Hazelnut coffee cheers! I’m sitting down after a long and busy week to sip a little coffee and chat with you all. I had to take a bit of my own advice as to not riding the rollercoaster. When trying to put this big projects together with moving parts you have highs and lows. I had a few of both this past week but overall it was still a win. Let’s take a look at some of the new developments.
Harsens Island Revenge – We’ve been waiting for the studio films to clear some so we can get some dates. This week we’ll be announcing the film is coming to Riverside Theaters in Michigan not far from the actual Harsens Island. Aug 22-28th is what I’m being told. Also our director spoke to the owner of the Emagine Theaters and if their booker doesn’t get back to us by Tuesday he will get involved. The city of Detroit will really love this story. It has been long enough now that I’m ready to watch it again on the big screen. We’ve been doing some planning for the home video and have a marketing meeting next week. I know they’ve started having discussions on key art and that is always exciting. So stay tune and we hope to break the ice and having several showings you can attend. I know Iowa has some screenings coming up as well. I’m also going to turn my attention to planning a few dinner/movie showings. I want to discuss with our team if that would be better once DVD’s are released so we could sign and sell them at the event.
Wild Faith Christmas – We are already in the planning stages for the theatrical and home video is working on a poster for both theatrical and home video. The plan is for it to hit theaters in Nov 2025 and home video likely Oct of 2026. In between will be some festival showings to get the market ready for this powerful tale. If you were a fan of the first film you will really enjoy this one. If you haven’t seen the first one WILD FAITH take a watch! We will be having our producer watch through and we are doing some final touches on the end credits.
ROM COMS MUST DIE – I’m in studio this week to do my little ADR pieces for the film. We are close to locking that film up and moving it to Dennis Therrian for musical score and mixing. This has been such a fun project and McGraw Multimedia has been a true joy to work with. Adam Towner just got the color corrected 4k footage so we can get the trailer into release shape. The idea is we hope to have a fall premiere and do some festival showcases before a 2026 theatrical and home video release.
The Secret of the Kingdom Chip has been the rollercoaster as it always is in pre-production. My goal is to have the whole business foundation in by the end of the month. So about 11 days. We are working to get those final pieces in play and I had some great talks this week. A few set backs in a few areas but also some huge leaps in other areas. Again we have partner with McGraw Multimedia and I’m happy to announce Haptix Studios which may be changing their company name. But either way they will be handled all the VFX work and the Real Engine management. This is the software that controls the images on the LED wall screen. It is a good thing that we are constantly learning this new tech as it will be an even bigger part in the years ahead. We plan to release some PR soon on Haptix or whatever name they land on. We are still reviewing a few reads for casting and next month once the business is in place with the bank account open we’ll start to fill in the rest of the crew. A few already had some schedule conflicts but that always gives opportunity for new growth. Where we are heading we will need many artists. Follow our FB page for some fun weekly updates.
Looking ahead-
As I’ve noted we have several other projects in the development process from Spirit lake Massacre to Gotch to an undisclosed Shane Hagedorn project. This past week was getting some film disbursements out the door and thanking our supporters. People have busy lives and don’t always understand the film deadlines we are under. The “boat” aka film doesn’t move on a dime so you need to start things early and time is your friend. We have a few interviews that will be coming out such as a good one with Shane Hagedorn and Tony Hornus. If you review films or have a podcast reach out and we’ll try to work something out.
WRAP UP: I’m almost through the coffee and after I will go eat a few eggs. One of the new chickens is now producing. The berries have been bursting and I eat several dozen berries a day off the tree. Everything is growing like crazy and so come Fall a harvest will be had for sure. I also might stop down at a flea market and see if I can find any treasures. I’m going to keep the faith and keep putting one foot in front of the other. We have a train of great stories rolling down the tracks with some new ones in development to boot. I hope you are all working hard to follow your dreams. I appreciate each and every one of you. We’ll chat next week and I should have even more exciting updates. So until – coffee cheers!
Good morning fellow artists. A chilly morning made warmer by the hazelnut coffee by my side. 2018 I will get a personal coffee sponsor or I may just start a new business. Collective Coffee – a coffee for all of us:) I did get approached by a tea tree shampoo that wanted my endorsement. More on that soon. I want to welcome all our followers and readers including new readers from Israel. Our readership from Germany and China have increased and we’ll start with that.
CHASING THE STAR – the 1st film in our biblical adventure series THE QUEST TRILOGY will be releasing to the UK. Actually I’m seeking proof that it may release Oct 30th! I might have found it.
It is on amazon and many others sites. Enjoy! Also we were invited to submit again to the International Christian Film Festival. Forty Nights won ‘Most Inspirational’ amongst some great nominations. We will see if this follow-up will also impact audiences.
