Welcome to November! Release Updates and News from Oklahoma, Will Rogers Medallion Awards
November is here. This morning I awoke in my own bed with my furry buddy Finn snuggled on my feet. Our Fall is in full effect versus Oklahoma which is where I just returned from. Now I have my cup of hazelnut coffee and I’m sitting down to do my blog a day late. I let everyone know last week I would do the blog today. I have lots of promo pics to review and I have to say the people of Oklahoma are so kind and welcoming. I was with Melissa Anschutz, Mark Balko and Steve Maranowski celebrating WILD FAITH CHRISTMAS winning the bronze Will Rogers Award. On night one we attended a meet N greet that was just class at the beautiful Will Rogers Museum. Chris Enss and her staff put on a great event and we deeply thank the judging staff for their recognition. If you look at the other two films and the folks involved you will see we were in good company. At the meet and greet we visited with the lead producer of the gold film BROKE which was Peter Billingsley best known as ‘Ralphie’ from A CHRISTMAS STORY. Kurt Russell’s son Wyatt was the lead with a great cast of Dennis Quaid, Mary McDonnell, Tom Skerritt and so I think it was an honor to be included for recognition with Where the Wind Blows and Broke. The night included a great BTS watch on Little House on the Prairie hosted by Dean Butler best known as Almanzo on the show and the reboot. Being that the show was an influence on our WILD FAITH it was extra special top share that with him.
Night two after some exploring of Tulsa we attended A NIGHT WITH WILL ROGERS where we heard famous words by Will Rogers read by Lifetime Achievement guests such as Barry Corbin, Bruce Boxleitner, Dean Butler and Will’s own family members. Night three was the awards ceremony with a great meal and listening to the lifetime awards speakers including music legend Clint Black. I even saw an old associate Thadd Turner at the event and I owe him a beer catchup as we had to be up early to travel so did not stay late post event.
And that brings me back to here. It is nice to know that our productions are on par with some of the best in the biz. While we were there we had a slew of activity on our film releases and I’ll try to list some of those. I hope everyone had a wonderful October and are ready for a great November. I had hoped that Kevin Costner would have been there with his doc film so I could have told him what an influence DANCES WITH WOLVES was on me. So Kevin, thank you for all you create.
UPDATES:
- ROM COMS MUST DIE our quirky horror comedy that makes fun of our industry has transitioned onto more platforms for ad based watching. What does that mean? FREE with ads. So on TUBI, FREE4ALL, ROKU, PLEX and more you can watch the film now free with ads. It might not be everyones cup of tea with the language and mild violence but I believe you will get a few good laughs. If it is your cup of tea please do take a moment to leave a review.
- AI JESUS: The Secret of the Kingdom Chip – This unique film got a major PR shout out that got wide pick yup due to the topic of AI. This film is now available to RENT or BUY on Amazon Prime and other participating platforms. WATCH HERE: https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0M7VV4SLYGTKA1DJIJ6HAA3OXX?ref_=atv_dp_share_cu_r On November 18th we are having a charitable premiere to benefit NEW HOPE PET RESCUE. Follow the FB page on this and all our films for updates! Also I encourage you to watch THE QUEST TRILOGY the 3 biblical adventures we shot in the desert. Part 1 FORTY NIGHTS, Part 2 CHASING THE STAR and Part 3 THE CHRIST SLAYER.
- TOMORROW 11/3/26 is the official release date for WILD FAITH CHRISTMAS! Tens of millions enjoyed the first film and so we proudly present the follow up film. I think it stands shoulder to shoulder with the first film and may become a traditional holiday watch for many just as SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA has. It really highlights the spirit of Christmas that is love between friends, families and sometimes strangers. I look forward to seeing what audiences worldwide think. The theatrical crowd last Christmas was really in love with the story so if that holds up we will have done our job. Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas.
- DEVIL’S PASS is in post undergoing a polish on the edit and here is a great news story about the project due out in 2027. WAThttps://youtu.be/zYgZCXG4boE?si=QeOiI330UWi9o4aKCH HERE:
- A few selections from the great AI JESUS: The Secret of the Kingdom Chip PR and reviews rolling out – https://www.argus-press.com/news/ai-jesus-film-brings-hollywood-to-owosso-7cc2b515 and https://www.desmoinesregister.com/press-release/story/145920/as-ai-anxiety-climbs-new-film-asks-what-if-an-ai-claimed-to-be-jesus-ai-jesus-movie-sets-oct-30-worldwide-vod-release/
DEVELOPMENT– This month I plan to finish at least one of the two screenplays I have in the works. I have two scripts to evaluate for possible collaboration. I will be preparing end of the year business and also looking to finish funding on one 2027 project and will start presenting the other soon. It has been an incredible year that through hard work has brought several new stories to the world marketplace. We plan to keep this tradition for many years to come if I am granted that privilege.
WRAP UP: I’m looking at my untouched suitcase that needs unpacking. Winter prep with start around the property and looking forward to some time with family and friends. I have some paperwork to sort through and get my business flow back in order. I’m looking forward to the AI JESUS charity premiere because I love the cause we are helping out. I’ve unfortunately seen the condition of some of these rescued animals. I’ve also seen what some medical care and love can do to this animals. So it makes my heart feel good. I’m going to leave it here with my heart feeling good. I hope you find some peace in this holiday season. I’m going to jump right into it and soak it up. 2027 lies ahead and I’m wanting to send 2026 out right and recharge for another year. I usually look at what 2026 goals I achieved and what goals will be pushed to 2027. Coffee Cheers my friends! DJ
EXPERIENCE OVER EGOS and OTHER CDI UPDATES!
