The Return Home- Thank you Alpena! That’s A Wrap! CDI Fall Updates!
I’m happy to report we wrapped principal photography on Harsens Island Revenge on Friday night. We felt the first bone chill of the cold front just as we were wrapping up. We had near perfect weather for every day of filming. I’m happy that everyone was safe and we did not have anything but minor issues that our team dealt with swiftly. This #tribecdi team featured several new department members and they worked in perfectly. Occasionally you have crew just not built for the long haul. It takes endurance which means good sleep and keeping yourself healthy. We add and subtract from project to project to try and tune into a perfectly balanced cast and crew. Positive attitude is our number one sought after quality. We can develop the experience and skill set for an individual but attitude is usually hardwired. You have to embrace challenges and seek to overcome them. You have to prepare yourself to be away from your comforts for several weeks. Bring what you need to keep yourself healthy. Favorite pillow, sinus meds or whatever you might require. It’s a game of anticipation on set and off set. Experienced actors get good at bringing whatever they might need in their actor bag or kit. Experienced crew you seldom hear from as they know how to adapt and takes care of their business. If someone is a squeaky wheel of daily complaints that person might not be cut out for feature work. I’ve often explained that some cast and crew are great for a few days but to stay great for weeks is not by accident. And some crew come to that same conclusion that feature film work is not their bag because it’s hard. Location shooting, 10-12 hours on the norm and facing new challenges daily. I’m excited because I think several of the new crew will be invited to join us again and will accept. The excitement was a daily bounce. Actors and crew would be excited by the amazing locations, props and vehicles. The actors would throw down powerful performances and that inspired the crew. The crew would light and create a ‘moment’ that was artistically breathtaking. We had a rather smooth journey which is a major kudos to my entire producing team and director Carl Weyant.
I’ve landed but I’ve got a few hours of unpacking which I’ll do in the morning. Very stunning artwork will continue to flow and we’ve only scratched the surface. Art work will become available to the public once we decide on the official pieces of art from what GW Burns, our production designer and an old friend of mine that we brought in from Florida. Bart Ketner, worked in tandem with GW as our art director and the quality shines on the screen. All this captured by our gifted camera team led by Travis Hayward. A teaser trailer and behind-the-scenes video will be assembled in the coming weeks. We’ll be taking a few weeks to catch up on our paperwork and data entry before starting to look at our couple VFX pick up shots. We just got the okay from the military base in Alpena to return and shoot our opening scene likely in Feb to get the look we want. We have some shooting on Harsens Island coming up soon and as noted prior, a cool VFX shot that will be a BLAST to film.
I’m appreciative to our book author Karl Manke, and we’ll look to arrange a book signing in the Alpena area in the near future. As the screenwriter, it was amazing to see the scenes come to life from the page. David Reardon and Cassie Dean did a wonderful job as our young leads. Blu Owens, our child actress was incredible. I enjoyed bringing Axel to the screen and enjoyed every scene I got to share with so many amazing artists. My scenes with the Harsens Island Militia were always fun. What a great group of guys who on-screen play completely badass. All the performances were on point and you know with CDI being led by actor/producers, this is not an accident. We take the casting process very serious including our extras. We had well over 100 extras in the film and the support of so many from the Alpena area that made everything possible.
A great wrap party hosted by Fresh Palate, which had a great assortment of eats from lamb chops to apple crisp and several great side dishes. We had so many great sponsors led by Pepsi, our new CDI partner. Our crew was treated to so much variety of craft product from within the Pepsi family. It will take a good week or two to process everything. This is my attempt at capturing some of the great happenings in this writing sit down.
The CDI Library –
CDI has enjoyed so many new fans exploring all the films streaming on many platforms but most all are on Amazon Prime. To see some of the films check http://www.cdiproductions.com but I appreciate the daily feedback on our earlier films. The Quest Trilogy (Forty Nights, Chasing the Star and The Christ Slayer), MBF, Wild Faith, Lost Heart, Best Years Gone, Wicked Spring, Bestseller, Ashes of Eden and the list goes on. Even CDI’s 1st film Knight Chills will expand to a wide Blu Ray release on Oct. 30th, 2023. Our most recent release in theaters SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA will hit home video Dec 1st and will be showcased at AFM for broadcast and foreign licensing. It will be fun to watch where that film will travel to and the audience reaction. It already has won the hearts of the theatrical crowd and was the winner at a recent Red Letter Awards.
I will have much more to report as we move forward but I wanted to sit down and share my initial feelings from just getting home. The yard is not too crazy but will get a good mow. The final veggies and such are ready for harvest. The chickens are still putting out the eggs. I was met with a heroes return especially from the fur babies who missed their daddy. I’m enjoying sitting in my own chair. I’ll be looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. I’ve come home to a fall fest and I love it. I’m going to look forward to overseeing the assembly of this new film while we promote the current releases. I look forward to catching up with family and friends. I’m going to end this so I can relax and tomorrow I’ll attack the unpack. This mission phase has been accomplished and I think this one will be well received. Thank you to everyone who follows myself and the journey of the CDI artists. Until next week!
