We had a few great adds to our cast/crew this past week. We had an article come out in Iowa and the community has been reaching out in force. We are also starting our talks with sponsors and brand alignment. I’m beyond excitement for this WW2 drama to get to the big screen. Join us and follow along at
https://www.facebook.com/Silent-Night-In-Algona-111598487216909
(Gil says, what what?)
WRAP UP!
I want to thank everyone again at ICFF. I’m so happy that some of our cast/crew were able to get together and represent the LOST HEART film. I think today will be a tinker in the yard and grill. Use today to chilllax before another busy week ahead. I hope you all have a great week and keep making those steps towards making your vision and dreams a reality. Be good to one another and we’ll chat next week.
DJ
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 