Happy Early Easter! Embracing the Battles!
Good afternoon! My hazelnut coffee is at an end but it occurred to me looking at my tomorrow that it will be hard to get my writing in with family, friends and Easter. I want to welcome all our new readers including some from North Macedonia which I need to explore as I know little of this place North or South, East or West. I just read up on it and looking at pictures. What a beautiful place. Welcome! I have to say that I’ve been waking up daily with good energy and optimism as I attack my TO DO’s each week. I’ve been reminded how special each day is again with the loss of one of our supporters and investors which I’ll post more on next week. But these stories will and do live past us carrying the stories to new generations. CDI is now multigenerational with several folks retired from the business or all business. I do have close schoolmate friends soon to retire. I had lunch a week ago or so with one preparing for retirement by building his woodworking shop. I’m on the Rance Howard & Bill McKinney plan which is to work right up to when they throw dirt on me. I might slow down one day and become more selective but I love to create. Another close member of the early CDI films Bill Bishop is facing some health issues in his late years. He is the man responsible for many of the exciting explosions in our films working as pyrotechnics and often armorer. Wicked Spring, The Nest, Judges, From Venus and more in a time when digital explosions was rare. Strapping a small explosive squib on your body was commonplace. Some scenes were made easier requiring one to muster less acting because you were REACTING. Watch the final scene of THE NEST and those chain of explosions were real and I was really running for my life. Well, it felt that way. FX HOT! Man that got your blood really pumping when you heard those words and saw ole Uncle Bill with a dynamite plunger and knowing you had wires running up your pant leg to a small explosive. Watch Matthew Broderick in GLORY‘s end scene, he knows what I mean. Bill has COPD bad and if anyone who worked with Bill wants to send him a card and well wishes his address is on the CDI Facebook site.
(Acting pre-war in WICKED SPRING)
Sunday is Easter and that day always makes me think of THE QUEST TRILOGY, the 3 biblical films we shot in the Yuma desert. The first film in the trilogy FORTY NIGHTS will be 10 years since we filmed in 2025. Hard to believe. I’ve been collecting stories from our three directors and plan to release a book in 2025 full of beautiful pictures and stories. Maybe the scripts we will see. If you have not watched these films please do. They are not heavy handed but were inspired by the old biblical dramas done by Chuck Heston. I think people will appreciate the fresh perspective.
(Acting in THE QUEST TRILOGY)
I’ve been balancing my time between past, present and future. We are trying to streamline our business flow this year especially with the older “classic” CDI films. Many are being converted into HD files and many will be returning back into the market this year. Presently we have Harsens Island Revenge making of, trailer and main feature all in the works. And future-wise we’ve been in funding mode on a few different projects. I had a great meeting Friday on both a new CDI film and one project that will be in association with CDI. All very exciting as we look ahead and this next month will be really pushing hard to finish getting financial commits for our Summer/Fall CDI film HOT ROD LOVE. We took more steps towards our goal and we have to just stay focused. Some of the other projects are prepping for filming next year. And one for next winter which is almost ready to present to our funding source I’m just working up a cool poster to present with it. All very exciting and I’m reminded as I look back at how far we’ve come as a company.
I leave you with a few stills from our recent pick up shoot for Harsens Island Revenge. I want to wish you all a great welcome into the month of April. I sincerely hope that the year continues to lead you to your goals and you find happiness. Recently reminded of the Samurai wisdom pertaining to the battles we all face. Embrace them because battles are the challenges of life. Quiet and peaceful graveyards are full of those who no longer battle. We will all eventually lay there to so until that time of rest embrace the battles. Laugh at the missteps and smile at the experience and wisdom gained by taking the wrong path. I’m working on not reacting emotionally to certain situations which can be made hard when you care about the outcome so badly and want success for all. Again I live by BEST EFFORTS and that is all we can truly do. A life of strawberries is enough phase I heard this week that stuck with me. To enjoy each day, passing week and the endeavors we undertake.
(Young dreamer DJ in The Valley of Fire, outside Las Vegas)
I want to thank some of the fans who reached out this week. No I have not played a western villain but perhaps one day. Yes. I do love comedy and our next film will give audiences a good dose of that from myself and many others. Will I do another horror film? I would say that is very likely. Thank you to all of you out there who watch and enjoy the stories.
