HELLO CLEVELAND! Updates From Indie-Gathering and More…
I’m back in my comfy chair sipping on some hazelnut coffee having just returned from a dentist cleaning. I’m writing on this fine Michigan Monday after returning late last night from Cleveland, Ohio. Some of our BEST YEARS GONE team traveled for the 27th Indie Gathering International Film Festival. It was nice to be around storytellers and talk our craft. It was extra special because we were joined by Detroit filmmaker Harley Wallen representing ASH & BONE, a cool horror film that is a true tip of the hat to some classics. I have to say that actress Erika Hoveland gave a funny, disturbing performance in ASH & BONE and does an incredible job in BEST YEARS GONES, as Sylvia. It was cool to have Michigan filmmaking represented and Erika co-starred in both films. Shane Hagedorn, directed and co-starred in BEST YEARS GONE and also had a supporting role in ASH & BONE. Amazing to watch these films almost back-to-back and to see the range of Erika and Shane’s performances. I only appeared in BEST YEARS GONE but I’m humbled to say I received the festivals ‘Best Actor‘ award, for my Gil Gilles performance. Gil, Gil, Gil…he is truly a character and if you have not seen either of these films you can watch BEST YEARS GONE now on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Google and more. ASH & BONE releases in October. Congrats to Harley and his team. Congrats to all the folks at the Indie Gathering. We had some great Mexican eating also. Thank you Melissa Anschutz and Deskpop Entertainment.
Soon I will unpack and likely take a nap. The above film event in Cleveland kept me up past my bedtime. I’ve got a good sleep pattern down and closing down a bar mixer was already over my sleepy time but we had to pass on the 2am to dawn tailgate with grilling and games. If I was 24 I would have been there but…and I’m still tired. We talk about that often. Sleep. Many like to impress folks with how much midnight oil they burn. How hard their grinding. But I can say, that experience and life has shown me that good rest results in better quality use of time. You can say, I worked eight hours straight but how productive were you. Some can do the same work in three focused hours with good rest behind them. Even those meditations, sleep shut down for even 15-30 min can reboot you. Sometimes when flustered people will say, I don’t have the time to take a rest. What results is often mistake-ridden, half-ass work versus taking a few moments and getting better results.
I’ll get my rest on soon enough but I wanted to get some updates out to all of you. BEST YEARS GONE, might have 1-2 more special events planned but it’s now spreading out to different areas of the world on home video.
OTHER UPDATES:
- Going to PR the release dates and info on the premiere for FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH, once locked in.
- VFX, Color Correction, Music and Sound Design on SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA is in full swing. Interested theatre chains are starting to give their interest. We have to lock down details on the Algona premiere this month. A new theatrical trailer will also be coming in advance of the premiere.
- HARSENS ISLAND REVENGE development work will continue in full. We’ll be looking to lock our dates for next year. Some scouting will happen this year also – so exciting to be able to tell this story. This is another epic period action/drama and it will be one fun ride.
- I am debating a few moves on SMOKE & MIRRORS, our short concept film. We might just post it for everyone to watch. It’s a really cool, stylized piece and I think folks will really enjoy it. We will get around to this feature script in the near future.
- BESTSELLER, the thriller from the mind of Chris Knight is playing to home video audiences. We have a few reviews and interviews coming up. This film really keeps you on the edge of your seat once things start rolling. If you enjoy these kind of spin-chill films, take a watch.
I’m not going to carry on and on today as I need to unpack and catch up on a few things, rest being one of them. I’m glad that I’m making the effort to slow down and enjoy some of the wins. God knows we’ve had our losses. But I’m really starting to realize that these things happen in their own time. I’m trying to be better at being happy for the personal wins. I’ve found in the past that personal recognition often came with resentment and some form of negativity from others. I found it interesting that after winning that ‘Best Actor’ award which was a nice metal medallion on some olympic-like neck strap. Without thinking about it, I just slipped it into a pocket and carried on. I did not wear it around. It wasn’t a decision with myself – should I wear it? Yes? No? I never thought that. I believe I was thinking about the second half of my burrito that the lunch waiter accidentally threw away instead of wrapping up. My acting might be good but my hand communicating isn’t. “Wrap it up in foil please,” came out as “toss it out” please. Okay, I’ve wandered. My point is, that if my getting recognized gets more eyes to watch our collective art or help projects get made, I’m happy. Does my ‘self’ need the personal recognition? It doesn’t appear that way but maybe deep down, I’m sure it does. The writer in me is really proud of all these stories. I’ve had a few nominations on my writing and I do recall that feeling good. Honestly, I did not expect to win. I mean, come on, it’s Gil Gilles. BUT, folks do seem to like ole, Gil. So from Gil and I, I want to give one more whole-hearted thank you. I’m going to go unpack and try to get my flow back in order. I’ll be back with you all on Sunday, our normal day. Until- Coffee Cheers!
DJ
NEW Nominations- Updates, Advice and Observations
Hazelnut coffee cheers! I want to once again welcome all our readers worldwide to our short visit. I’ve had numerous business endeavors underway. What I’m facing is one of the most busy release seasons CDI has had in a while. So far this year we’ve seen the home video release of BESTSELLER (NEW review here – https://www.joblo.com/bestseller-review/), BEST YEARS GONE, about to play another event in Cleveland Ohio next weekend. The event is the 27th Indie Gathering International Film Festival and our film is an award winner. We’ve also been nominated for BEST ACTOR (your’s truly) and BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY (Travis Hayward).
Last weekend our concept short SMOKE & MIRRORS played the Motor City Nightmares in Novi, Michigan. The feature-length doc FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH will premiere October 1st in Owosso, MI likely at the NCG theatre before the wide Oct 4th home video release to DVD and streaming. Our WW2 Christmas drama, SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA just moved into music and sound design. We’re working towards a December 10th premiere in Algona, Iowa followed by a midwest theatrical run. Several of these will have members of our team in attendance and we still might be announcing a few more events. All these positive things pose issues with shooting a fall film.
With five films rolling out and there is a lot of work between all these releases. The question is pertaining to our upcoming slate of films. I’m mostly talking the development of HOT ROD LOVE. We’re still in talks about major locations and we still have investors to bring on-board. We’ve got set time-lines to meet with all these tasks in order to film this year. The issue is that next year might be already full of projects, but HOT ROD LOVE could possibly move to the other side of winter. I’m ready and wanting to film but we’ve got so much business around these film roll outs. It might be better to focus on the releases first and start clean in the near year. Our producers will have some important decisions to make in the coming weeks but it’s all good. But these are the things I deal with. My personal goals usually take a back seat to the TribeCDI needs, and I don’t mind. We’re seeing the success of the other CDI films, as our audience circles grow. I’m excited about the future of all these projects and proud of the artists and supporters who made them happen.
THOUGHTS/ADVICE – At least twice in my film news watching, I saw posts that I almost commented on but I don’t engage on walls. Sometimes, I’ll direct message but I don’t ever post to get attention save purposeful PR posts. I’ve seen people take film jobs only to complain about them on social media. Often broadcasting blunders like being late or just complaining in general with some weak justification. This doesn’t encourage hiring or rehiring. I get it. Movies are hard to make. Our journey is not for everyone. On the indie level where many of us live and create, it can be even harder. If you find yourself overly unhappy in filmmaking, consider something else.
Paying your dues is real. I’ve seen discouraged actors unhappy with paying their dues, threaten to quit. People often will rush to try and support them, but the truth is many who get ahead do so on persistence where others fall. Success is often built upon other people failing and quitting. The “Oregon Trail” of actors and filmmakers. Climbing atop the bodies of the fallen to get higher. Every major acting hub has the “actors ghettos” where failed birds of a feather flock together to complain about their stagnation and set backs. Usually they have many other people and things to blame. While I have talent, I also earned, often via sacrifice, the ability to develop my talents. I’ve outworked many people and continue to do so today. I tip my hat to the others also fighting for their art but the harsh truth is, if you don’t have persistence, you will likely fail. Success in this business needs a severe dedication and that is not for everyone.
Lot’s of interviews, reviews and PR releases ahead on the slew of projects coming to or now in the marketplace. If you have any of these podcasts, fanzines and whatnot and wish to interview any of our folks reach out. If you’ve streamed and seen any of the films please do review on the film’s IMDB.com page or the platform page like Amazon Prime. We’ve got a few cool ones lined up and I’m sure we’ll do more. Maybe even a few more fun video PR releases like we did with BEST YEARS GONE. Next up will be several of the CDI team going to Ohio next weekend. I will note that I’m looking forward to seeing ASH & BONE written by Bret Miller (Chasing the Star) and produced by a product outfit outta Detroit led by Harley Wallen. I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with him on a few occasions and I look forward to celebrating with him and his team. Erika Hoveland, co-stars in both the films and so that has to be exciting for her. ASH & BONE, plays shortly after our own film and it’s great to have two Michigan film companies represented. Their projects keep getting stronger, much like our own, because they keep earning the opportunity to grow. Did I mention persistence? It is key. We’ll be celebrating soon. My team is on me about savoring and enjoying the wins. To stop always jumping right back into the TO DO and take a few moments to appreciate the HAVE DONE’S. They are right and I will work to get better at it. I also don’t always like the spotlight only on me. I know that the direction, my co-stars, the camera work, the music and the value of having flowing coffee on cold nights- all played into me being able to BECOME the role. But I am appreciative and I’ll take the time to soak in it for a few moments. We all have things to work on.
MORE MISC UPDATES & BIZ
I’m about to start work on book 8 of an audio book series this week. That is always fun because it’s just me and my coffee. After last weeks soccer match win our team has one more game before playoffs. We earned our solid 2nd place and we hope to make it to the finals and beat the one team who has beat us twice. Our chickens are doing great. The garden plants have taken off. The hops are massive this year. I might try to finally bottle the FRANKENBERRY wine just in time for fall. I also have everything for a new beer run- yes I make beer and wine.
I’m looking to seal up some paperwork on another script writing/producing project very soon. Maybe even this week but these things often happen in their own time not our desired time. But I’ve been gathering research material in prep of this next writing endeavor. I’m very excited about the subject matter but will wait until the ink is dry to talk about it.
I’ve also been prepping some of the past CDI films for streaming and home video release next year with our friends at BMG/Deskpop Entertainment. That is always a task when added onto all the other things we’ve got in motion. But it will all get done. We chip away. We take a few more steps. Success is a process. And with that final nugget of wisdom, I’m going to say goodbye until next week. I will be getting back to Michigan late on Sunday next week so I’ll be posting next week on MONDAY. I’ll be reporting fresh from the Ohio Indie Gathering, which will be fun. I have a memorial today for a friend who passed and after I will be spending time with some family and friends. Appreciate your family and friends and live each day as full as you can. Until next week, coffee cheers!
DJ
Stars Wars, Maverick, Bestseller – Movie Updates and Discussions
So this morning the coffee grinder was set on a lesser setting because we were low on coffee yesterday. So today I had to run the grinder twice and I overdid it slightly, resulting in coffee that can hold a spoon straight up. Anyway, it should give my bones the kick I need. We had another soccer match on Thursday and again brought home a win. The two days after usually have a good amount of sore and stiff but my need to try out a few new chainsaws, including a pole-saw, added some time to my healing. But I love that weekly challenge of battling for position, possession and of course goals.
The nice part of this week’s blog is that we had a nice CDI recap PR release – (READ BELOW)
This has the most updated news on these films-
I did see that Hoopla, which is the national library distribution is carrying BESTSELLER as well as Walmart stores. Please take a look at your Walmart and snap a pic!
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/15044300
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bestseller-DVD/794726473?fulfillmentIntent=Shipping
PONDERINGS–
This week was a productive one with a few unexpected calls that were very positive. What I’ve realized is that as people get older they realize the more the precious aspects of time. How we don’t know how many grains of sand are in our hourglass so what and when we do something is important. What we leave behind us is important. DJ Perry the actor (on screen) will live on longer than DJ the artist. I’ve had a few very successful business associates reach out and express their desire to go deeper into artistic and meaningful endeavors. I will keep creating because that is what I do. It is like breathing. The dreaming and visualizing of the who and what that happens before you breakdown the story into where and how. I’m so appreciative of all our partners.
I know what rambling I can share-
I am a Star Wars fan. Being seven when the first original ‘Star Wars’ hit was like living childhood in a sweet spot. That’s why George Lucas can make some mis-steps in my liking or taste but he is and always will be a king. A dreamer who sold an idea off an out-there (far, far, away) script to a studio, cast and crew – and captured every child’s grand imaginative adventure and put it to the big screen with ground breaking, jaw dropping FX. And after George marketed that film to the world in a way only rivaled by WWE’s Vince McMahon. Vince, another manI would love to have a few drinks with and get his unique insights. Those two men (Vince & George) ruled their franchises in very different ways. Vince, seems aggressive with a PT Barnum-like public attitude, working to control several Alpha stars and their sharks (lawyers). And George, a seemingly quiet and reserved man but other artists could visualize what he was dreaming and they got sucked into his imagination that would be turned into an exciting world. So add George to that invite list. George, Vince and I chilling and having a few Red Stripes.
Okay, back to topic- I like millions, have watched the newest ‘Star Wars’ franchise show. After two shows I found one performance to be lacking for me. Surprisingly, this character was the recipient of major public negative feedback and counter-feedback defending an actress who is black. When I watch, I watch performances not color. But that defense was being thrown up. Now I’m sure that some audiences disliked the role for the wrong reasons and communicated this poorly and with offensive words. I had a few deep conversations about this topic this week and for me I saw the pensive internally conflicted side of this character (ironically great when not speaking, but feeling) and the other side I saw was like an evil ‘Maverick’ from Top Gun. Watch out. They’re reckless! Dangerous! What am I going to do? Okay, I realized that is actually a ‘cool steal’ (taking influence from someone else’s performance as a respectful nod) ala my ‘George Jefferson’ walk used by Gil Gilles in BEST YEARS GONE. But what was not sitting right for me was 1) – transition between the emotional HIGH (I’m reckless) and LOW (I’m misunderstood) and that can be the editor too. An actor is often at the mercy of the director and editor and if they piece together a disjointed emotional scene it can not sit well with viewers. 2) The other is the cadence of voice that somehow snapped me from “far, far away” and brought me to a Tyler Perry film and I say that loving me some Tyler Perry. It just sounded like attitude slang. I want to try and explain myself properly-
In one of my discussions on the topic above, Samuel L. Jackson’s involvement was brought up as a counter-point. Again, I LOVE me some Samuel L. Jackson -but, I had the same fear of his cadence being too modern (Our galaxy:) reflective. He succeeded even though he made me walk a line. I saw mostly a non-swearing Jackson doing what Jackson does best and I kept waiting for the train of obscenities to come flowing out- “Those #$@@%# Sith #$%#%#W are getting on my last #@#@!@$% mid-chlordan nerve.”