Hazelnut coffee cheers!
DJ
NEW Nominations, Updates and Announcements
(Above some of the CDI Tribe supporting the Capital City Film Festival Mixer- almost time again)
Hazelnut coffee toasts to you all on this sunny yet chilly Michigan morning. It has been a very busy few weeks and last week was no different. The best news was the completing all the film taxes and that was submitted. I’m awaiting my personal taxes to finish being prepared. It is important to stay up on all the BIZ with reporting cash movement every year. This year was quite smooth and we had a few bad weather days that are perfect for chaining yourself to the desk to ‘get R done’ and I did. We got an ice storm in Michigan but we were lucky and kept power the whole time. No big tree breakage which is good. We were teased with Spring and we are said to have a few more icy blasts coming but the birds are moving back in and the early signs of Spring are starting to slowly appear. Let’s take a look at some of the updates from the week.
- SILENT NIGHT IN ALGONA, we’re still in our theatrical phase with several screens playing the film. We are looking at festivals and events. I don’t like these events where you pay to enter every category. I like one fee and look at everything and if it is nominated so be it. One event the Red Letter Awards which recognizes films with faith themes and certain recognitions to individuals. Here is what we were nominated for – BEST FILM -(Everyone!) BEST DIRECTOR – Anthony Hornus, BEST SCREENPLAY – DJ Perry, BEST ACTRESS –Cassie Dean, BEST ACTOR – Curran Jacobs and Bodhi Rader, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR –Samuel Peterson and Shane Hagedorn. Congrats to all the nominated. It was cool to see the other films/people nominated. Many of the films are from studio and with budgets much higher but our own story rings through with the power of the story, performance and production. Jim Caviezel and Kelsey Grammar are among the other nominated talents. This is the first of a handful of festivals and events we will show at. We’re still filling theatrical play requests from bookers after you the people reach out to your theatre managers and request the film. Home Video talks will continue this week as well as exploring any other major theatrical expansion.
- Harsens Island Revenge, is starting to heat up. We’re getting in some requested acting reads. I did say that actors could post their reels to our CDI Facebook page but none arrived. That is okay. We like to look first within our inner circles of actors who we’ve worked with and had no issues with and were impressed with their performances. One of the actors we attached was Don Most (MBF, Lost Heart) and we’ll be announcing via formal PR in the coming weeks. I will announce today a few more from the tribe. Shane Hagedorn and Dean Teaster will be playing a great onscreen duo. I’m excited to see these roles come to life. On the crew side we’re in multiple talks but I’m happy to report that things have come full circle for us to add an amazing artists to our ranks. Several years ago I worked in Costa Rica on a TV show with the talented GW Burns. Very well known in photography circles not only for his powerful photos but creating amazing sets to capture. He is our new Production Designer, and we give him a major welcome to the CDI Tribe. We’ll continue having talks with proposed cast and crew. I look forward to watching several more reads this week during our production meetings. We are all excited to film this amazing story this Fall.
- SHJ– Supernatural Thriller associated film is developing nicely. We hope to put something more formal together in the coming weeks. A teaser poster is being developed and once this is all locked we’ll be casting and crewing for this. CDI would be the production company.
- FOR THE LOVE OF CATCH and II- The first one is out there and expanding its audience. The next film is being pulled together and is looking to film Spring/Summer. More on this soon and also look for our teaser poster in the coming weeks. We’ll be putting the foundation into this project and prepping for another great doc film in our series.
- SPIRIT LAKE MASSACRE – The first production draft of this script is done. Now we will start to do production breakdowns to see what it will take to film this. And lastly, we’ll move to the funding stage. Everything is a process of development and we’re excited to move this one to that important next step. The script is in the hands of some Native American associates to read over. Our Iowa historian did not see any mention-worthy, coloring out of the lines historically. This project is larger and will require some additional development, but will make an amazing story told on film. This film will be shot in Iowa.
(Easter ahead- Cool photo from Part 3 of The Quest Trilogy entitled “The Christ Slayer” – The Tomb)
I could go on about DEVELOPMENT of many new projects as the development process starts years in advance. I’m beyond excited to be once again building a team to tell this story. We’re prepping some of the older films in the CDI library to make a new entrance into the marketplace. I’m looking forward to a strong week of meetings and putting more blocks in place.
I’m excited to enter into discussions from various companies looking to align their brands with our upcoming projects. If you are interested in aligning your company as a product partner or sponsor please do reach out. We’ve had some amazing ones over the years and I’m looking forward to many more.
I’m going to work on getting a few things done around here and get ready for the new week, new month and new projects. I’m also very excited that soccer season is right around the corner. Our ‘old man’ team will be defending their last season championship win. I’m looking forward to the running and competition. Our league is very tough and I sincerely appreciate the work out I get win or lose. I’m coming into the season healthier, having worked out issues with a tweaked back. I’ve been training to be ready for battle on the pitch.
Until next week my friends. Thank you to all who stopped by last week and subscribed.
Coffee Cheers!
DJ
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 