(The beauty of nature)
Until we all gather to sip a beverage and reflect, I hope your weekend is relaxing and enjoyable. I’ve been using the day to organize my workshop and basement to get ready for the springtime activities. From Christmas we have a few outdoor things to assemble in the coming weeks. I look forward to growing and gathering in the coming months. We grow some of our own teas and we’re going to once again be getting veggies from MSU’s agricultural program. I look forward to more grilling the few nice days we had were a good tease. I love when our CDI meetings can take place over darts or some other outdoor game. Soccer season and flea markets are right around the corner.
Be good to one another!
DJ
New ideas, thoughts, processes and appreciations were born in 2020.
I’m sipping the hazelnut coffee and want wish a Happy Holidays to all of you. Welcome new readers and subscribers from UK, Trinidad, Tobago, Philippines, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea and Africa, France and Ukraine. I left my cup to you all and give you my best wishes for a productive 2021. I’m wearing a nice new pair of warm pajamas and I feel blessed to have been gifted an assortment of love gifts. I also got some new technology that will assist with my 2021 business. I have a new JBL Charge speaker meant for speaker calls. I also have new apple I-bud things which I hope fare better than my past Bluetooths. A few new clothing items and an assortment for fun items. I enjoyed gifting and spreading some happiness to folks. I still have a handful of people to catch up with but I will all in good time. I love all the holiday wishes and I hope everyone had a safe Christmas. We went like Santa and did short drop off and visits. We did the zoom opening of gifts and while different and not the preferred celebration, we had fun. In person would have been better but until our elders in our family get the vaccine it was a smart call. We want them all around for the holidays 2021.
This is the time of year when I start to clean up and organize all my actor/filmmaker materials. It is also the time of year for LLC state file fees, end of year corp tax work and other non-sexy but required work. I for one am excited and pumped up for the new year. This is the time to create your goal lists for the incoming year and to see where you fell on your last years goals. I actually did quite well with my 2020 TO DO list and having all that extra time not meeting in person allowed me to get a LOT done. That said, I’m reading to be meeting at the ole fort again to plan new adventures. So use this time to wrap up 2020 and prepare for the year ahead. Write it down. Visualize it. Plan short goals on the way to greater goals. DON’T be afraid to fail because even failure will give you much needed experience.
SOME OF MY 2021 GOALS
- Do a 2021 select/fest run for LOST HEART and perhaps MBF who’s fest run got Covid squashed.
- BEST YEARS GONE is scheduled to be completed in June but we’re on schedule with about an hour edited. By the end of the year we hope to have a rough cut and locked cut by end of Jan. What I saw was amazing and I am beyond happy with what I’m seeing.
- This has to do with BEST YEARS GONE but I think we’re going to do a virtual Battle of the Bands that will end up seeing a song go on the soundtrack with a music video created by CDI. I have some interest from a few legit judges that will help in the process of deciding.
- CDI Merchandise Division will launch in earnest in 2021 pushing out with new BEST YEARS GONE swag. Try this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/DVD-DOUBLE-FEATURE-Figure-in-the-Forest-2002-Heavens-Neighbors-2005-movie-/363016656566
- I plan to get WILD FAITH‘s TV series HASTINGS launched. Ideal filming would be 1st half of 2021 but if our timing is off we’ll swing it around to Spring 2022.
- We also plan to film SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA back half of 2021. Casting for our German-speaking actors is underway. We will announce heavily once we assign the last few units. I’m working on the writer/director script with Tony Hornus (MBF).
- Smoke & Mirrors short will be finished and we’ll take it on festival circuit for fun. But I’ve started my new work on Code Name: ASH the feature film version from which the short was taken. I’ve loved all the research for the new feature script.
- We are preparing to do the final filming on FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH documentary film. I’ll be putting the paperwork together for our next phase.