I have several issues with the prequels with Samuel not being one of them. It’s like when we do a period piece and you have to get into a mindset from another time period. Star Wars has an even wider fictional range to create within but ultimately it’s how we perceive it. I mean most of the Empire officers sound British and we know there is no audible sound in space – but it’s just fun. So keep it fun. Ultimately I’m on board with all the series and I’m routing for this one particular talent to succeed. And last I checked she’s co-starring in a major ‘Star Wars’ TV series and so in my book, she is succeeding.
I can’t buy into any subconscious racists filters or anything like that because I loved actors Billy Dee Willams, John Boyega (Han: That’s not how the force works), Giancarlo Esposito and let us NOT forget James Earl Jones. We are left with a two-sided issue – Can you criticize someone of race without bringing race into it? AND Can you take criticism without spinning the blame to something that might not be the root cause? When you blanket everything with absolutes you ruin open communication. When you speak from a place that blames/mislabels the wrong issue again communication is ruined.
Have patience with one another as the world learns to communicate proper again. Instant communication and the documentation of communications has created a new environment of accountability. Think before you speak has always been good advice but now with emails, twitter, tictoks, ……………………. they all have a new accountability. I’ve always tried to be thoughtful in my communications so the changes in society are fine but many are challenged. For many who speak emotionally off the cuff are now often regretting their word, texts, tweets and wishing they could edit- they are facing new challenges. We’ll catch up eventually this is just a major time of change for mankind. But isn’t it always…breath.
I could talk more about Polar and Grizzly Bears mating because of the warming weather but I’ll save you that. Bringing this chat full circle, we have to acknowledge that many of you are finding yourselves in this new age. After all the immense digital scrolling, bit-coin obsessions and other short-cut seeking life-filler that usually deposits people further down the path but with not much done – lost time. And some who reaped a few additional shells and beads no additional happiness was gained and with the lost time maybe a tad less happy. I’m not losing time, I’m living. Many days the joy of any new film release is trumped by watching the little song birds feed their new young. Watching the baby rabbit ‘Simon’ and his jumping antics bring as much a smile as some festival wins. That is life. Study life, digest it and some of it can be re-introduced onscreen in a future story.
This week will be more BESTSELLER promo. Let me know what you think of it. I think it is one of my most intense roles in a film that I think captures the right haunting mood. The BEST YEARS GONE promo engines will be started. I’m so excited to give the same laughs we heard in the theatrical run to living rooms and dens everywhere. Lastly, working steady to get even closer to our goals with the upcoming HOT ROD LOVE film. We had some new people last week commit to join us on this next film adventure and this week should bring a few additional ones. Keep moving forward is the mantra. Keep dreaming. Keep creating!
Hazelnut coffee cheers!
DJ
Welcome May! Getting things done every day! UPDATES!
A hearty sip of the hazelnut coffee as a morning toast to all of you. It is a rainy May 1st but plant life is budding everywhere and bees and birds are on the move. It has been a very active week but I’ll start it with a few little personal updates. I found out that a classmate from elementary school whom I saw here and there over the years, passed away. She was a year older and passed in her sleep, it just reminds us to embrace life and those we share it with.
This week many hours working in the yard doing some clean up and repairs. Our Luna Mae pup got a cut on her paw chasing a squirrel and had to get a few stitches. I did some wood cutting and trimming but will have a professional tree cutter come in for a few branches. This week will be setting up the new fire pit and that will be nice to enjoy. I’m looking forward to some grilling and chilling in the months ahead.
It has been a very busy time for CDI business also. Let’s look at some of those updates.
DEEPFALL‘s ‘Revolution’ music video – The Michigan-based rock band kicked off their tour with 7 Dust this weekend in Grand Rapids and Detroit. We are excited to start a second music video with them as soon as they complete this tour. Here again is the music video: https://youtu.be/xtlc7GQvr70 and we wish them an awesome tour.
Sticking with the theme of music videos here is the music video for VERTICAL BRIDGE and their winning song OFF TO THE RACES that appears in our upcoming release of BEST YEARS GONE. Here is the music video featuring clips from the film – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka43XfLnsEA
BEST YEARS GONE releases July 5th, 2022 and we will likely find out today if we won the BareBones International Film and Music Festival for ‘Best Comedy‘ feature. Now we did not attend because of the long drive and they seem to still be trying to get up to speed for Covid lock down. We might start doing some more fun marketing spots as we draw closer.
I was informed by our distributor that two of our films WILD FAITH and MBF: MAN’S BEST FRIEND will be releasing with NBC/Peacock which is an audience of 33 million so we’re all excited for the films to reach new viewers. That will help our efforts on the Wild Faith TV series for sure. Once we have dates we’ll be doing a full PR release. We hope that many more of the CDI films will follow. A TV series?
To prepare for the worldwide release on FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH we started to deliver assets. That should finish up this week. We are also exploring a large festival as a possible premiere venue. Also the first assets for the upcoming KNIGHT CHILLS Blu Ray were delivered. I’m having fun gathering assets to provide a new unique look at this little ambitious film from all those years ago. The streaming deal will be set up with 3 other title and the video game development is looking great.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA released its first official teaser last week to much fanfare.
Here is the link – https://youtu.be/abGtdP-93mE
We had a pick up VFX shoot yesterday for SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA and I’m hoping to have a VFX featurette video to share with all of you soon. We will likely start work on some other assets like a theatrical poster. We’ll wait for the new tighter cut of the film itself before we start pulling scenes for the official trailer to release on the run up to our December Iowa premiere. I’ll be circling around with our sponsors and potential sponsors about this upcoming event. We will keep dripping photos out in the weeks to come.
BESTSELLER releases worldwide this month! This cool Melissa Anschutz led thriller will release to DVD and digital purchase May 31st. This Chris Wright book was turned into this intense film and now the world will be able to watch. It has some great talent involved and we’re all excited to share it with you. Pics and promo will keep dripping out from the Facebook page so be sure to follow us there too.
I also spent some serious time trying to clean and organize my emails but that is an on-going never ending endeavor. We had a recent merchandise promotion meeting and we’re looking at bringing a few things to market. I LOVE the poster art for BIGFOOT, UFOS and JESUS and might explore shirts. LOST HEART might get new poster art. More of you are discovering the WICKED SPRING HD streaming links and so if you’re just discovering this film or its a favorite from years past- enjoy. Try this link below but just google up ‘Wicked Spring’ and ‘HD’ and go back to the Civil War!
I’m going to try and wrap some of this up. I can also report ahead of the PR release that I’ve inked a new deal to adapt a book to a screenplay and produce it with our CDI Tribe. I usually start to immerse myself in the art, music, fashion and history of the time. This particular story will have CDI storytelling in the roaring 20’s. But as I focus on the script we have one script ready to roll – HOT ROD LOVE. We’ve been in pre-talks with locations, car owners, companies, talent and potential sponsors and investors. We have some folks committed and will be asking for support again here soon when we disperse more funds back to our base. These are hard and dark times for some out there. I pride myself on the fact that even with all these challenges we’ve continued to keep telling our stories of hope and inspiration and laughter. So yes, we’ll be asking once again for some of you good folks to travel with us again. We will have to access our target dates because a few things have moved just a tad slower. But May will let us now much more as we work hard to launch this next endeavor. It has some female empowerment elements embedded in the 1975 world of drag racing. Just you wait and see.
I hope you all have a great week and make good progress on whatever endeavors you are working on. As you travel be good to your fellow life adventurers as they all have challenges of their own. I got my old hop vines cleared and I see new sprouts climbing already. I will plan to set up the water fountain and fire pit this week. I might quote those tree trimmers. I hope we get some sun so we can do a few meetings outside and I can continue my screenwriting out amongst nature. Lastly, my outdoor soccer season starts this Thursday. Our indoor league did the job of getting my legs and lungs back up to task. You have to keep your kung fu strong:) Thank you all. I appreciate you so much and appreciate you stopping by and the support. Have a great Sunday!
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
‘SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA,’ Trailer and Feature Updates, BEST YEARS GONE, BESTSELLER and more…Happy April and I’m NOT Fooling!
HELLO APRIL. I want to welcome all the new readers from Bulgaria, New Zealand, UK and Pakistan. I’m sipping on some hazelnut coffee. I wonder what the morning drink is for all of you out there? I know I LOVED the South Indian coffee in Otty, India when filming there. Magnifico- DING! Was the main Philippine coffee I drank over there. It is that morning juice that gets everything going. We are still acclimating the dogs together so we have alternating outdoor potty and feeding in the morning. We had a dust of snow here and there but Spring is trying to hit. I did get some yard clean up done this week including sinking a new post for the guide rope that spans across the bridge. I’ve been wanting to do a new patio and a privacy fence but the wood costs have me paused. I’m watching Premiere League soccer as I’m typing. I have my next indoor soccer match Tuesday as we prepare for outdoor soccer. I also think the Sunday flea markets start next week. I love seeking props and wardrobe. Yesterday I found a great 70’s leather vest that just might make it into HOT ROD LOVE.
HOT ROD LOVE! Have you heard of it? It is the next CDI project we’ve pulling together. It is a great 70’s story that examines several relationships. It has many things to say but does so in a few comedic way. During all these turbulent times of Covid, war and such CDI has managed to keep telling their stories. It is like the band on the Titanic or the lone cello player in the streets of war torn Ukraine. ART gives hopes and peace in a trying situation. Where so many things that are normal were interrupted by the chaos of Covid, we were blessed enough to be able to film BEST YEARS GONE, now preparing for a July 5th home video kick off. It was previously June but they pushed it by a month which was just fine. I want to really hit some fun PR over the post-July 4th event – chill and watch BEST YEARS GONE. DVD and digital purchase is first followed by TV/broadcast and digital rental in Sept.
Before that film hits we’re really enjoying the push that the dark thriller BESTSELLER is getting. It releases on DVD and digital purchase on May 31st and TV/Broadcast and digital rental in Sept. This film highly deserves the push it is now getting and I think audiences worldwide will really enjoy it. We are releasing new stills and updates weekly on our Facebook Page #BESTSELLERMOVIE
A few festivals are being explored whereas BIGFOOT, UFOS and JESUS might just attend. SMOKE & MIRRORS? Also BEST YEARS GONE is up for ‘Best Comedy’ at the BareBones International Film & Music Festival. Festivals, aside from the major 4-5 don’t do anything major for buyers/licensors but they are a good way for a creative team to take a few beats and enjoy the moment together. I always have something in motion so even when we get good news on one endeavor I often move right to helping an underperforming endeavor. I have to stop and appreciate the moments of victory. I feel that I have some of the best, most creative people working with me at CDI. I would not trade the experience nor the final product, proud of both. My point was that we’re starting to engage in a few more fest/events for the fun of gathering to celebrate the hard work. Why do my producers only want to go to Island festivals in the tropics? This Friday we’ll be going to my home town’s film festival. We usually go support the fest by attending their kick off mixer. I only see some friends like international DJ, John Beltran at this event. I’ve known John since middle school. Look him up. He’s got some great music.
I’ve had several people ask if BEST YEARS GONE was playing the fest, it is not. A handful of years ago we closed the festival with a sold out 600 watching ASHES OF EDEN, same director as BEST YEARS GONE, Shane Hagedorn. But they want filmmakers to host a Michigan premiere at the festival but we already did in Owosso plus had theatrical play with NCG and Celebration Cinemas, so they disqualified us for. Honestly, I love for people to see the films, but it’s a heck of a lot easier when you aren’t concerned with a screening. My hardest decisions for that event will be what to sip wine or beer?
FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH – This amazing doc on the history of grappling has been signed to Deskpop Entertainment for a worldwide release. We’re now prepping to start moving materials over to them. We’re hard at work on our premiere that we want to do in Las Vegas. We are making some progress and we’ll have more to report on that very soon.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA – So this exciting film should have a first cut coming over this week. Also we’re finalizing the first teaser trailer. It should go to music (Dennis Therrian) mid to end of the week. We’re all excited to see it come to life. I did get to see a few rough assembled scenes and it left me with a wide smile. I’m so proud of our artists. Like I said earlier, times have been trying and we managed to film this movie in Nov of last year still facing many issues in the world. So we’ll have work to pare down and audiences will get their first look. We’ve still be releasing stills so if you are following our Facebook page you will get those stills and the upcoming trailer. BREAKING NEWS: Yes the first rough cut for Anthony (Tony) Hornus to review will be done end of this week. From there the trimming, tightening and polishing of the story. We also hope to bring you a vignette of the VFX work being done. We also have a VFX insert of this boy who plays into our story via one of the German PWs. We’ve cast that individuals and these added pieces will be shot one day working with our VFX folks.
Other Updates –
KNIGHT CHILLS – CDI’s first feature film is getting some resurrection of sorts. A deal is almost done on a specialty “Blu Ray” deal. We’re also looking to bring the film into HD while reconfirming it for TV now days, or not on conforming. I need to have a few discussions. Lastly, the video game development is under way. It will first release as a phone app game and after to game systems and virtual. But I have seen images of the film’s iconic Sir Kallio, the revenge bringing knight, Patron Demi-god of nerds. I also have a great idea for a role playing game version but I’m getting ahead of myself.
We have many things in development from new films to older films getting a second blast into the market. Streaming hardly existed for some of them and so we’ll be working hard to get your old, current and new favorite CDI films to you. I’m going to post a few more stills so refill your coffee cup and join a few of these pages to follow along. My mind is also drifting to eggs and bacon so I will have to attend to that. I hope you all have a great week ahead and don’t forget to be kind. A simple gift you can give that can be passed on. Happy Sunday to you all!
DJ
Ready For Spring – Projects, Projects & Projects
I’m getting a start on my weekly blog because we have an early commitment. It has been another snowy and productive week. We are starting to have talks with folks over our developing film HOT ROD LOVE. We’ve announced our director and dir. of photography. This has allowed casting talks to begin. We’re also starting to work on some locations and picture cars. And the time period research is just FAR OUT:) The hairstyles and facial hair, the clothes and the attitudes – no social media.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA, we are just about to release a fun look at the experience our cast and crew had as guests in the town of Algona, Iowa working hard to tell a powerful story from the town’s actual past. After that a teaser trailer will begin which will give audiences their first real taste of this story. For those not aware of our process, the puzzles pieces (footage) was taken into our computers and is being rough assembled from our director notes including script notes and our editors creativity. After that our director Tony will make his adjustments in the edit working with our editor. FX work is being worked on at the same time that will be incorporated into the edit. Once the edit is to our directors liking we lock the picture allowing it to move to music and sound design with Dennis Therrian. So far everything is moving right along. We all look forward to sharing more on this fine project.