A fine good morning to everyone out there. We are now into June and the heat and humidity has arrived. We had a soccer game last week in the heat and we lost but what a great workout. I was so tired after my soccer bag felt like a hundred pounds and I had to drink some pickle juice before my shower. I ordered some prescription sports googles so I can see better on the field. So now I will have the Kareem Abdul Jabbar look going on. My eye doctor also said that my eyes were having allergy issues so I got some drops. I’ve just been steadily adjusting to being a glasses wearer. I will ballergiese missing my Thursday soccer match which might have a rain out but I have a promo show for for ROM COMS MUST DIE on Thursday with Adam Towner. It is streaming live with a live audience so it should be quite enjoyable. This is my birthday month and so I’ve been reflective upon the journey thus far. Again I feel blessed to do what I love doing working in storytelling. Let’s look at some of the other recent updates.
UPDATES:
- ABOVE is the Thursday show that we will be doing. It looks like so much fun. TUNE in Live if you can and listen to us talk about films and making movies in Mid-Michigan for the world market. ROM COMS MUST DIE is an insanely fun ride from beginning to end. We are still trying to work both theatrical pop ups and brew N views.
- AI JESUS: The Secret of the Kingdom Chip had a final watch/listen through and now the end credits are finally done. We had an 11th hour add to the end credits that was almost forgotten by one of our keys. Missing name or mis-spelled is the most common and once you render and deliver that is what it is. Know if we’ve ever made a mistake it was never on purpose. We plan to have a great premiere for this film and we’ll see if Dreamscape Productions wants to partner with us on this title into theaters. This is a very unique and timely story ripped from news headlines and given a SciFi twist. This coming week I’ll be digitizing the wrap book and getting that uploaded to the distributor.
- WILD FAITH CHRISTMAS – We have a two punch coming up with the RED LETTER AWARDS and ten nominations in August. And in October we have the WILL ROGERS MEDALLION AWARDS to accept for screenplay and the film. We won either gold, silver or bronze. We are the underdog of sorts with both the other films having some amazing talent from C. Thomas Howell to Dennis Quaid, Mary McDonald, Tom Skerritt and Kurt Russell’s son Wyatt. I LOVE that our troupe is in such great company. I’m looking into using this win to try and connect with a literary agent. I had an agent at one of the big 3 agencies years ago but I’m looking at that once again. I love to write and so it might serve me well to have someone focused on work-for-hire or selling scripts I don’t plan to produce. They will be honoring others like Clint Black, Kevin Costner, Barry Corbin and more…
- DEVIL’S PASS is now in pre-production and we’re forming the production entity now. Next week we plan to start signing on our backers and getting the bank account open. Creatively it has been a wonderful process working with the writer and our directors. We have a walk through this coming week with our production designer. We also just dropped a casting call for three roles that can be found on the Devil’s Pass FB page. It also has the extras submission info but why not read for a role and see what happens. We will be doing some PR announcements soon including pulling BONANZA alumni Mitch Vogel out of retirement. I wish we could work with everyone but we too have limited resources referring to cast and crew. Many of our artists have to be local due to costs. But this September we will film this moody mid-western film. Darby Hinton from WILD FAITH is back as one of our leads. We have a few holes in oBonanzaur cast and crew that we’ve been interviewing and auditioning people for. We will also start talking to sponsors this week.
DEVELOPMENT:
We are making some moves to try and bring on the second part of funding on RETURN TO ALGONA the 1968 follow up film to SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA. We have some great leads and interested parties. Preserving the history of this PW Camp and the Nativity Scene has been a wonderful process. My goal is to get the matching commits this year and film next year in Algona.
We also have a couple of film’s developing with Curran Jacobs who directed FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH. A slate of films with Katharsys Media and a handful of one offs trying to find the right backers. It is always a process of matching up the right variables to make a movie happen.
I’ve had another book sent to me to consider turning into a screenplay. I’ve been paid to do this several times and it is a process I do enjoy. It is different from an original screenplay but both have their fun aspects. As noted before, even projects with funding are strongly evaluated because the process is complicated and if you get the wrong pieces in play it can stop being fun really fast. Experience over egos is what is required to make these projects a success.
WRAP UP: I’ve been enjoying creating a new character for DEVIL’S PASS. I love working with the voice, motivations, wardrobe and even facial hair. As we cast folks each read of the script becomes more clear as you can imagine performances. Just like with the locations that add fuel to your imagination. So I’ll keep looking for those unique pieces.
I might have to put a mow on parts of the lawn today before the rain moves in this week. I did some grilling yesterday of some venison burgers and it feels great to have the grill operational again. We just had some eggs from our hens and that just really makes a morning.
This week I’m back to working on film disbursements and love how streamline it is becoming. I have my team to thank for that. The back end of the week is the production designer scout on Weds, the live show on Thursday and Friday a Devil’s Pass production meeting. I look forward to a great week and hope you all do as well. I’m going to close this up and go get my lawn things done before the heat kicks in. Coffee Cheers! DJ