- I’m excited that we’re streamlining and updating our dispersement process at CDI. That’s a good thing because we’re getting larger and I still write every check by hand. This might not always be the case and I might invest in a few stampers but I still love it. On BEST YEARS GONE, I again had the pleasure of giving an actor their first paycheck ever. It’s a big thing to actors, a milestone and I remember it well. To get paid for your art gives hope. Hope that a path could be what was meant for you. The “shells and beads” is just a way of expressing appreciation for ones work and contribution.
- Writing- During the lock down I wrote the first season of Hastings allowing us to start development work such as assign directors, casting and some scouting. A few of my goals with writing in 2021 is to finish CODE NAME: ASH and my first real Sci Fi endeavor SEAWITCH is what I’m calling it as a working title. I know that development work for 2022 will also be underway. Development works at several levels and can take a few years to many years pending fate and filmmaking.
I’m staying with my existing battle plan. BEST EFFORTS. I would love to participate in a few outside projects should I connect with the material and schedule works. Let’s talk about that POSTING CASTINGS. I see postings from people just asking for actors within an age but they say nothing about the character, the story or the creative team. And you get desperate actors excited sight-unseen to a project listing. Now to be fair in a few cases the previous work is known which can be a positive and a negative pending quality. I understand the keeping a story somewhat private but you have to give the talent something. I would rather work on development or earning from the existing library versus participating in bad work. To get the best actors you need to get the talent exciting. If you think you have the next best thing have talent sign NDA (Non Disclosure agreement) and let them read the script. I would not participate in too many projects if they withheld the script save maybe a major studio film and even then…come on. So one of my helpful hints to get better talent is take some time in the description of the story. List the director and DP and if you like a talent let them read the script. It’s a two way interview and while it might be a great step for a talent, the production NEEDS to find that great talent to succeed with any quality.
Okay. I’ve talked a bit about my goals for producing with CDI, also myself as a writer and actor going into 2021. I hope we have a soccer season this year. I am stepping up and expanding some of the martial arts training preparing for X project or if I just need to unleash any Kung Fu fury. I might wrap things up here to go eat a little breakfast and go chop some wood. The house is in good shape with no real company but we still managed to create a small holiday mess. But as the new little gifts find their new place I’m grateful for what we have. I’ve got an abundance of the homemade beer and wine. Some great sipping gifts and as things lighten up I’m looking forward to clinking a few glasses and making plans.
Enjoy your new year safely. Cheers to a healthy mind, body and spirit. Think positive and kindness expelling any negative toxins and the spirit will soar. Replace repetitive news with music. Replace hate with create – and lead by example versus condensing communications. Actions are louder than words. All to often when some speak they “feel” empowered but their other actions dismiss their credibility labeling them a hypocrite. But actions are what actions are – a truth. If you give vs talk of giving that is powerful. Practice “green earth” vs just talking about climate change. Practice respectful communication in the spirit of unity.
Unity was the theme of last weeks blog. I had such a great response to my blog last week that I want to incorporate it into an upcoming press release. At CDI the spark of storytelling is a constant and will survive all circumstance until mankind is no more. It is greater than our daily priorities that others try to use and put us in a box of A or B when I am a Z:) It comes down to doing the right thing even if it puts a little loss on the sheets. From A CHRISTMAS CAROL and the heart-opening message of the business minded to CHRISTMAS VACATION whereas the employee bonus check doesn’t arrive. I think we can all look at where we can take less so we can enjoy the benefits that come with the spirit of giving to others. YOU CANNOT take it with you. Another lesson this year was – YOU ALWAYS THINK YOU HAVE MORE TIME (Thank you Steven Anschutz) so follow your passions be it as a hobby, part-time or full-time. Gift yourself that time dancing with your own fires of passion. Write, Read, Watch, Sing, Play, Create…do what you need to do. But spend that time to stoke the fire and it will make you a better person. You will share that feel-good fire with others and they will also pass it along. When faced with two-sided news always give the positive first. It puts someone in a more positive, receptive state-of-mind and allows them to better receive any off news. That “off” now becomes something to work on as we all must continue to do. So MUCH growth has happened in 2020 and while it was a challenge many old models were broken. New ideas, thoughts, processes and appreciations were born in 2020. Let’s put everything we learned into practice in 2021! I will see everyone next year.
Happy New Year!
DJ
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 