A very good morning to everyone out there. I’m sipping on the hazelnut coffee and I’ve been already doing quite a bit of film work. I am luckily able to turn it off at night and sleep very soundly. But first thing in the morning my brain starts chewing on the things we are trying to fix, solve or find. We are 10 days from filming starting tomorrow and we are looking good. Last few castings, crewing and still bringing on a few backers and sponsors. We will be announcing more like ETC sponsoring a meal for our crew and more! Films bring communities together and we love that. Everywhere we’ve filmed we have so many friends and some almost like family.
On the home front we added the gazebo to the new deck and added some runners and rugs. It looks so nice. I’ve continued to harvest and my wood processing is about to kick into high gear as the first fire in the fort might be tonight. I’ve been harvesting my herbs that will become my herbal teas. I’ve gathered enough berries and rhubarb to do a winter batch of Frankenberry Wine. I missed soccer this past week with our season over but my body has been recovering nicely. I’ve held off on the end of season mowing because the bees are stilling gathering from the flowers they can find mostly red clover and the tops of mint.
Last night was goulash made with venison which was so good. That heavier food is good as the days and nights become colder. This next film will be nice because most all of it is inside and no all-night shoots. Okay, I hear you. Enough of the homestead updates get to the artistic endeavors.
THE SECRET OF THE KINGDOM CHIP (TSOTKC) – So as I mentioned the sets are all close to being ready. We only have a cast or two we’re in talks on. A few crew as well and we’re still lining up a few business things but we are about ready to start rolling. We will be having an extra call this week for the 18th and 19th of September in Owosso are the two days with extras. I’m pretty excited as I’m doing something I haven’t done yet and after 30+ years that is hard to find in this industry. I’m playing an AI character (maybe) which sounds confusing but it will all make sense to those who watch the film. I went into the studio and performed all my scenes to be used in the movie. It was done in advance so that the actors can play directly off it. It will be the backbone of the performance but I still have some scanning to take place both with and without my beard.
This film is a loose modern day follow up to our series The Quest Trilogy which includes Forty Nights, Chasing the Star and The Christ Slayer. In there I played ‘Jesus’ is parts one and three. This film had me digging out a few wardrobe pieces and becoming a version of that character. But it is different. There is something unique added and on review of the footage I was satisfied by what we captured. The final Avatar ‘skin’ will be put on after the actual shoot. But it is funny how the wardrobe along put my mind back into the headspace from those other films. We considered filming this in Yuma, AZ but the added cost of flights and lodging had us choose a closer location. Actually most of it is in our director’s home town.
Wild Faith Christmas – Speaking on playing characters again, I was so happy to bring Ben Lily alive again on screen. I like this because in the first film they were the visitors and now you get to see them somewhat at home. Meanwhile, Emmett (Shane Hagedorn) and Edmond (Dean Teaster) are now the visitors. The movie which was also a test run for the TV series came out great! Our theatrical rep LOVED it and it will be pitched to the theater chains starting very soon. We plan a Nov- into 2026 theatrical followed by a dark window with maybe a few festivals followed by home video for the holidays 2026. Get ready for more 1800’s Michigan adventure! Watch part one again and get ready!
ROM COMS MUST DIE – This highly entertaining story of filmmaking cousins doing almost anything to get their sophomore feature off the ground after a lackluster first film. The script has lots to say about the world of acting, writing, filmmaking, distribution and more. The film is at the Pine Studio preparing to have the score produced. The first PR announcing the first peek at the teaser trailer was met with many good laughs. We will look to have an end of year premiere and follow that with a theatrical and home video release all in 2026!
Harsens Island Revenge – The film was extended for another week (Until Sept 11th) in the Riverside Cinema in Marine City, MI and the Okulski Theatre in Grosse Pointe, MI. It will arrive ONE NIGHT ONLY at Forest Theatre in Forest City, IA on September 19th! We also are up for multiple awards at the Red Letter Awards on the 13th. We are working hard to try and get Fridley’s in Algona, IA to do a week run. We hope this week they will book. We plan to keep booking right up to our 10/6/2025 home video release! An exciting time for this film to be sure.
Development – I’m not going to go on about much development here. I’m going to focus on what is on my plate BUT development is always underway. I’ve had a few great conversations about future projects and over the holidays I’ll have some productive conversations I’m sure. I have one script I want to finish up on and I’m about to sign on another writing project. I’m considering a literary rep again to option/sell a few of my screenplays.