BEST YEARS GONE – We are all extremely excited to have this film available to all of you. I get messages every day asking when? when? June is the DVD and streaming purchase and Sept. 1 is streaming rental. We are going to likely have a few festival and event showings on the run up but very soon Gil Gilles is coming into your family rooms, help us all.
I’ve been doing some screenwriting on Secret Project B17 and finishing the Karl Manke book that just might be the next script. I’m loving writing while it is cold and freezing. Soon the spring will beckon me with other tasks. We also did another music performance video yesterday that went great. CDI held a battle of the bands for BEST YEARS GONE and Vertical Bridge won. They won a music video and placement in the film. We had so much fun. I am a product of the M-TV generation which birthed when I was in 7th grade I believe. The medium is a great collaboration of music and filmmaking and helps get the persona of the musician(s) out there. Our video was for the rock band DEEPFALL, and Carl Weyant was our director. I think I’m going to pursue a few more of these music videos especially after how well things went yesterday. Here’s Jamie Sorsen of Vertical Bridge visiting our set yesterday. I’m going to end this because I’m having all kinds of issues with the software. I’ve spent an hour trying to work this out and to be fair at least 1/2 the Blame has to fall on me and my horrible tech skills. Everyone always seems to think because you make movies you are good at tech. I have a top sheet knowledge of most tech but when it goes to interaction – no. Technology is one of the few things that really puts my zen off and why I need time away from it often. I’m sure I missed a few updates but I’m just short of doing a Bruce Lee 3 inch power punch to my laptop screen. So until next week be good to one another and be productive.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
For now I think I’m going to end this because I’m having issues with this program which they always seem to change just once I start to understand it. These people NEED to remember I started on a TSR-80 playing Oregon Trail.
‘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
Tis the Season: surviving, striving, thriving and creating
Welcome new readers from Bulgaria, Netherlands and more. Our viewership has been growing in great numbers. Thank you to all the new people stopping in to visit. I’m sipping the hazelnut coffee and reflecting on a busy week. Maybe 2022 will be the year of the coffee sponsor. Maybe I’ll start a coffee review section? My thoughts are with all those dealing with the terrible tornado damage in the South. We had high winds in Michigan but it seems once again the surrounding Great Lakes helped us to avoid any major storms. I’m under a week before our first Christmas gathering and a week after that is Christmas Eve/day. I’ve loved having the Christmas tree and the festival vibe about as I tried to play catch up from our SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA (SNIA) film shoot. Let’s talk about that-
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA–
I’ve almost got everything caught up on this project. Final catering, port-a-johns and more – the budget dwindles but as we move towards zero the film will get closer to being complete. The drive has arrived to our editor and the supply check for the model building was also sent off. Our VFX team from THE CHRIST SLAYER (part 3 of The Quest Trilogy) will bring some exciting work to our feature. Once we get past the clean up phase from principal photography we’ll move into promotion. Our DP Dan Chipman is color correcting the first batch of photos. I’ve only released one still previously featuring one of our amazing period vehicles at one of our amazing locations. It was the car driving down the “tunnel of trees” so here is that same picture now color corrected. We also have a logo that will adorn the upcoming stills. Here is an example of a color corrected still from the actual film.
As we move down the road of post production we plan to start releasing stills and also will work on both a BTS (beyond the scenes) video and a teaser trailer. This year we’ll continue to have some great announcements for all of you.
In the meantime enjoy the Christmas season. Recently Melissa Anschutz and I did a promo for our distributor’s EncourageTV that allows people to watch our films for free whereas we get paid by ads. So if you don’t mind the ads take a watch for free. Click below to see the ad and please do help make The Quest Trilogy a holiday tradition. All three tell a greater story and I hope your families enjoy the experience watching FORTY NIGHTS, CHASING THE STAR and THE CHRIST SLAYER. If you watch/subscribe to ENCOURAGETV please do travel over to the film pages on http://www.imdb.com vote and leave us your thoughts on the trilogy.
https://www.facebook.com/BMGEncourageTV/videos/230655172526254
Once you watch the trilogy feel free to watch the other CDI films including our recent LOST HEART or BIGFOOT, UFO’S and JESUS which is really doing well for us.
BEST YEARS GONE and BESTSELLER will both be getting a home video launch in the near year. Shane Hagedorn our BYG director has been selecting a few comedy festivals to submit us. The thriller BESTSELLER had a theatrical premiere run but now will see a new campaign push from our distributors general audience label DESKPOP ENTERTAINMENT. I should have those dates soon plus we’ll be releasing the new DVD/Poster art for BYG. More on these dates very soon and we might have word on a few other CDI films getting a new push. Some have never really enjoyed a streaming release. So in our last meeting with our distributor we discussed several of these titles. What ones would you love to see come back strong to the marketplace?
2022 LOOKING AHEAD
So I’ve spent some good time contemplating, meditating and focusing on the future CDI endeavors. We are planning a Spring feature to shoot in the March/April timeframe. I’m not yet ready to talk about the project but this one would be a Michigan shoot. I’ve also been working on the rewrite of the OF SMOKE & MIRRORS the feature length version of SMOKE & MIRRORS. This cool turn of the century short assembled from a commercial project will get some festival release in 2022. I would like to shoot the feature at the end of 2022 or early 2023 pending our schedule. In that back half of the year we’re working hard to launch the WILD FAITH: Hastings TV series. It would bring 8 more ongoing stories of some of the endearing characters audiences met in the feature. Tens of millions of fans can’t be wrong. I just need to make the best deal for the project. Saying yes to something that ultimately could hurt the story is not what we want to do. How many Michigan, 1800’s expert executives are there in Hollywood? Exactly my point. Script notes should come from a sincere place not just someone trying to contribute. Sometimes the best thing you can do is NOT contribute. Anyway, we have some great meetings ahead on this TV series.
We’ll be watching the surround sound mixed version of FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH very soon. It has been getting the clean up and mix treatment from our post audio master Tricky T also known as Dennis Therrian. We are looking at doing another documentary film in 2022 as well as a CDI animated feature film. Overall 2022 will be a busy year as is every year. This year has been a year of wins and losses. Several of the losses come from friends and loved ones no longer with us, no longer to struggle in the world. Our time here is beautiful, wonderful and it moves at a good clip. It all makes me more determined and appreciative of my path. I love being an artist and storyteller. I feel as I will continue to do so until I become the sad news, no longer surviving, striving, thriving and creating. Keep doing you and never give up your dreams. With hardworking, patience and persistence you will make your mark.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
Another Week Down on ‘Silent Night in Algona’ – A Peek.
I’m sitting here sipping some hazelnut coffee and pondering the great week we had. We celebrated our second week’s success with a bit of laughter, discussion, drink and music at our guest house. I will try to put a few of the recaps down here for everyone to enjoy but again I will have to keep it brief as we have a wonderful sponsored meal today on our day off by Smithfield Foods. Following that is a theatrical screening of BEST YEARS GONE (BYG) for our cast, crew and guests. While the films are very different in tone, style and content it shows the attention to quality our artists give while storytelling. BYG will always represent “that film” we did between Michigan’s two Covid lock downs. It was an added little thing we were able to gift our tribe of artists on their day off. In hindsight we did realize that the showing did create a lot of additional communication work for our office folks but we’re happy that we are able to share the story. It was directed by our own Shane Hagedorn and features some of the usual suspects in the CDI tribe. Several cast and crew here shooting now on ‘Silent Night in Algona,’ also worked on BYG and will get to see it for the first time. I love the cameo scenes with Jim Greulich and Victoria Jackson and also Lana Wood and Terence Knox. Jim and Terry are here on location so they will get to see it for the first time. The others get to see a CDI film on the big screen.
My random updates –
- A BMG promo starring Josh Perry promoting our ‘BIGFOOT, UFO’S and JESUS’ was filmed. It was so much fun to watch and get to be back with Josh again. Josh is such a natural but he has a very challenging dramatic role in this film.
- This week I’m suppose to film a BMG promo promoting THE QUEST TRILOGY that consists of our three biblical features FORTY NIGHTS, CHASING THE STAR and THE CHRIST SLAYER shot in a very ‘Star Wars’ looking way. Now that I’ve mentioned it you might be able to see the influence. This is the season for these films all the way up to Easter and I love the fan mail I get every year as families enjoy these stories on TV and streaming. We might do a theatrical marathon one Sunday in Michigan.
- Thank you to all the fans of MBF: MAN’S BEST FRIEND who took a watch on the film in honor of Veterans Day. I’m so happy that I’ve gotten to shake some of your hands. Our sponsored meal today is at the VFW which also provided us with the two locations used in our ‘SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA’ and so if military/veteran films are your thing you might enjoy a watch. I still find it fitting that when the RV broke down on the way here to film it was a Marine that went out of his way to help us. Semper Fi!
- With the large amount of extras and community helping us all the CDI films have been getting a good watch. WILD FAITH, LOST HEART (also known as BUJ), ASHES OF EDEN, WICKED SPRING all getting love. I enjoy the daily comments I get from new folks discovering our stories. Everyone has a personal favorite but I think they are really enjoying our overall style as storytellers. You can leave a review on our Amazon Prime page and/or the http://www.imdb.com movie page. On behalf of all the artists we thank you deeply.
- We do have a Facebook page for ‘SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA’ (SNIA) so please join us and follow along for more pictures and updates.
- This week we really got to see the German actors start to tell their part of the story. Our first week focused on our Tietz family story and introduced some of the town folks. But now we are moving into our camp scenes and the scenes have been beautiful, moving and even frightening at times. We examine the good, bad and ugly of the war, but also show how ultimately love, compassion and forgiveness can win the day. In this true event piece those attributes did outshine the darkness.
- We had to plan, pivot and work with a few spots of rain and even some snow but we did and created some amazing art. Some of the stills are so beautiful they look like a painting. That is kudos to the entire team.
- BEST YEARS GONE will be playing the Celebration Cinema in Lansing, MI over the Thanksgiving week. So another great opportunity for people visiting home to watch the film.
I’m wanting to expand upon the great scenes I saw unfolding this week but I have to get ready to shower up for this sponsored lunch. MSU plays again today and so I hope they get back on track. It would be great to see them play in a good holiday bowl. My next blog will be posted at the conclusion of our filming. Once back in Michigan and I go back to Sundays for releasing my blog and have more time to reflect and post more pics and we prep them. Until we sit for another coffee chat have a safe and productive week and be good to one another.
DJ
Hometown ‘Best Years Gone’ Premiere and CDI Updates
Hazelnut cheers on a nippy Michigan morning. I’ve got the fire going by my chair as I sit and reflect on a very busy week of life and work. Last night we gathered at the NCG theaters in Lansing to debut our new CDI film BEST YEARS GONE, directed by Shane Hagedorn. We had a strong crowd for the 1st show which they moved into the bigger screen to handle our sales. Also they extended the theatrical run until Oct 21st, so have day out going to see a movie. It really did play great there and I was happy to see so many family, friends and fans of the films. I love that every day more folks will get to see the story we told. The feedback has been strong ands I know the ‘haters’ always find their way but so do those who appreciate the stories. And at a kick off event I get to shake hands, take pictures and meet some of these fine people.
(Shane Hagedorn and DJ Perry greeted and chatted with many folks at the Lansing premiere)
My dad still wonders how I’m able to weave the story and all the dialogue into a script. I told him all those times of being assured of not paying attention or having my head in the clouds – THAT – whatever it is – IMAGINATION – it allows me to get lost in the story and manifest it. I’m awaiting word on another deal that would have me writing a script this winter and produce it next year with CDI. Add in the TV series of HASTINGS that is gaining momentum and 2022 could be a fun year of storytelling. Here are the Lansing showtimes- https://www.showtimes.com/movie-times/best-years-gone-156830/lansing-mi/
But before we get to 2022 we have a very exciting and important story to be told – SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA! I cannot believe that the pre-production caravan will depart next Saturday. Producers, director, art, AD, office and transportation will be doing final prep for the shoot that kicks off on Halloween. I had a wardrobe fitting last week and between the scene study which is feeling on point and the dapper WW2 uniform – game on.
We have some additional sponsor support from the Iowa State Bank so we want to thank them. This past week we filled several of the few cast and crew spots remaining. Just one or two cast/crew to go and that will work itself out. We had a few changes from illness or unexpected commits but our team will go and end the year with one great story. This week I need to pull together final props and production stuff traveling with me. I have to finish packing my clothes which needs to include cold weather gear. The nice part is this film I have like one uniform and a few hats unlike the multiple wardrobe pieces worn as Gil in BEST YEARS GONE. I am going to enjoy this final week of prepping things. There are several friends I only get to see while filming so again I’m excited to tell this story with our artists.
I know that this is the perfect season to release BESTSELLER, our thriller getting a campaign reboot but I do not have dates yet. My favorite film of the season is the animated ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ and Hitchcock’s PSYCHO, which I’ll be watching to this week. WICKED SPRING HD is heading out to streaming and might be playing on certain platforms. I need to circle up with our distributor on a few projects but I’ve been quite busy with one film releasing and one going into production in under two weeks. FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH feature-length doc is in the post-mixing phase and I was thinking of premiering SMOKE & MIRRORS with it at the same time. Like the cartoons you use to get before a show.
I’m putting the coffee away this morning because of the chill. I just poured the last cup and I’m going to finish this up. My next update will be from Algona, Iowa! Today we might hit the flea market seeking prop items and a stop at Tractor Supply to get some food for the chickens. They are putting on winter weight and still giving the eggs out. It is nice to always have that abundance of eggs and you do taste a difference. My alumni MSU had another good game yesterday but our Lions still struggle. I want to again thank each and everyone of you who attended our showings. If you want to leave a review you can go to our BEST YEARS GONE page on http://www.imdb.com and vote and leave your thoughts. I hope you all have a productive week ahead. Be good to one another.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
10 Awesome #TRIBECDI Updates to Kick Off Autumn!
Good morning to all of you and I hope your foray into Fall has been great thus far. I want to welcome the new readers from Russia, Ireland, UK, China and the Philippines. Coffee (or tea) cheers to you all and thank you for stopping by. I LOVE this time of year and I’ve been beyond thrilled to work on the films as the leaves turn and fall. I’m feeling like just shotgunning out some of the updates.
- The NCG Owosso premiere showing of ‘BEST YEARS GONE‘ is over and word has it that it is coming next for a Lansing NCG premiere on Oct 16th with two shows – a 6pm and 8:15pm I believe. You heard it here first. This week an event page and some PR will begin so some of the home town folks can enjoy the film. It has been remixed from the first premiere for delivery to our distributor and for our future premieres. I got a peek at some of the DVD/release artwork our distributor is working on. I think they are planning on a Feb 2022 home video release. Until that release we’ll keep at the theatrical premieres. If you’ve seen the film feel free to visit our IMDB.com page (also has a premiere video there) and leave a few words about your favorite scenes.
- SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA – pre-production is on the final run up. With a home office I get that great privilege of a short daily commute – about 30 or so stone steps. We’ve been doing more in-depth meetings with departments making sure they have questions answered. I was happy that one of my estate sale finds – a $5 military trench coat was the correct period and matched the photo I had. The office has been reaching out and getting crew agreements in line and this week cast will follow our set “day-of-days” coming from the AD department. We’ve had a few changes in cast and crew that happens when life happens. But I’m excited to see many of the Tribe and tell one last great story before we call it a year.
- WICKED SPRINGS HD release should start rolling out this month. That was an epic shoot back when we were rather young. I’m excited to see this rolling out to streaming platforms so folks can enjoy the story in HD.
- LOST HEART/BIGFOOT, UFO’s & JESUS – is starting to really pick up steam as the alternate title works into the marketplace. I had the chance to talk with many who have really enjoyed this film. The laughter and heartfelt messages play well with audiences and that is why we do it. This is true for MAN’S BEST FRIEND which again brought questions of a sequel which I’m not ruling out but it’s not on deck at this time. I was made aware of it playing on various TV stations like Charge TV. WILD FAITH just broke the 5-million views mark on Encourage TV and I’ll be taking more meetings on season 1 of the TV spin off. THE QUEST TRILOGY (Forty Nights, Chasing the Star, The Christ Slayer) is about ready to start its run once the ghosts and ghouls have their Halloween.
- As we follow the tradition of setting up new campaign runs for older films in the CDI library like BESTSELLER and THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ will be getting 2022 release dates soon. We just got everything submitted for one and the other is in the works. We are working to get several more prepped to release. Our distributor now has a general market label which is opening many doors of opportunity.
- SMOKE & MIRRORS our concept short is done. I was exploring how to help the location house with our film. We will look at some festivals also just for fun. The feature script is being retooled and will be great as an extended story.
- FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH – the first in a series of CDI in association with The Red, White & Blue Project Inc. documentary films. The locked cut is about done and so we’re going to master record the narration and do a once over mix/check at the studio with Dennis Therrian to prep the film for delivery. This brand we’ve created has a lot of growth possibilities. We also might look at a December premiere release likely at the NCG Owosso. Why? Curran Jacobs our director/host is from Owosso, MI. A lot of creative individuals from that area.
- I’ve had my second business opportunity in the past two months approach me over screenwriting. When I write to assign to one of our productions I work discounted knowing that the film employs many of our artists. I also produce and often act so there is much more involvement. On these “work-for-hire” projects I’m raising rates and even doing something like a writer/option whereas the script is written for X amount w/ a 50% copyright hold until the script is financed and the balance paid in return for the remaining 50% copyright. So they end up with complete ownership and have to go less deep financially to be able to shop. I still try to work under the minimums suggested by the WGA which I’m not part of by choice, and my cost of living can handle this. That again is what I love about Michigan. You could have a small crap box in LA or a country kingdom in Michigan for the same price. Part of the secret of productivity is being somewhere you like and that gives you peace between your often hectic dealings. I will pick up where we left off on negotiations this week and what is meant to be will be. But I do enjoy all the new writing opportunities. I am still looking at possible representation for the writing and still might try something out for the foreign market.
- As we discuss writing, one of my loves, I must mention a new book coming out. A few years back when WILD FAITH was moving and grooving in the theaters across several states, an author/book running that writes under Callie Smith Grant saw our film. She enjoyed the story/script and that led to an offer to submit stories. That has led to my participation in several of these books. This is the most recent one. Pre-order/order here – https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Who-Came-Christmas-Stories/dp/0800741250 a great Christmas gift!
- Producing, writing and preparing daily to play a new character on screen. I’m playing Lt. Col Lodell a fictional character based loosely on the actual camp commander in one major way. The ‘Golden Rule’ is the basis/foundation used during the operation of the PW camp. This character fit so perfect when I cracked the script back open to look at it. It feels close to where I’m at in my life with setting an example is the easiest way to inspire. Words can be wasted be the speaker or the listener if no action follows it. I just like to keep plugging away each and every day. I don’t feel in competition with anyone or anything. I feel like I’m just flowing like water (Thanks Bruce) doing my best each day. I’m doing the projects I’m suppose to do. So many stories to tell – I’m just very grateful to be able to. I don’t take that for granted. I try not to take any of it for granted. I’m just happy that I evolved to where I am. A place of good balance of mind, body and spirit. Learn to laugh at yourself. Forgive yourself. And wisdom that comes with ‘know thyself’…
(Above ‘Tricky T’ has been working with CDI since film #1 ‘Knight Chills’)
I’m going to wrap this up and maybe go make another cup of coffee. I’m looking forward to the week ahead. Also the old suitcase is going to have to come out. I like to slow pack over a couple weeks. I also have CDI stuff to gather also. This week we touch base with our Algona team. I’m going to go enjoy another soccer game with my niece and nephew playing. An art department meeting that I’m looking forward to. So many good developments on that front. As you study the time period some things seem very old although I’m convinced the black and white photos and footage makes it seem older. Other pictures could have been shot today. How we captured history has a lot to do with how we see it now. Just like old Civil War pictures. Once colorized – man! They really come to life. I love history and the stories that have carried down collectively to all of us. I will continue to try and put some of these wonderful stories to the medium of motion picture. Have a great week and be good to one another!
DJ
‘Best Years Gone’ Thanks you Owosso! Where Next? Other Updates on TribeCDI Projects!
The first sips of the hazelnut coffee taste so good on this chilly Michigan morning. Yesterday the sinus were a bit stuffed due to the weather changes but this morning I’m feeling good. We watched my alumni school Michigan State University put another win up for the season. If only our Lions could start doing the same. Either way, football, hot cider and the harvest has been a great welcome to Fall that is now officially here.
This past week was great for tying up loose ends on BEST YEARS GONE that played Owosso, MI NCG all week. I was able to sneak into a day show on the last day with my dad. It was nice to have no pressure or expectations to meet and greet. It was nice to just relax into the story and just enjoy. The story is well put together with such great comments on the camerawork (DP Travis Hayward) the creative editing (Nathaniel Nose) – the music (Dennis Therrian and all our great guest artists). We know all of this includes the entire crew and cast. I heard lots of compliments on how the film walks the line with strong drama and outrageous comedy. And big kudos to Shane Hagedorn our director who kept the vision and created the fine blend story. NOTE: A BTS of the premiere event is on our IMDB.com page and we’ll go up on our FB page soon. Great job Dan Chipman.
We started with a two show screening premiere and that went great! We’ve been dripping out pics from that night on the BYG Facebook site. What a wonderful night and it was great to see the story on the big screen. The film was granted an extension playing all last week in Owosso, Michigan. Now we are looking at other cities both with NCG and other theatrical chains. We hope to bring it to our home town of Lansing, Michigan. Possibly Grand Rapids and the Detroit area and even Nashville, TN is being considered. This week after the theatrical we made a few adjustments to our mix and we’ll do a final review Weds before uploading the master to our distributor. I’m excited for people around the world to enjoy this story.
Today we are having a meeting for SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA to review our schedule and lock that so that cast agreements and flights can be booked. We’re working hard to get all our ducks in a row so that many things are done before our pre-production week on set. Algona is not a big city so we’re working with all the resources we have. The best resource is the people of Algona who are excited to have this story of theirs told, keeping it from being forgotten. This week I’ll do some PR about our product partners and we’ll announce a few more cast. I had a few great conversations with folks this week and that is what is nice about these adventures. I get to see some dear friends that I usually only see when filming. But today is a big day as we lock up the schedule and collectively look for problem/issues in advance. We have some of the best problem solvers working to tell this story so I feel very confident.
WILD FAITH is about to hit 5 million views on Encourage TV taking us even deeper into the tens of millions who have watched the film. I had a few more conversations with parties that could assist in getting the TV series launched. Creative Control has been the main goal for me as I’ve had a few projects derailed by “experts” on what a story needs or doesn’t need. We have several paths we could take to production and as I’ve always said it is not IF it is WHEN. Have you seen WILD FAITH? If not, please do.
MANS BEST FRIEND is playing new TV channels such as Charge TV which seems to be targeted at action and macho films by Chuck Norris, Steven Seagal and DJ Perry, what? I have continued to encounter many more folks who love that film. I’m very proud of the film and the action sequences which are modest. I’ve had several people ask about ‘Paul Landings’ outcome and could there ever be a sequel. You never know and yes, I’ve thought about it. I have a good story in my head but we’ll see about that some other time. I’ve got a full plate.
LOST HEART/BIGFOOT, UFOs and JESUS – I had the pleasure of hearing from many who saw CDI’s last release under two different titles. I love this film and it always leaves me feeling good. Feeling down or just needing a boost of ‘feel good’ take a watch. Melissa Anschutz commands the screen and folks like Josh Perry turn in performances that will have people talking for years. This is the perfect time of year to watch this film.
THE QUEST TRILOGY – Once we get past the beloved Halloween-fare it will be the holidays. I’m excited to continue the tradition of our trilogy. I again at the recent premiere got to hear from the fans of these films. Many are still learning about them and learning that there are three films in the series. FORTY NIGHTS, CHASING THE STAR and THE CHRIST SLAYER. See them in order. See them all.
FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH – the final polished cut is getting close. This weekend the audio narration was being done. A pre-mix and a final mix and we’ll be ready for a premiere. Maybe just before Christmas but after Thanksgiving for sure.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS – Our short concept film that sprung from a commercial endeavor is completed. We’re in discussions about the various possible premieres for this film using it to also help the historic Dodge Turner House. We are exploring a virtual premiere also but getting together and seeing this on a big screen would be fun. It is roughly 14 minutes so not a long film. A few festivals could be in the future for this short film story. I have been working on the feature script which I’m calling ‘OF SMOKE & MIRRORS’ to add a slight difference between the two.
ODDS & ENDS
This week I got to throw some of my dialog off Curran Jacobs who is playing the lead in our next WW2 film. I’ve been having such a great time emerging myself in the 1940’s and preparing to tell this great story. We also had a great meeting with our director and the VFX supervisor and we identified all the VFX shots or shots that would utilize CGI additions or subtractions.
I had an offer for a lead in a short which I don’t typically consider but offered to look at the script and the details which I asked for. I got a script with no details and had to pry any info out. But to be honest when I saw the email with just the script (poorly formatted) and no information – it was a polite pass. I had another call about engaging as a work-for-hire writer. On the other end of the spectrum from the no detail communication mentioned previously- this email came with a great pitch/breakdown. Success will follow the hard work. One person did the bare minimum and the other had spent some real time in organizing and preparing for their endeavor. I will likely enter negotiations this week for a wonderful writing endeavor that I’ll do over the holidays. I’ve had a handful of these opportunities approach me which is what led me to consider representation. In time I may explore the representation aspect but for now I’m happy to handle the details.
I’m going to bring this to a close. I have a few yard tasks to accomplish and I need to get ready for two groups of folks today. The ‘schedule’ meeting this afternoon and later my brother and few amigos will visit. I think the first fire might have to be lit today. I hope each of you have a wonderful day and good week ahead. I’m excited for all the developments happening and also happy to be enjoying the Fall with the family. This shoot will be the only extended leave I took this year. But it will put us into post-production on another beautiful story. This story is built on the real history of Algona and we’re proud to be telling it.
Be good to one another and coffee cheers!
DJ
Beer. Racecars. Murder? Premiere Info and More…
A very good morning to all of you – hazelnut cheers to our new readers from Australia, Philippines, Ireland and more. I’m sitting and feeling – relief, joy, accomplishment…I’m still trying to capture that feeling. Last night was pretty crazy cool. Weds we went to the NCG and set levels for the film and the pre-showing videos which comprised of “For the Love of Catch” movie trailer and the music video for ‘Off to the Races’ featuring Vertical Bridge. In the past I’ve had some events that I primed up well for- one example that jumps into my mind is David Borowicz and I in Burbank, CA before WILD FAITH played the theater. He said let’s stop here and have ONE beer. It was the home of the 1 yard beers so that really started things off relaxed. I went into the premiere stone sober and first the first trailer started playing without the visual. They restarted it and it played great. The music video started way loud and then they turned it too low and finally brought volume back up. The aspect ratio on the feature was off slightly so bottom credits were being cut off. But they quickly readjusted. Visual, audio, aspect ratio- they had moved us to a larger theaters and the adjustments from Weds were not applied. My limited-tech self was wishing I had that yard sized beer in advance. The audience didn’t notice but we did and the second 8:15 show got the much better adjusted showing and this week the showings should be much more dialed in. But the interest and numbers for the showing resulted in us getting our run extended for the week! The kick off gremlins tried to mess with the showing but instead ended up having an amber ale with us after and they liked the film:)
I also enjoyed talking with Karl Manke the book author. The book is called HOPE FROM HEAVEN. It is an interesting feeling when you write a script and it is turned into a film passing by the director and the actors. It has to be another experience to have your book turned to a screenplay turned into a movie. Either way I think he enjoyed the experience but as a writer I know sometimes in your imagination you have it painted differently. But for me it is always a pleasure seeing the words brought to life. We will know this week if NCG is bringing it to other cities in Michigan. We have a few other chains we are in talks with and our goal is to get it to you. It is planned for roughly a Feb 2022 DVD/streaming release with our distributor. We are going out on the distributors general market main stream label. The film checks many of the boxes for a good inspirational story but the hardcore faith buyers seemingly don’t always like to see too ‘real’ of situations. The ‘Brady Bunch’ level crisis is usually what they like to focus on but that is slowly changing. Audiences loved the characters, the humor, the music (Dennis Therrian) and the edit (Nathaniel Nose) – I am going to sneak into a day show this week. Likely 2:45 show and home by dinner:)
This week we’ll be looking to see what could be done with SMOKE & MIRRORS the short we did off a commercial shoot for an audio software company Izotope. It is a precursor to a feature film we want to film from one of my scripts of the same name. We might do a steampunk happy hour fund raiser for the historic house or something online. We will have a few creative pow wows over this but however you see it will be entertaining.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA is moving hard. The crew started getting agreements although our prep dates might fall back by a day. The office and AD staff are working on the set schedule which includes what we call a day-of-days that tells us actor start dates, work dates and final date so we can properly book flights and hotels. Transportation in will be a bit harder as all the close airports are small and limited flights. We are driving in with the prep team so we can bring more gear and such with us. The chill in the air this morning whispered “Wait until November.” – DOH! So this week we’re are back at it and with a more singular focus now that several projects have been concluded.
FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH – is a feature length documentary produced by CDI in association with the Red, White and Blue Project Inc. a military focused non-profit. We’ll be locking up picture soon and sweetening the sound before we premiere this fine piece of work.
DEVELOPMENT
I’m not going to go on much about development this week but we are always in the state of development. Several possible projects are building and growing closer to a production green light. More doors are opening weekly that we are evaluating and looking to see if they make sense and match with our schedule. So please do make the time to go see BEST YEARTS GONE on the big screen and take a friend or two. If you have seen it take a moment to share your thoughts with a review on IMDB.com
We are going to go hit the flea market down the road and look for a few WW2 era props for the November shoot. We might have to get a few pumpkins and maybe even apple cider. I finished the hop harvest and we’ve still been waiting on some of the veggies late maturing like eggplant and Brussel sprouts. Wood cutting with Viking Thursdays might start soon. The days are still getting warm but morning and nights are getting chilly. Good sleeping weather when the window is open.
I also will tell you that some great merchandise made its first appearance at the premiere and will be for sale soon online. Best Years Gone official handkerchief that people really loved featuring a few of the favorite tag-lines from the film. Also Gil Gilles approved lighters, papers, grinders and beverage cozies one with a built in opener. Fun stuff and the start of many as we start to develop the CDI merchandise line. Some ‘For the Love of Catch’ merchandise might also be on deck. Wicked Spring lunch box? maybe:) We also want to start featuring artists and carry their artwork on consignment. I LOVE seeing other artists succeed through hard work. Many expect things to just happen. I am part of a few social media filmmaker groups and I see so many unrealistic expectations. Also folks who wrote something and just think it will get funded if they just post a few messages. I called. Set meetings. Cold pitches in studio boardrooms. Many meetings where many turned up zero but eventually the right fit. But it never dropped in my lap. Do opportunities drop in my lap now? Yes. But that is after many years of struggle. So I just feel like I’m reaping the rewards of seeds planted long ago. So I’m saying even in this digital age you might have to get off your computer/phone, out of your comfort zone and go after it with a well thought out written out plan of attack. Or you can go back to social media funding where 95% of those endeavors fail to fund and if you want larger budgets that takes trust. So go build that trust and make your dreams happen. It also allows you to be pro-active versus passive which is where many like to dwell. But passive usually doesn’t prosper like pro-active.
Off to refill the coffee cup! Great job MSU! Have a great week and thank you to the full house who attended the premiere kick off last night. It was really nice to meet some of you and we’re all glad as the artists that we could give you an enjoyable night. The sign for me was that my face hurt from smiling and laughing and so I’m gonna take that as a good thing.
DJ
Exciting Developments – ‘Off to the Races’ Music Video – ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ & ‘Best Years Gone’ premieres, ‘Silent Night in Algona’…
I’m sitting here sipping the hazelnut coffee on this peaceful Michigan morning. I want to welcome the new readers from Italy, India, Pakistan and more. It is so nice to have an international circle of artists here. The last few weeks have been extremely productive and busy. This could not be more true of the film endeavors we’re working so hard on. Past, present and future all moving forward together. Outside of the film world we’ve been working in the yard with the chickens and the veggies and herbs. This past week I harvested the hops and we’ve been enjoying eggplant and other veggies. Today I plan on grilling up a few venison steaks after a late morning run to the flea market. I think the best way to try and organize the updates are with a bullet point list.
- Oct 12th Nationally this book above will release. I have a story in it about our boy ‘Luke’ who passed a few years ago. I love contributing to these books and if you need a good Christmas gift these books make a fine one to give. Pre-Order here http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-dog-who-came-to-christmas/401231
- The short film SMOKE & MIRRORS that will condensed from my feature script is now complete. Our producers were reviewing yesterday and it is really good. That ‘steampunk’ era 1900’s setting is so fun to play in. I’ll be looking at at screening to benefit the Dodge Turner house where we filmed. It will premiere and we plan to let you all enjoy it during the Halloween season. We are even cutting a short promo teaser but I’m very happy with our end result. It was directed and edited by Nathaniel Nose who directed ‘The Christ Slayer’ with us.
- The music video ‘Off to the Races’ by Vertical Bridge the winner of the BEST YEARS GONE battle of the bands is done. We’re deciding between two logos but the video is badass and we’re talking about releasing it this week to fuel the hype of our upcoming MICHIGAN PREMIERE! I think we’ll release the music video tomorrow and also if you attend the premiere you can see it play on the theatrical screen.
- The feature BEST YEARS GONE is complete but the last few days have been working to tweak color correction and remove digital hiccups:) The film will be rendered to a theatrical file (DCP) used by the theaters. It will also get deliver to our distributor so their marketing team can review and they can start playing their home video campaign that will have DVD/streaming release in Feb 2022. The premiere Sept 18th at the NCG theaters in Owosso, MI is next Sat with both a 6pm show that is almost full and the 8:15 show that is filling up. Both will be great to attend with photos and meet and greets plus the afterglow at Romas. We have a lot of details to attend to this week in preparation but next Sat the first audiences will meet the Gilles Boys and the madcap adventure that follows. This was adapted for the screen (by yours truly) from Karl Manke’s book ‘Hope from Heaven’ and so you might want to read the book after you take a watch.
- SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA has started assembling crew paperwork which we’ll start dispersing this week. Once our schedule lands in our lap we’ll start doing our cast agreements, travel and such. We’ll be releasing PR on a few more of the German actors plus we’ll be announcing our product partnership with two more major worldwide brands. Those brands being Hormel/Spam and Hersheys, both play into our story. Other sponsors include Smithfield Foods, Lerma Transportation, The Candleberry Company and more in process. It really is great to have these amazing brands working with us. We’re working on a teaser poster along with a hundred other small details. If you want to align your brand with our WW2 Christmas film please do reach out.
- This week I also received a script in the mail (I love that vs electronic) for a future film project to see if I want to act in it. I had a few conversations about upcoming scripts/films to write/produce and we had a good chat at week’s end over the WILD FAITH TV series “Hastings” and we’ll see where that goes.
- In active development is the new VFX division that we’re working to build so that we can enhance VFX shots in our stories and also use this entity to develop our own animated programming.
- FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH our documentary film is now in fine tuning and I think will be the first of a series of films. I had productive talks this past week about another documentary film to shoot next year that will build upon this current one. But ‘For the Love of Catch’ is more than just a documentary film it will be a brand that we can do many things with including hosting, promoting and live streaming a possible event. The possibilities are really exciting. As I said before, if you love college, professional, or any type of wrestling – you will find this doc entertaining and informative. It filled in so many gaps in my casual knowledge of the grappling arts as a martial artist myself. I think this film will become one of the pillars of the grappling and it really pulls the history together so that its not forgotten. It bypasses the typical competitive nature of the different schools and illustrates the common history they all share. And the love expressed by these instructors for their art is apparent in the heartfelt words that are spoken in each and every powerful interview.
- I need to circle around and look at the CDI Classic Double Feature with Knight Chills and From Venus. New artwork and maybe an entire new campaign that could include Knight Chills HD streaming. I see it:) Do you own the 1st DVD in the CDI Classic Collection? Heaven’s Neighbors and Figure in the Forest– which one or both might also get the HD treatment with a new campaign. We will see – I need to get a few things off my plate first.
- I’ve been having a great time immersing myself in WW2 footage and films. IN HARMS WAY with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas is one I just watched. They had access to so many military vehicles like battleships, but it is John Wayne. My short hair helped me start to see my character in the mirror. The line work has been just awesome. I love the things that are said between the lines. Yesterday was Sept 11th and the tributes brought back many feelings and visions of patriotic unity in grief. I think this script speaks in these ways by looking at the examples of the past and we can apply that to our present. I’m really looking forward to telling this story.
If you are in the Michigan area and want to attend our premiere please do attend one of the two shows and the afterglow at Romas. My schedule keeps me working and recharging more than socializing at film mixers so if you and I haven’t met – feel free to introduce yourself. Leave me with a card or whatnot so I can explore your art. I recall leaving a few past film events with a pile of scripts, headshots and VHS tapes of films and reels. Now a card with a link can do much the same thing. We are exploring additional theatrical play as the distributor preps for home video and foreign sales. So if you are unable to attend the film could play closer to your home or streaming will follow early in 2022. But, if you want to meet some of the cast, crew, band members from “Vertical Bridge” the battle of the band winners – this is the event for you!
(Above is from our Algona scout/prep trip- NOTE the cool car we will be using. One of many classic pre-1944 rides)
Okay. Flea market, lawn mow, venison grill N chill and prepare for a busy Monday! MSU had another great game and I hope our LIONS can do the same! I hope you all had a great weekend and stay safe, be kind and chase down those dreams.
Coffee cheers!
DJ
Sept 18th ‘Best Years Gone’ Premiere, Pre-Production on ‘Silent Night in Algona’ and more…
I’m sipping my coffee and thinking about what a beautiful week it has been. It has been busy and will continue to be as we move towards the premiere of BEST YEARS GONE (Sept 18th tickets can be bought for that date 6pm and 8:15pm at the Owosso, MI NCG – Come Join the Fun!) and we also keep prepping on SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA. (Shooting in November) We will explore a few theatrical opportunities with the film but we’re looking at Q1 2022 likely Feb for the streaming/DVD home video release. We have all kinds of important work being done as we look to finish end of this new week. As huge amounts of data is being moved about for credits and thank you’s I also worry a touch. Because almost without fail we miss someone or have a name misspelled. It is the worst part of the final process. And changes are not easy and once delivered near impossible to change. Please know that on the rare occasions where this happens it has never been intentional. I know director Shane Hagedorn is excited as is our composer and sound designer Dennis Therrian. The daily updates are growing with excitement and enthusiasm. We want to bring this story to you. If you want to read the book that the film was adapted from you can google up and purchase “Hope from Heaven” by author Karl Manke.
Last night was special because I got to celebrate the wedding reception of Jackson Kennedy. He is the son of my business partner Jeff Kennedy, who directed several of the early CDI films. He was the young boy in KNIGHT CHILLS (CDI’s 1st feature film). Jackson was only like 3 but a bigger kid more the size of a 5 year old. Later it was discovered he was dealing with some hearing loss. Audiences even back in the day could be cruel with their words in reviews. He never asked for any of that so I’m so happy to see how well he has done in school and life by getting his Masters degree and working for a university and now married. Actually he and his wife Abby married a year ago during Covid and this was the anniversary. They had a wonderful reception for family and friends. For people who don’t know, my partner in CDI Jeff Kennedy, has dealt with severe back issues since before even his work on ‘Dean Teaster’s Ghost Town’ which would be his last CDI film he was directly involved with. It was good to see both he and Juanita so proud of their son Jack. I too was so proud of this young man and what he has become. Looking at him as a grown man illustrates again for me that indeed CDI has been storytelling for 25 years this year!
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA
Here is an interview piece from our scout trip to Algona, Iowa.
This week we’ll announce a few more of the German actors and we’ll also be announcing some of the amazing product partners and sponsors joining us in the telling of this powerful story based on true events. We are starting to put paperwork under our cast and crew. We will also start more intense work with various departments in the coming weeks. The 1st steps towards the production insurance is underway as of Friday. We will need it for locations, picture vehicles and more. Aside from all the business I’ve been working my lines and I’m excited to start reading off a few of my fellow actors.
FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH – We had the pleasure of watching the 1st cut of the documentary on the history of wrestling. It was informative, entertaining and really educates anyone interested or curious about the history of the grappling arts. I’m very proud of the entire team and I think it could be the first of many. Director Curran Jacobs is also the lead actor in our upcoming WW2 film. He previously had roles in WILD FAITH and MBF but this will be his biggest challenge.
SMOKE & MIRROR – Our VFX artists had a few delays but this funny and hauntingly moody short film will be done mid month. I’ve also been working on re-tooling the feature film that were looking to have Nathaniel Nose direct. This will give audiences a good peek at the world we intend to create with the full feature.
WILD FAITH is a branding and I’m considering WILD FAITH: Hastings Season 1 as the more official title for the TV series. The interest is there now we just need to pull all the business together and look to a season 1 shoot likely 2022 if all goes smooth. I might get some artwork underway during this 4th Q of the year.
The window for THE QUEST TRILOGY will kick in after we get past Oct 31st – speaking of that spooky month – BESTSELLER the dark thriller by author Christopher Knight and starring Melissa Anschutz as literary agent Anne Harper will be getting a new campaign soon. I think most of the business has been delivered so I will keep you updated. Also an HD version of THE PATCHWORK GIRL OF OZ is suppose to release in a new campaign. It was our first CDI associated animated film but will not be our last! The new special FX division is in the planning stages and I’m excited by where that can take us. LOST HEART aka BIGFOOT, UFO’S AND JESUS is growing a nice audience and WICKED SPRING HD version is about to get a new release. And we’re also looking at what films in the CDI library could also be introduced to a new larger audience.
I smell the bacon and eggs almost done so I’m going to wrap this up and get a fresh coffee. After breakfast I’m going to go put a mow on the lawn. We are having the mom’s over for a late lunch that will have me manning the grill. I’ve been grilling with hickory chunks vs charcoal and that has been a switch. It burns much faster and hotter it seems. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your extended holiday weekend. Our MSU football team started off the season with a great win Friday night. Now if only the Detroit LIONS can do the same.
Be good to one another and have a great week ahead!
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
HAPPY Mother’s Day! Also CDI’S TOP 10 UPDATES (There are some good ones)
My first sips of hazelnut coffee on this Sunday morning. I’ve been recovering the last two days from my first of the season soccer matches. My legs are in good shape but not ready for the constant run and directional changes. Yesterday my legs were stiff and tad heavy giving me the ‘mummy’ walk – “COIN!” (Old Scooby Doo reference)
I had a very productive week on many fronts and I’m just so pleased with how everything is moving along. But before we get into all the film updates let take this moment to celebrate mommas. EVERYTHING I’ve done in this life I’ve done because I was brought into this world. Every story that started as a spark in my imagination and brought to screen is because of her. (Dad also had something to do with it:) But I’m just so appreciative that I was given this opportunity. We will have the moms over this afternoon for an early dinner. A few love gifts and a good meal. I LOVE you momma:) Happy Mother’s Day to all of you. That counts if you mother child or animal, so again – thank you to all the mothers for what you’ve done, are doing and will do because that is what mother’s do. LOVE.
Maybe let’s try a TOP TEN Updates
- FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH documentary is now in editing. We had a post meeting last week and we’ll even having a teaser trailer coming soon. This is about the history of the grappling arts and the evolution of “Catch” as told by those who love it the most. Hosted and directed by two time world champion Curran Jacobs. We have some great interviews. Big Kudos to Dan Chipman our mobile production and Adam Towner, B camera and post. This just might be the first of many documentary collaborations between #Tribecdi with The Red, White and Blue Project Inc. You can follow us on IMDB and Facebook as we have pages for both now.