FORTY NIGHTS
Hello TEXAS! This film will be playing at the Miller Theater in Bedias, Texas in November. It is very cool to see this film on the big screen. I think all the trilogy films will be enjoyed for years to come around the holidays. I’ve enjoyed the wonderful notes from fans on how this film has inspired them. Inspired to just be better human beings no matter where your faith takes you.
THE CHRIST SLAYER
I loved filming the other two films. But I have to say I’m REALLY excited for this third film. We have some top-notch VFX work trying to creatively reproduce God’s hand. By that a few events that we could not just easily capture. Our VFX creators have worked on Black Sails, Rogue One and several high quality films and TV series. The STORY is how this was achieved. This film is a sleeping giant. The season now should be about CHASING THE STAR that released Sept 5th. But starting in 2018 PR for the third film will start growing. I’m excited because once again between sacred writings the plausible WHAT IF’s are explored to help us relate, understand and experience something new yet feels so right like an old pair of slippers. I can see the quotes now, DJ Perry said “A good relationship with God is like an old pair of slippers” – OK. I said it. These films are NOT about Christianity per say. They are about simplistic teachings devoid of modern agenda that people can apply to their own path. Denominations of Christianity fight, argue and debate to monopolize the “correct interpretation” of a teaching. I see that the “devil is in the details” because no mortal knows the universal truth. To exalt oneself and pretend you do is…you fill in the blank. This third film directed by Nathaniel Nose is everything I wanted from the film and more. I think as we gather fans of the storytelling style – great minds will chew on it and share in meaningful conversation. That’s a lot in this day and age of rock throwing. It really hasn’t changed in all these years. In biblical times they would stone someone to death and now they stone people with negative social media responses meant to stand out from the masses or attack non-conformers. Set down the stones and just watch to enjoy. We as storytelling artists ask no more. Lastly on this film I’m very excited on the post art developing. I’ve seen three drafts now and it is getting – COOL:)
Oh, you want to talk cool? Let’s talk WILD FAITH. We’ve been back and forth between a CGI element added into the footage or adding existing footage into our footage. We explored the heck out of the first option and we just could not make the timeline or numbers work. I had a few people gives quotes just too high but wanted to not be disqualified down the line on others films. While not disqualified a sub-contractor will often lose their place in the pack if they step aside. Because if someone does something discounted as a favor those favors are usually appreciated to the point of the next opportunity. Now sometimes a key crew hire is based upon the director. Sometimes their skill set better matches a certain themed film. And I understand having to PASS on some projects for financial, creative or both. Long/short is that we had a few plans to tackle the final few seconds of VFX affected footage. We gave our best at Plan A and now as music is finishing on the film Plan B is going into effect. This Plan B will be in effect while producers start putting end credits together and Jesse Low and Dennis Therrian start their stereo and 5.1 or is it 7.1 now mix of the final film. Color correction will also be on deck while mixing is happening. The bottom line is that the film is almost done. The film was really, really, good without a lick of music and now with that amping up the action on the screen…watch out!
The TV series – lots of interest but everyone needs to see the world, the story and the characters. I think once they do a series will be underway. Now with WILD FAITH looking at a 2018 theatrical followed by a general market release – reasonably the series would not film until 2019. Now we could get a green light before based on early distributor/network screenings which could put us into production earlier. Time will tell.
Fans of this time period will enjoy the forthcoming announcement that WICKED SPRING will be getting a new national release in 2018. I chose to produce this Civil War era drama from a list of film ideas Kevin Hershberger (Known now for his Legends & Lies and other TV docs) had. It truly was an independent epic with us taking over Ft. Pickett military base. Lodging in the officers quarters. Our soldiers in the WW2 barracks. We ate in mess halls and relaxed in the officer’s club. A wonderful experience shot in 35mm and 1st released on VHS. It is due a new release to find a new generation of audiences.
Several projects are being looked at but next on deck is MBF, our film that highlights the plight of military vets and shelter dogs. We announced even more cast this week highlighting some additional military vets working on the film. Read about all the updates here at https://www.facebook.com/MBFthemovie/
I’m excited to be working with all these individuals – old friends and new. More announcements next week!
This week we bottled up Ida’s Wine (Rhubarb & mulberry) and early samples were GOOOOOOD. The final harvest has given me what I need for the GREEN GOBLIN 3.0. It is a popular fall wine and I look forward to another run. I cooked up and tried puffball mushrooms, which not my favorite of the shrooms but good. This past week was check writing to investors on one project and prepping assets for distribution delivery on another. I do have issues working with the every changing world of tech. Thankfully I keep wonderful people around me whose skill sets are strong in these areas. Okay, I might have missed an update or two but the bacon is about done. I’m going to go eat and get a few things done.
Have a great day and week ahead! Stay safe and watch out for those little trick or treaters.