WRAP UP: I’m about to go throw down on a few eggs and some buttermilk pancakes. Today is a beautiful day to get some work done outside. MSU won their second game last night and the Lions kick it off tonight. I might see a bit of the game before I have my brother and a few friends over. The wood stove might get its first fire of the season tonight. We’ll be bouncing work emails back and forth today and already I’ve been getting our budget onto our software. This coming week we’ll be really putting the final things into play. I’ll be working on cast and crew agreements. Securing some of the final business needed and on the 18th cameras are going to ROLL!
I do feel good having gotten the bulk of my performance out of the way. I’ll be there to assist alll the actors who might need it if they have any timing issues. Much like ROM COMS MUST DIE we are required to film part of the film in advance so actors can respond to it directly in real time. That frees me up to handle many other things during the shoot. Once we get this film in the can I think that is a wrap on feature production. We have some great releases theatrically, home video and premieres and maybe even a fest trip. So we’re going to get this amazing story shot and it will give our team something to work on during the cold months in Michigan.
I hope all of you have had a great year. I know many people have had challenges, myself included. But that is life, facing the challenges, creating and enjoying the company of friends and family. I’ll have to swap out my Summer for fall clothes this week and that is always fun. I have more cold weather clothes I like versus warm weather. I almost see the bottom of the coffee cup so that is my cue. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day. Have a great week and we’ll talk next week!
I’m sitting here sipping my hazelnut coffee in my Oswald’s Bear Ranch cup. We were planning another UP Michigan trip when all this virus stuff erupted. Now we spent a good amount of time discussing that last week and so I’m not going to hammer that this week. In Michigan we have had our stay extended for two weeks. I’ll just call it confinement for all the things in my youth I got away with. Again it was a wonderful week of organizing, personal and biz calls and getting things done. Let’s start with our next film up – BEST YEARS GONE.
This week we’ll load in the last financial piece and we’ll be all ready to sail once the storm passes. We’ve got a new schedule to review and I’m putting some fine tuning to the budget now that our day-of-days is more defined. We’re announcing more of our crew and cast and preparing to do a few ZOOM script reads. Shot lists are being prepared and I for one will be ready to get out and tell another story.
I had some productive talks with our distributor and we’re already looking at marketing for the immediate and the year ahead. The Quest Trilogy has been playing strong during the holiday window which runs after Halloween on the run up to Thanksgiving through Easter. Many new countries like Mexico, Brazil and more have enjoyed our three biblical adventures. We spoke of them cutting a great TRILOGY trailer for the next ‘holiday’ season.
NOTE: I also had the pleasure of watching Douglas James Vail’s new film 40: The Temptation of Christ – that also imagines the 40 days of Jesus in the desert. I enjoyed their beautiful locations, camera work and the unique way they handled the temptations. Take a watch if you enjoy these stories.
LOST HEART is just finishing up music and will be turning to sound design this last month before we mix, master and deliver. There is going to be a big need for new content so I think we’ll get a good push with this story. We might have a few other surprises when it comes to this film. This week ahead the distributor is working to lock up DVD wrap art. I would guess we’ll see pre-sales start after a while but we’ll see if we do any exclusive TV runs first. I’m excited to put this fun, heartfelt movie out into the marketplace. – Soon.
WILD FAITH / HASTINGS TV SERIES
The film is gathering fans as the distribution keeps getting deeper. Meanwhile we continue to have promising discussions on the TV series. If you have not seen the film please do and let me know your thoughts on a TV series. Like all the films, I had some fan mail on this film talking about the power of the themes and how nice it was to spend time in a world more simple.
MBF: MAN’S BEST FRIEND is also making the rounds thanks to all you fans out there. The reviews and word of mouth keeps growing our audience. I’m so excited that this film is making people ponder and discuss the topics. So watch with your family including the furry ones. As with any of the films just google the film in quotes and it will show where you can buy the DVD or watch the film. Again a big salute to all our service men and women who serve.
At this time my thoughts are with all our family and friends and we all look forward to sharing a few in-person laughs. Soccer season is approaching and I’m in hopes that we can still enjoy that. The blossoms are starting to bloom on the newly trimmed apple and mulberry trees. The hops and rhubarb are also starting to get some size and that is fun to watch. I’m going to use this nice day to get some more outdoor tasks completed. I hope you all have a wonderful week and be safe!
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 