- BESTSELLER – This “Hitchcock” like thriller adapted from the book by Christopher Knight has been signed for a new release campaign. This film stars Melissa Anschutz, DJ Perry, Ralph Lister, Taylor Nichols and Lana Wood. It has really only had a limited DVD release and so this new push will be much greater. It is R-rated (language and implied violence) but is done without being overly graphic. This film captures Michigan in the fall in all it’s haunting glory. I will have more info as we go but I believe the idea is a late summer/fall release!
- BEST YEARS GONE – the first pass on dialog clean up is complete. Last week our director and composer discussed music cues and even sound design ideas. Color Correction is happening as we speak along with the edit of our first official trailer. As if that wasn’t enough- we’re planning the premiere, manufacturing merchandise and more official stills are being prepped for delivery to our distributor (BMG) so they can begin poster art. Lotta fun ahead with this movie and I think audiences will really enjoy it. I need to add that the Battle of the Bands judging is underway by our team and celeb judges. We will be announcing a winner this month!
- LOST HEART is really a film that has a lot going for it. But to try and convey that via shelf art alone is hard. The film is a story is about music star Hannah Sweet going back to her home town for a funeral but the B story is the town of ‘Lost Heart’ itself. It started with fan mail before Christmas from men who had lost the remote and via wife/girlfriend and was made to watch ‘Lost Heart’ and really loved it. I recall one gent saying that he would have never watched that film except by his wife’s choosing. But he loved the Bigfoot, UFO (UFA?:) and humorous mystery in our story. In a meeting with our distributor I recall telling these stories after discussing the demographic audience that is being drawn to our story. A joke was mention that if the title was “Bigfoot, UFO’s and Jesus” the film would find its partially missing male demographic. Guys hanging out amongst themselves are unfortunately not going to randomly watch a film named ‘Lost Heart,’ which is a name I truly love. It was pointed out to me that a title like “Bigfoot, UFO’s and Jesus” would also attract more women who were equally into the mystery aspects, like my own cousin Angie. So I stand corrected. This GM release should add to our overall audience by revealing the wonderful B story of our film. It was a nice hidden gem inside our story but I think we need to be more direct. So a ‘General Market/GM’ campaign release is underway with a new title, poster art and trailer. I will share this new artwork at the end of this update. But I’m very excited because this film/story deserves to be seen by many, many, many more people from around the world. And so it will.
- WILD FAITH/HASTINGS – I want to do a polish up on the “Hastings” scripts for simple grammar mistakes but I had a few more connections start to open up on the WILD FAITH TV spin off. I’m excited to put that into play to shoot next year. I know the feature is growing an audience around the world and so the series would have a nice welcome audience.
- MBF/MAN’S BEST FRIEND – This film has been working its way into the marketplace. I was told a new deal was just executed taking the film into Latin America. I know it is making its way into territories around the world. The top two questions I get with this film 1) Will you do more martial arts filming? I do have a great concept that will eventually make it to script. 2) What was Paul’s sentence, will there be a sequel? Right now I like keeping Paul’s fate in limbo with audiences. Will there be a Part 2? Never say never. If you have not watched this film – watch it. If you have and enjoyed it, pass it along. Thank you to the many fans of this film out there.
- The Quest Trilogy (Forty Nights, Chasing the Star, The Christ Slayer) – A special message is spread across these three stories. Actually several lessons are presented and the way the story is told – everybody can take something positive away. The film series just ran through the holidays at Sony/Pureflix and again I so appreciate all the fan mail letting me know how much you enjoyed our stories. It is humbling and powerful what can be done with a story.
- SMOKE & MIRRORS – This early 1900 short tale is getting the final touches. Maybe we’ll cut some teaser in the coming weeks. It’s spooky. It’s kookie. Wait a minute! It’s a really fun little film that was derived from one of my feature script. This will make a great feature film. All in good time.
- SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA – We’re making great strides on all fronts. Last week we announced Garry Nation and David Reardon coming on board. Our German casting is almost complete. Discussions with the art departments has started in earnest as we prepare to create the world of 1944 Algona. This week we should start in on our sponsorship endeavors. We have a lot of excitement in these circles and we’re excited to align with these brands. To do what we do at these modest levels requires the assistance of the community and our sponsors. Thank you to all of those supporters past and present. And here is an additional cheers to our future ones! This week we should roll out two more of the great talent associated with this film. I’m beyond excited to tell this story. If your company or business wants to support this based on true events WW2 home front drama please reach out.
- TRIBE CDI – The biz of the biz, I had a VERY productive week working with Bank of America to streamline our fleet of films. All this is to help streamline our inner workings. This all can make a days work only a few hours. Also had a good meeting with another one of the team (Tiger) who oversees dispersement amongst a other things. We will be prepping some of those to go out in the coming weeks. Thank you. As you all support the films, we get to keep making the films. I’m excited to see in the next decade what stories are brought to life on screen! Thank you also to Dean Teaster (COO) and Gary Davison and his team. David Gries & Carl Weyant who maintain the website. #Tribecdi is not a catching hashtag it really does represent a tribe of artists and the business that supports it.
I just enjoyed a wonderful breakfast bagel with our own eggs and 4H bacon – so good. The yard is really looking good and the warmth is creeping into Michigan. I look forward to having many enjoyable meetings both business and social in the coming weeks. I’m going to end this here with some great new poster art for Lost Heart’s new general release. Be good to one another. Be safe and keep following your dreams.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
PS: The new trailer is almost done and I really do love it. I could not stop smiling.
Welcome to May! TRIBE CDI Springing Into Action!
Hazelnut cheers to you all out there. Greetings to our new readers from Germany, China, Thailand, Ireland and more! In Michigan we’ve had another warm up before a small cool off coming this week. It was an exciting week full of new developments. On the home front it was a week of yard work and today will be the first mow of the season. The chickens have been laying eggs and that is exciting. They love their greens especially dandelion greens which are extremely nutritious. I tried some last year and while a bit bitter they could make a good meal. I have not seen any morels yet just inktip mushrooms. I’ve been harvesting catnip and soon rhubarb for wine-making. We are blueberries but they will not fruit this year. But the apple trees look full and the black raspberry and mulberry look like they will be abundant. This week we assembled two large stand up planters that we’ll use for veggies since the old garden became ‘Chicken Land’. I also worked on the steps coming across the wood bridge and the steps leading into the office. I hope we might be able to have a few CDI and family gatherings this year.
Having my two Covid vaccinations out of the way and no I did not have any side effects save maybe a touch more tired for a day. This allowed me to attend one of my first out-of-town business meetings which would have included a boat ride but the weather would not permit. But it’s exciting that the ice is breaking and projects are starting to move ahead in strength. I feel deeply for places like India having a major crisis and I’m happy to see the world stepping up to help where they can. Michigan too has had their issues but my hope is that things will slowly move towards a more normal.
SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA announced two more cast members in Charles Edwin Powell and The Ponceman. This week we’ll announce two more actors. Both have been leads for us bringing their unique presence to the film. My hint is that both actors were in MBF. (Man’s Best Friend) We’re adding to our crew weekly and one area that we’re looking to add depth to is our AD department. I had talks with a few last week and I want to keep exploring so when we get to projects like a TV series we can have the crew we need. If you are an AD please do reach out. AD is assistant director and work as the foremen of the set working to keep the schedule. We are also launching our sponsorship and product placement this month for those wanting to align their product and services with this WW2 holiday story.
BEST YEARS GONE is progressing as planned. The dialog edit is complete and next is sound design and music. We will also be going through the final Battle of the Band submissions and looking for our winner. The plan is to shoot a music video and play it at the premiere. We have a great plan for a premiere and will be looking to do that in July or August. The trailer for BYG is underway by the talent Nathaniel Nose who edited the feature. It should be done by end of the month! Merchandise beyond the auto stickers and such will be coming soon! Watch the merchandise site on http://www.cdiproductions.com for new items! Our distributor will start working on poster art soon which is also an exciting time.
FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH – is in editing and the teaser should release soon. I’m excited to see all this come together and it might be the first in a series of documentary films.
SMOKE & MIRRORS is also finishing its post process. It had no real deadlines so it has moved slower than if we had investors to make happy. This gothic, steampunk short will be finished this year and the feature script is being worked on by yours truly.
BESTSELLER – This Christopher Knight book turned into a thriller will be released with BMG under its new general market label. This mystery-thriller stars Melissa Anschutz, myself, Ralph Lister, Lana Wood, Terence Knox and Taylor Nichols. I’m looking forward to this film getting a wide release into the marketplace.
LOST HEART is a pleasant surprise for many who think the story is another run of the mill Hallmark film with country music and redemption themes. It has Bigfoot, ufo’s and even the Devil’s Crossroads which appeals to its own market. So the General Market release will have different art and title but will be the same wonderful tale. The film is up for multiple nominations at the ICFF this month in Florida with our own Melissa Anschutz, Victoria Jackson and Don Most scheduled to attend. I will be riding post here in Michigan but I might get away to a fest later in the year. Nashville maybe? We will see.
I want to thank all the fans who have been watching the #tribeCDI films and reaching out with kind words for Man’s Best Friend, Wild Faith, Lost Heart and The Quest Trilogy (Forty Nights, Chasing the Star, The Christ Slayer) among the many. Go to the page associated with Amazon and IMDB and leave a message. It helps to expand the viewership and offset the trolls who like to hunt films. Anyway, thank you so much for your support. You all are why we make the stories. To hear how well they’re being accepted and also affecting your attitudes so positively is a wonderful thing for the artists to hear. Most of the films can be seen free with ads on Amazon, Tubi, Pluto TV and Youtube (Encourage TV) so take a watch.
I’ve had some new business people reach out about more film ventures and we’ll see where that leads. I’ve been flowing with things and just working it step by step and things are happening. I’ve been having some great talks and texts with some industry friends – discussing their plans. I am continuing to seek a path literary-wise and slowly pulling my actor materials together. I’m not against outside projects at all even though I have turned several down. It just has to be worth taking my eye off the assortment of projects at CDI. Just like the re-assigning of BESTSELLER to BMG it is an effort to keep looking for opportunities for past stories while finishing the present ones and planning the future endeavors. But I truly love the people I get to work with.
Soccer season starts this week and I haven’t been doing the kind of running soccer requires. My cardio has been heavy bag work at best and so we’ll see how the gas tank is this week. I imagine a good amount of post-game soreness but for some reason that always feels so good to me. I’m going to let you all go so I can get the lawn mowed and might have to fire up the grill. Stay focused on your plans and don’t let small set backs derail you. Those failures are steps towards success if you keep at it. Experience can only be earned so don’t be afraid to do once you’ve evaluated the situation. I look forward to talking to all of you next week. Be good to one another.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
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Winter Gives Way to Spring – NEW Updates!
Coffee cheers and welcome to all our new readers and followers from Peru, Ireland, Austria and more! The week actually flow by and we went from unusually warm to cold and rainy and now sunshine is called for later in the week. As of Monday it will mark my week 2 after my second Covid shot. We just visited with a neighbor last night who had a memorial for their 52 year old nephew lost to Covid complications. So for many it is still a very real thing. I’m actually looking forward to getting back at in-person meetings, biz mixers and such. I’m very happy with all the weekly progress on our CDI projects.
(DJ Perry & Erika Hoveland in ‘Best Years Gone’)
BEST YEARS GONE (In Post) has many things happening at once. The film is undergoing color correction, dialog edit with music and sound design up next. I bet we listen to all the cleaned up dialog soon. The Battle of the Bands is giving us a good listen at some of the artists. Merchandise for this film is going to increase which is exciting. But the premiere planning is really cool. We are looking at having “The 1st Annual Gilles Cup” a regional “Best Up&Comer” amongst the “spectator drag” racing participants. This will be followed by the winning music video and the film itself playing on a huge blow up screen inside the in-field of the track.
For the Love of Catch (In Post) This amazing documentary has been filming for a month plus now and will be moving into the post-production phase. We will start to assemble these legends who speak about their exploration into the art of grappling and ultimately the love they have for the sport.
SMOKE & MIRRORS (In Post) – This passion project is a short film adapted from a feature script of mine of the same name. We had a commercial opportunity that needed “demo footage” and so we filmed a condensed short story. I’ve been reworking the feature script for a future production with Nathaniel Nose directing. I’m thinking of playing the short in front of BEST YEARS GONE to start its run. We also want to do a benefit screening for the Turner-Dodge House where we filmed. It is a spooky, fun short with amazing performances from David Gries and Melissa Anschutz.
DISTRIBUTION TITLES
MAN’S BEST FRIEND enjoyed a new General Market push which started out with a bang as a Latin American license was immediately made. The film is really starting to get out there and I’m so appreciative of all the reaching out by those that love this film. I keep hearing people ask about a sequel and I’m just not quite sure. I like how the film ends. It is not all tied up in a bow. An action/martial arts film? Maybe. I do have a pretty good idea for one. Thank you for all the compliments and it was nice to showcase some of my skills.
LOST HEART continues its march and the general market release will take it even further. Thank you to ICVM for the nominations. I’m proud to have two films in the top 5. This film is up for many nominations this May and I know that Melissa Anschutz and Victoria Jackson will attend. Don Most might attend as well as one of our nominated actors. They will have a great time!
THE QUEST TRILOGY prime season window of Thanksgiving to Easter is now over. We’ll see how we did and we’ll be sending revenue to our supporters.
WILD FAITH/HASTINGS – The movie continues to grow in popularity and the TV series is developing. I had good talks with our distributor and we have a few new opportunities to help launch this into a 2022 series shoot.
With our co-productions – BESTSELLER might get a new release in full in 2022 as well as several of the CDI General Market titles. AMERICAN LIAR and THE ACTOR are both available to watch on Amazon Prime.
DEVELOPMENT
Silent Night in Algona we announced the new cast of Shane Hagedorn and Christine Marie. Both are amazing actors who have brought some great characters to the screen. They will do this once again. Our next two announcements will be a great semi-regular talent working with the tribeCDI and one from our “Ghost Town” past. This matching will be incredible and I can already see the magic scenes they will create. MAY will be when we start to officially approach sponsors. If you have interest in aligning your service or product with our WW2 film please do reach out.
WRAP UP
The ‘Chicken Land’ is fully operational and the girls love the greens. They have also started giving eggs so that is a great addition to the mornings. I am going to wrap this up and go do some sunny side up with rye toast and 4H bacon. I also purchased a pair of long elevated grow beds so that we can still do some of the garden favorites. Rhubarb and catnip are ready to harvest and I’m about to put the first lawn mow down. Also May 6th starts up soccer season! I’m excited to get back out there. I do strength and stretching daily along with my martial arts practice but running…not a fan unless I’m doing something. So the first few games might be rough not to mention just your ankles and knees getting their first stop/start work outs. Blueberry bushes will arrive soon. The apple trees look like they are going to be full this year. I will also start working to fill the wood boxes again for next winter.
I’m also going to get back to my script writing since I don’t currently have an assignment. I’ve been bouncing between my SciFi script and the feature Smoke & Mirrors rework. I’ve enjoyed the pondering, research and scribbles as I pull these stories together. Carry on with your own endeavors and watch as those daily small steps all add up and take you closer to your goals and dreams.
Happy Sunday!
DJ
Happy Easter 2021
I’m sipping the coffee early and trying to do my blog here before I have to start getting the patio around for our little Easter meal. We are just having the mom’s over but it should be a nice day to enjoy family. Again welcome all the readers from around the world. I think I’ll do a simple TOP 10 list today to make things easier. I know Easter is many things to many people and I think that a person’s journey is their own personal one. It is a time of rebirth, renewal and new beginnings. A chance to awake with the perspective you wish to carry with you day to day. So enjoy a watch on some of the classic Chuck Heston biblical films and maybe sneak in a viewing of ‘The Quest Trilogy’ with your family.
TOP 10 Updates from the past week-
- Our awards season is starting and here is a smattering of the nominations https://www.prlog.org/12864311-hidden-gem-lost-heart-gathers-multiple-nominations.html – congrats to all our nominated folks and our entire creative tribe.
- The new general market campaign for “MBF: Man’s Best Friend” has begun with new artwork and as of this morning on the distributors ENCOURAGE TV the film just broke 1 million views!
- LOST HEART is getting a general market release in the coming months and that film keeps on growing in audience size. Another great family watch!
- Casting on “Silent Night in Algona” continues and this week we plan to announce two more actors from our lead family. We’ll meet ‘Grandpa Joe’ and young ‘Donny Tietz’ this week. Stay tuned in! Thank you for all the great reels and reads.
- Distribution is fully signed on BEST YEARS GONE which has now moved to the new audio studio to start having music and sound design work done by our own Dennis Therrian.
- The BEST YEARS GONE – Battle of the Bands (On the FB page) is getting lots of good submissions – keep them coming all month!
- ‘For the Love of Catch’ documentary is about to film its last segment this month and will start editing. We’ve had some great interviews and this will give a fascinating look at the history of grappling.
- I’ve been having fun doing work on an audio book that I’ll share once it is completed.
- Wild Faith keeps moving ahead in strength and plans for the TV series get stronger as we along.
- I hope each of you makes the time to take a watch on The Quest Trilogy (Forty Nights, Chasing the Star, The Christ Slayer) – enjoy!
In a place and time where so many feel a need to check a box to belong – know you don’t have to check any boxes. It is okay to be unsure, to be a seeker and/or to fail and start again fresh with new experience. Again absolutes often reveal the fool and admitting being a fool can open oneself up to great new perspective and wisdom.
With many things to do on this fine day I will keep this short. In summary, at CDI we have several more projects in development like “Hastings”, post production like “Smoke & Mirrors” and much more. Individually and collectively we’ve faced challenges grown. So enjoy this beautiful day of renewal and plan your adventures ahead. Happy Easter to each and every one of you and have a good week ahead!
DJ
National Nominations, New Updates and ‘trying to be a Calm in the Storm’
(Chilling at the new post studio – in the pines)
I’m sipping the coffee on this beautiful Sunday. The last couple days have been partially used to start the yard clean up. Some more wood logs got chopped up ready for the next cold day. The garden is going to become the new ‘chicken land’ along with some raised bed veggies and new blueberry plants to join the others we have. Every year different new yard endeavors are put into play. The zip line has not yet been installed.
In the office I started moving pictures and paintings around after I acquired a new painting of an ancient soldier. Once I started moving things around it became an afternoon of trying to get it just right. The nice part is all this can happen while taking business calls. I had one day where I was on the phone 10:30 to 2:30 straight – but lots of good business was done. This is also festival and awards season for us. We’re very selective about our festival selections. You can spend a lot of time and money pushing out to all these tests. Let’s start with the fest updates-
International Christian Film & Music Festival – Lost Heart is up for overall BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR (Jesse Low), BEST SCREENPLAY (DJ Perry), BEST LEAD ACTRESS (Melissa Anschutz), BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Don Most), BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Victoria Jackson) and the PEOPLE’s CHOICE nomination for ACTRESS OF THE YEAR (Melissa Anschutz) and ACTOR OF THE YEAR (DJ Perry)
I’m so happy for the film and the growing response to the film’s story as it makes it way out into the world. A big kudos to Melissa Anschutz who took lead on this film with a career defining performance.
ICVM Crown Awards this year happening at NRB in Dallas Texas in June both “MBF: Man’s Best Friend” and “Lost Heart” have been nominated as one of the 5 finalist in BEST FILM UNDER 250k plus they might result in some personal nominations in the 18 categories.
Again we’re appreciative of the recognition. Many of these festival submissions are done by our distributor but we sometimes do a few select submissions. All the monthly and small online festivals are just revenue gathering models. I’m not against these just not something we chase. If more people become aware and watch the film I guess that is the goal.
FILM UPDATES
BEST YEARS GONE the last set of notes is being sent over this week and those will be implemented and the film will travel to our post studio. The last inserts of footage and such will happen there before music and sound begins. I’m going to try and make the studio hang once a week to review and enjoy this process. The BATTLE OF THE BANDS has been getting some great submissions on the FB page contest. We are announcing another celebrity judge in Mr. Joe Pullin who has worked on all levels of the music industry. His full bio will be posted this week! Merchandise is starting to creep out with a cool auto sticker set and soon iron on Tee shirt logos! Go to http://www.cdiproductions.com and go to the merchandise section. We plan to also start an artist showcase and sell other artists goods for a commission. That is in thew works also!
(Mr. Joe Pullin – our next celebrity JUDGE)
THE QUEST TRILOGY – Tis the Easter season and so we’ll ask that you put your sandals on and travel with us to the desert. Forty Nights, Chasing the Star and The Christ Slayer can all be watched on various platforms Amazon Prime, Encourage TV, Tubi, Pureflix just to name a few.
WILD FAITH/HASTINGS is doing great and now that funding on another project is complete we can pour more effort in the direction of the TV series. We have planned to put the series in the Spring 2022 slot as we’re still getting past Covid and I’m needing more time to put this TV deal together. With eight 44 min shows this is a larger endeavor but one that I think will be coming soon. I have several follow up communications.
IN OTHER NEWS:
A CDI co-production “Locked in a Room” has gotten a new re-issue as AMERICAN LIAR now available on Amazon Prime. It is an R rated thriller with greed being at the heart of it. Shot in Detroit by writer/direction Larry Simmons – congrats to all the artists involved! Take a watch but watch out for “Mr. Creepy” 🙂
Discussions are underway for BESTSELLER to finally get out to a wider market. Knight Chills has multiple opportunities for a new release. WICKED SPRING is being worked on to release in HD.
WRAP UP: Many people are trying to navigate the storms of isolation, financial insecurity, stress, parenting and more. My goal is to work hard to create something stable. People feel “behind” as if a year has been stolen from them and in many ways it was. Now I’ve focused and worked very hard to keep my balance and in turn provide balance to the other artists struggling. I stated this week that I push forward with my “best efforts” daily, always. I try and not put any expectations beyond as it just adds stress because it is out of my control. Everyone is feeling the urge to RUN after the world Covid lockdown and that is creating a ME and NOW vibe rippling through society. Again I feel we make the greatest gains working together but everyone needs to pay attention to their own fire from time to time. You are no good to a circle of people if your own personal fire isn’t burning bright. I’ve tried to change as little as possible save what we had to for safety to give people an experience. In 2020 BEST YEARS GONE was that. This year is getting better Covid-wise but it still shadows over endeavors and people’s moods. But we will again do what we do and that is all we can do. Please be kind to yourself. Don’t hold your progress up to the same non-Covid standards. Don’t lean into what you do not do but what you were able to do. And be good to one another. This has been hard on everyone with some having it better and some worse. Help someone out this week in some way, shape or form and you will feel the joy of it. I’m going to carry on and we have lots of exciting announcements coming in the weeks ahead. Starting with more cast and crew will be announced for SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA. Also business sponsorships will start this April and that is no joke!
Have a great week ahead.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
Early Scoop on Spring CDI Endeavors – 2021
(Last week my CoStar Erika Hoveland had a bday! Such a joy to work with her. I look forward to working with more Michigan talent)
Spring is in the air as the milder winds have found their way to Michigan. But the warm hazelnut coffee still hits the spot. We had a lot of readers stop by from all over the world last week. Mexico, Canada, UK, France…actually about a dozen countries were represented. Last week we talked about actors helping actors but the real take away is to be ready. Is there still things you can do? Better pis, updated resume, cover letter, fix broken links, updated reels and the list goes on. Many people like to look at what is outside their control versus what is inside their control.
Part of my week was getting end of year tax stuff organized so all that can be paid. Many people do their own taxes but I’ve always used a tax expert. With all the 1099’s, K1’s and more it is best to have that expert hand in matters. But that is all almost done and it will be onto the new business of 2021. We are always working to improve the flow and so that process continues. We’ve been updating the http://www.cdiproductions.com website. You can now go to Encourage TV streaming and merchandise is appearing weekly with Graham Turner overseeing that aspect. I know that a new BEST YEARS GONE auto sticker collection is now for sale. What will be next? Check it out.
(COMING SOON!)
BEST YEARS GONE – the next cut of the film is being worked by our director and editor. I know that we’ve started looking at some VFX and stock footage required. The Battle of the Bands endeavor is almost ready to reveal. It will be a worldwide look at original music but artists willing to showcase their music in the film. In return they will also get a music video shot using footage from the movie. I’m excited for an official trailer after the great response from the BTS footage. We might get a few new pics to roll out to audiences also. So many great things happening with this movie. Click below to read the story again about shooting and to see the behind the scenes video.
LOST HEART – the film is closing on 230k views on Encourage TV and I’m told is going strong at TUBI and other platforms. More interviews keep rolling out and I see some festival play ahead for the film. BIGFOOT, UFO’s and JESUS would be a great tagline. I would love to see some art work that plays to these other fun and exciting aspects of this film. If you have not seen this film treat yourself. I would love to hear your thoughts via IMDB.com or our Amazon.com page.
MBF: MAN’S BEST FRIEND – Another fine story that centers on wounded warriors and service dogs. On Encourage TV we are closing in on our 1st million views. Same as above, if you haven’t seen this film do yourself a favor and do so.
WILD FAITH/HASTINGS – Our pilot feature topped 4 million views on Encourage TV and has been pulling the views from platforms all over. The TV series is being looked at by a few networks and we are working to move this forward. We have 8 shows in the first season and I’m excited to see us re-visit Michigan in the 1870’s! What am I going to say? If you haven’t seen Wild Faith, please do, and see what you’ve been missing. A teaser poster for ‘Hastings’ is on my list.
THE QUEST TRILOGY is playing in full force with Easter right around the corner. So make the trilogy part of your tradition. Forty Nights, Chasing the Star and The Christ Slayer – enjoy! If you want an intelligent, insightful look into these stories without it being cliche’ please do take a watch. Pureflix is doing a push with them but I’m sure they can be seen on many platforms.
We do have some development underway with our distributor that could mean some exciting things for a few of the titles. Some of this is SD films converting to HD and some being conformed to letterbox for modern viewing. We might have a few special Blu Ray deals coming together. Our Catch-Can documentary is filming as I type. Our director Curran Jacobs just captured the Mid Weight World Champion title last night also, congrats! I see a teaser being cut for this doc and I can have some distribution talks after that happens. Curran is also one of our newly announced leads on “Silent Night in Algona” shooting later this year.
An old 16mm film we shot back in the day THE FLOCK got a new poster for IMDB thanks to the director John Regan.
This week we’ll be moving forward on many of these endeavors. We’ll be announcing our moving forward with “Silent Night in Algona” with the announcement of a few more cast members. Location breakdowns will allow us to begin grouping scenes before turning to Nate Robertson to schedule. The Battle of the Band contest will roll out around March 1st as will close upon our locked picture. Aside from that I’m preparing for Spring clean up around the yard once this snow fully retreats. I think this year we will be leaning even more into the chicken endeavor. We’ll still grow some veggies but the fenced in garden area will have double purpose. I’m also looking at an outside gazebo so some back yard breezy-time can happen. Fencing, deck update and more are on my list. Let’s see how that all goes. I’m going to get at a few things including watching MSU play this afternoon. I hope you all have a productive week ahead!
Be good to one another.
DJ
Power of ‘Purpose’ PLUS the TOP TEN CDI Updates
Hazelnut cheers! A beautiful snowy morning here in Michigan. I want to welcome all the new readers from Germany, Sweden, Germany and China. I appreciate you stopping by to take a read and apply what you can – where you can in your own personal journey. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the unity topic we’ve had for a few weeks. My fireside meditations led me to the analogy of a spending train. We’ve got so much developing here at CDI we’re thundering down the track. The occasional hater throwing rocks out of boredom or a need for attention. If a few people threw rocks at a speeding train what would happen? They would bounce off the steel hull and be gone down the tracks. The train had places to go, people to see and things to do. They would never stop the train to debate or waste time – they would stoke the fire and full speed ahead.
In this time of Covid it’s a great time to stoke the fires of passion within. Build up your reserves of energy and get yourself in your best shape. Do all those things that often get neglected because you have others things to do. How many hours saved by not spending two hours in a car commuting back and forth to work places. More time to read. More time to update. More time to plan. From March 2020 I have been putting this into practice. While I could list so many things missed in 2020 I could also make a list of the things I got done using the extra time. Again as I write on such topics of motivation and such I say again that I am not better than anyone. You have the ability to make changes in your situation and it starts with a thought. Thought powered by the imagination, focused by the will, held strong by faith in yourself and your life purpose.
This week was very productive against a backdrop of ice and snow. Let’s see if we can do a TOP 10 updates from the week. Refill your coffee and let’s take a look.
- Additional “end of year” tax materials supplied for the fun part of filmmaking. We’re streamlining this process all the time to try and better the overall process.
- Our WW2 Christmas drama Silent Night In Algona is now formed as a corporation. We’ll open the account soon and start bringing on the funds. We still have a few units to assign but within 60 days of entering into pre-production. Casting has been full speed ahead with a national casting for our young lead. We’ve also been doing a lot of casting within the tribe of talent we’ve used before. The audition reads have been great to see the words ALIVE! I’m excited that we’ve almost got our lead family cast. We’ll announce that in a few weeks likely dripping them out or in pairs. This project will be a great story of love and unity set in small-town USA in 1944.
- I had a wonderful call from Darby Hinton, an actor best known for playing the young lead on the Daniel Boone TV show but has reoccurred or guest starred on many of the great shows of Hollywood. He was our ‘Gerald’ the shopkeep in WILD FAITH. He was one of the folks I offered a read on season 1 of ‘Hastings‘ the Wild Faith TV series. He called to tell me he wasn’t blowing smoke – he has read and been part of shows with great writing and THIS (tv series) is great writing. He said he reads at night (like myself) and to his wife’s regret he had to keep reading. He asked if I had writers meetings, other writers…to which my response was just me and the voices in my head:) I would ponder and spill notes out onto paper. From those legal pad notes I just dive in and start writing. I’m going to get the 8 shows edited up and ready for outside presentation. If you haven’t seen the pilot feature do yourself a favor. A fun film with a powerful message.
- Best Years Gone – So this week we prepped the new audio studio and I’m beyond thrilled that it is amongst the pines and forested fields that we’ll breath the audio and music into these stories. We will be rolling some new still photos out this week. I just might have a Valentine’s Day gift for our cast, crew and fans and I think we’ll give it to you on Sat. the 13th on the BYG Facebook page. Are you already part of that? If not come on over. We have some exciting things still in store including merchandise that is coming and the BOTB. (Battle of the Bands) I’m working to get that launched. We are also soon to have the next draft of the film edit now that Shane (our director) has given his new round of notes and adjustments. This film is heartfelt and will be funny for sure.
- The CDI website http://www.cdiproductions.com is undergoing updates. First you can now subscribe to the tribe which will become a center of updates. I even thought of my blog existing as a weekly send out. But the film pages are updated. Streaming is now connected to our distributor’s ENCOURAGE TV. Merchandise is slowly coming together with a few new items. This will explode by year’s end. We will also be doing artist spot lights and have some of their work on consignment. If you have any ideas feel free to drop a comment. From those subscribed we might start looking at pre-orders and that could allow some larger piece orders. Lunch box? Bobble heads? Posters?
- LOST HEART & MBF are the most recent releases. Both are growing their audience nicely and I so appreciate all the fan mail from folks. We’re not big festival folk at CDI but like to select a few. In my experience and opinion the festivals best serve if someone from your team can attend. But with everything going virtual you are essentially paying to have them do a free streaming of your work. But new circles of exposure and if people are truly impressed you can have lifelong fans. I’m a person who in the last handful of years I’ve not attended industry mixers and such. But with the absence of even my few – I’m looking forward to talking film and the arts not by phone or zoom. Again get up to speed with the CDI stories with a watch on these two films. Do you have a favorite CDI film? Comment and let me know.
- THE QUEST TRILOGY – The CDI Tribe earned their desert stripes with this trilogy of biblical adventure stories. I’m excited that PUREFLIX (Sony) is going to do a big push as a series to their viewers. Now with ad based Video on demand everyone can take a watch and experience the CDI films. These films have the trademark style and quality that you’ve come to expect from our storytellers at CDI. The bible is full of stories many untouched because of the R or X rated material suggested within. We haven’t tackle those stories but did find “unexplored territory” to address with our speculative storytelling. I think this is more interesting versus retelling the same handful of stories. I do have my next trilogy of stories to tell back in the sands but that is a way down the path.
- This year we will have SMOKE & MIRRORS finishing. This has no deadline so it got moved down the release line. But this decision allowed us to make some more aggressive choices on VFX work. I LOVE this short and I’m excited to see it develop into a full feature. I am retooling the feature based on the short film. Knowing locations really helps in planning the story. David Gries and Melissa Anschutz are MUST SEE in this film. But those that know their work will not be surprised in the least.
- ‘FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH‘ – the CDI associated with Red, White & Blue Project doc will start shooting again this month. I think we’ll have some sort of promo video for this documentary in the coming weeks.
- We also have something special coming from one of our crew/associate producer Nate Robertson. Nate was our foreman on the last film that set sail through the storm of Covid. Nate took a job that already had pressure and had it magnified by Covid procedural pressures. As a show of how our system at CDI is strengthening. The producers create a bubble of harmony for the set to exist within. Inside the set, the flow is controlled by the AD. The flow was there, time was managed and Nate was able to express some of his artistic self via a BTS video of sorts. I know we’re excited to see it. I think we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg.
If I forgot anything it will have to wait until next chat. I’m going to make some good food and watch the football contest and the commercial creativity. I have a few emails/calls I might make to get a jump on my week. That is another good secret – work with people you truly enjoy. I never roll my eyes or stress over phone calls. They are always good touching of bases between fellow adventurers in life. We discuss our separate ventures, our shared ventures, and those yet to be made. I don’t have a close relationship with everyone as time won’t permit. But those who do know me truly, I think would speak well of my intent. My intent is to see dreamers win. I want you to break poor patterns and do better by yourself. If the artistic path is a true calling that calling grants faith in yourself and a purpose. The latter is priceless and exactly what is missing from many people. People who check many ‘success boxes’ yet still are unhappy. To me it’s like the moment when Obi-Wan puts the helmet on Luke to further test him against the remote droid. Reach out. In those moments of sensory deprivation if the calling is heard – have faith. If you don’t know ‘Star Wars’ you are now assuming I have had a stroke.
If storytelling is a great road winding up a mountain – many people are at various places some higher and some lower. What I’ve always prided myself on is being in good company at wherever place I’m at on the road. Climbing higher only changes the view but it’s still about the laughter and fellowship that accompanies the climb. And when my time comes to leave this world where I’m at is where I’m at. Always a work in progress. So the secret is enjoying the early struggles of beginning filmmakers or the challenges of the mid-road struggles – have friends on the journey of storytelling. Have friends outside the journey of storytelling. Have these things and your journey while unsure at times will not eat at you with stress. Living by ‘Best Efforts’ will allow one to laugh off the failures (with friend), toast the wisdom learned (with friends) and forever be the better person. Getting along with a little help from my friends.
Be good to one another.
DJ
Seven Updates and Some Past Week Pondering
(Last day on ‘Lost Heart,’ I was wrapped and spent the night working with craft service)
Ahhhhhhhh….chilly Michigan morning coffee sip. I’m enjoying the hazelnut coffee as I prepare to make some sort of attempt to describe this past week. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Last week I wrote on UNITY and that was a big hit. I’m a storyteller who loves to enrich audience’s life by entertainment and sometimes enlightenment. I have found that the story is one of the most effective ways to communicate. When people have conversation following a good piece of art it invokes meaningful dialog. People from all walks of life can come together and discuss the final show of The Mandalorian and debate themes, topics and differences. But they’re all united in their common love of Star Wars. In politics they should all be united in their love of our American system.
My belief is that both parties for decades now have drifted further from highlighting, promoting and pushing their party platforms and closer to no-holds barred character assassination. This includes trying to control how things are framed, presented and digested by the public. The reporters of days gone became known because they did not try nor want to be the stars, the story. But some due to their humble-approach, did become stars. Now we live in a time when people want to be “influencers” – what? We influence daily with our actions, words and deeds. I’ve seen the thirst for fame in these people and so the stories drift towards their opinions hammering the narrative to meet their goals. And where is the faith in the respected platforms? Faith that the masses will see the good in the endeavors and chose to back this person, party, platform. But some don’t have confidence in their platform and so they try to pitch, readjust, reframe a platform attempting to catch as much support as possible.
Example: Why is John Deere tractor better than Brand B
Just highlight the positives of what you are selling. No need to hammer brand B’s product customers will see this difference if it truly exists in terms of quality and performance.
Why should politics operate any differently? If you create the better product, better price point, better performance – you will never need to engage in cutting someone else’s rope short.
When I set out to make a movie, I don’t waste energy trashing anyone’s film – I just work towards making a successful story of quality. If I was running for an office I would not waste time tearing down an political opponent, I would just draw people to my platform.
Brand B tractor is a fine tractor but we at John Deere feel that we offer the better product and here is our list of why… but the cheap shots I’ve seen from both parties firing back and forth over the years, shows weakness in their stance. This weakening is what allowed a businessman with no real political experience to land in office. Running a corporation is very different because the power aligns with accountability. Our government is a system of checks and balances. It requires respectful communication and cooperation between the parties. This lack of – created a vacuum for someone from the outside to step in. Things happen much different in the two worlds and we saw many attempts at actions over four years that were deemed not legal in their process. Courts knocked it down and PR blame games took over. I joked we needed a good UFO attack to unify the world. We got a virus instead. This put the old HEALTH VS PROFIT question front and center. They need to flow together as one and not be positioned in confrontation. Healthy, long-living people can spend longer creating more on-going profit. But the medical system in the west has been reactionary vs preventative for a good long time. It is slowly changing and the unified collaboration of data and research is what allowed a quick ramp up on a vaccine. It was done quickly because PROFIT was set aside although the companies will profit. But best was the shared data to help deal with a health crisis facing us all. Can the world please tackle cancer next and be done with that horrible disease? If the cancer numbers had been highlighted and the spirit of collaboration embraced maybe it too would be a thing of the past.
Let’s focus on collaboration. What I see with social media and wall-debates is everyone feels a need to win vs lose and to gloat on that win. Lobbying to try and gather unanimous support vs same side of the table negotiations, talks, understandings.. Harsh ridicule used to drown out or squash any outside opinions but with no discussions. Unwilling to listen is the greatest form of disrespect. This also sounds like many organizations in their unwillingness. In science they have a process to drive towards truth but many outsiders have also been silenced by academic arrogance. Religion? Too many times to count. When I speak on religion I don’t cast any stones at divinity but at man-made institutions. Man-Made – If women want to jump on that bandwagon of also corrupting their institutions, please have at it. BALANCE should be the goal. We all have shared needs and concerns and we have different needs and concerns. I always think that the concerns of a person living on the Southern boarder of Mexico in Yuma, AZ will be very different from someone in Michigan. To find those common things that provide a mutual foundation and to take turns addressing concerns. I have seen HATE, not just dislike but HATE from people. Every time I see hate even pointing out something meaningful, I feel sorrow because that person is sick. Hate is a sickness. It starts with self-hate and preys on all the fears within us. If you hatefully denounce hate, you are still poisoning yourself. I see sickness all around which is why the positive fan mail from our stories have been rays of light. Our stories combat hate with love and leave some temporarily healthy, free of poison. This is only until the next projection of hate from that person and it builds. Unless habits are changed…HOPE.
For the record, I think protests often breed poison if the leadership is weak. They start with words crying of unjust but often turn to poison in one’s own mouth. Watching a group of extremists who wanted to win their position at all costs, clearly demonstrated their uncaring position about balance. I’m still greatly saddened to see the way sacred halls were turned into a scene like ‘Cedar Fest’ after MSU lost a big game. These turned into mobs of people burning things and being unruly. Again, someone lost the big game. And by their actions we all lost, because our character was tarnished. But our character on the world stage was being tarnished by those we elected with their on-going actions. We all have much in common and if the elected people cannot find those bridges and take turns making each other’s priorities something to discuss and enhance, maybe the wrong people were elected. But people can change…
I saw the political bodies House and Congress united in fear and renewed purpose finish their work. Even the most ambitious-party minded politicians had to ask themself what was/is their real “purpose” in service. Now I was looking for that UFO invasion but what we got was an invasion on our process of democracy. I watched some of the most sincere words come from the mouths of people where I had only heard negativity and blame previously. I saw a unity that did not exist 24 hours earlier. Now this unity was not the intent I’m sure but it will likely be the result. It has caused all Americans to sit back and re-examine much like the Covid virus. I think that many never slow down enough to truly ponder and Covid did that. Now we can ponder the past week’s actions. I hope that I never witness such poisoned individuals rabid with hate but I know that is unlikely. It will only get better when we all get tired of the taste of poison hate and seek the sweetest of love and listening.
All this writing and I have not yet got into any film updates. I know that many don’t want any views from their entertainers and I’m often one of those people. As a screenwriter and artists I like to observe, seeking to experience the event from all sides. To question why things happen. I cannot say what tomorrow will bring. But I can control my thoughts, action and deeds and keep the poison from my mouth. I feel bad for the sick wrought with hate. Start a change with what you can control – YOU.
- BEST YEARS GONE – The 1st edit is done and it’s being polished so we can take a watch end of this coming week. The reports from editing has been very encouraging with the story, acting and execution of the story being hailed. This all done in a small break during the Covid lock downs.
- We are going to launch a ‘Best Years Gone’ Battle of the Bands to give one artist(s) a chance to have their song in the soundtrack plus be involved in a music video.
- Merchandise for CDI films has been in development and will be making a big jump in 2021. Stay tune to http://www.cdiproductions.com for updates – SUBSCRIBE TO THE TRIBE!
- As LOST HEART continues to expand in viewership here is an other PR article that I’m proud of because it really highlights the script. That is the issue with so many projects is they lack a powerful script that says something. http://m.digitaljournal.com/entertainment/entertainment/happy-days-star-don-most-opens-up-about-lost-heart-film/article/583626
- I love the time and process put into doing the final WRITER and DIRECTOR polish on the ‘SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA‘ script. Tony Hornus (MBF) and I spent 4-5 hours each day last week to go through every line of the script. To discuss each and every scene and motivation. We get to have advance discussions about what will be needed in production. We likely have one more day of work on it – maybe two.
- HASTINGS Tv show which is a spin off from WILD FAITH is being read show by show by some of the actors and proposed directors. Those reading the shows are expressing their joy in them. Shane Hagedorn star and one of the series directors said, “The shows are about being good to one another.” Sounds like something we could use. I’m in talks with several parties and I think this series is a matter of when not if.
- As we start the drive towards Easter season I hope people will take the time to watch THE QUEST TRILOGY. These are not preachy and propose an interesting perspective for seekers who might not align with the mainstream organized religious bodies. That is not to say that the various organizations haven’t enjoyed them as they all were nominated as ‘Most Inspirational’ winning twice but they were not created in a bubble. They relate very well to the world and I think the films have as many fans coming from a non-religious place. I’ve said it many times that you could be from a totally different faith from Christianity and still enjoy the films. Take a watch and see for yourself (Part 1 Forty Nights, Part 2 Chasing the Star, Part 3 The Christ Slayer)
Okay I could go on about a few more updates but it is noon and I have things to do. Several of the films can be seen free on Amazon Prime, Encourage TV: Youtube and more so enjoy a few of the stories and please do let me know what you think.
Be good to one another.
DJ
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 