Class Reunions, Chasing the Star awards and Creating New Projects
I want to welcome new followers/readers from Ireland, The Philippines and Australia. It has been a long eventful week and the weekend was even more busy. This weekend was our high school class reunion – a two-day event that allowed us to share a laugh, a story and a drink with our former classmates. It was an enjoyable visit and as a whole I’m happy that many are happy and healthy. I had a bevy of close friends unable to attend due to life. I was never a huge fan of high school. I had several school friends, many of those I still see to this day. I was grateful that I got to spend three summers overseas playing/coaching soccer in Denmark. It was always a true culture shock to return back to high school in the US after those trips. I spent lots of my school days writing scripts, storyboarding and organizing after school video shoots. But it was fun to catch up with my classmates.
This weekend at the 2018 ICVM Crown Awards in Nashville our film “Chasing the Star” was being given award consideration for Best Film. It was represented by our distributor BMG and we won silver (2nd place) so we’ll do some PR on that and congrats to our cast and crew.
I also want to give congrats to Curran Jacobs one of my friends/co-stars (MBF) who fought multiple battles this weekend to earn the World Catch Wrestling Championship. Many know that I’ve been involved and enjoyed the martial arts for many years. It is exciting to see everything happening today but I’m happy I don’t make a living getting punched and kicked in the head.
Speaking of MBF – we’ll be releasing some of the official screen captures soon. The film is going to be powerful and engaging and I’m excited to see that move down the line. Talks over the first teaser trailer have started some maybe in a few weeks. I’m also going to look within the MBF family to see if I have someone to hire to assemble the BTS footage.
This week I’ll also be doing investor updates on the projects which is a regular thing. We have lots to report and I’ll be giving some exciting updates regarding Forty Nights, Chasing the Star, Wild Faith and upcoming The Christ Slayer.
I’ve also been working on what will likely be the next CDI film shot. The working title of the film is called LOST HEART. I’m enjoying spending some time daily working the script. Some location scouting has begun – just looking at possible areas to shoot. I will say that the next film is planning to shoot in Michigan again. Follow http://www.cdiproductions.com for updates.
I also want to have a sit down soon over our website which is looking good but we have even more exciting directions to take it in. I’m going to cut this short as I have a list of things to do before our early soccer game today. I will also have to watch the World Cup finals in a few. I hope you all have a great wrap up to your week and a productive week ahead.
Be good to one another.
DJ
The Loss of a Mentor – and Film Updates
We have our first readers from Iraq and Spain and so welcome to ‘Clawing our way to the Middle‘ blog. I’ve got the hot coffee in hand and seeking the right words here. Last night I was having a few old friends over to the office to sit by the fire and talk old times. Just before people showed up I heard news that my dear friend Rance Howard had passed away. We met in Benson, AZ while shooting on ‘Miracle at Sage Creek‘ and bonded over breakfast at Denny’s with his wife Judy. Rance later went on to join us on “Dean Teaster’s Ghost Town” whereas he played the father-like figure to my character. Rance loved our church scene in that film. Here is a few clips.
He could not join us on “The Book of Ruth, Journey of Faith” because he was working with his ole friend Andy Griffith. But when The Quest Trilogy came along he grew a beard for the first time in many years. He was excited to play “The Devil” after a lifetime of good guys. Play it he did in all three “Forty Nights” and “Chasing the Star” out on Amazon Prime now. His devil turn in “Forty Nights” won him best lead actor at the International Christian Film Festival. I’m proud that we still have “The Christ Slayer” coming in 2018 but I’m a touch sad that he will not get to see it. I remember on “The Christ Slayer” the two of us in that boat in the middle of the night – holding hands. We shared so many deep talks both about the role and about life. To pass at 89 years of age – working right up until the end is an inspiration. He was truly a mentor to me. One man who had truly been there and done that and he actually cared about my career. Very few people take that kind of time and nurture but you can see that manifested in his own family. He was supposed to play a funny role in “MBF” and we had always wanted to do this “Algona” WW2 POW/Xmas script but that was not meant to be. He was my source expert when I was writing. He was a dairy farmer and had first hand experience of WW2 so his input was vital. I know that Rance touched many people’s life and made us all feel important. He would walk between working with Russell Crowe followed by DJ Perry and never made you feel any less. Actually the opposite, as he made you feel great about being a storyteller. He was deep with his characters and he always came with lots of notes, ideas and intuitions. He will be greatly missed.
Where do I go from there…?
Forty Nights and Chasing the Star has been getting a great holiday push here in the US/Canada. Chasing the Star has been licensed to Netherlands to a network called Family 7. Forty Nights might be right behind it. Also the films are looking to invade the UK and I will have more details on that soon.
The Christ Slayer is just finishing all the VFX and final edits preparing to move into post music and sound.
That means…
Wild Faith is preparing to come out of post sound/music. The VFX are all in and end credits are being tweaked. The last step is color correction along with the audio mix. I’m excited to roll this film out and I feel good about our chances of rolling a series out behind it.
The storm cometh
MBF – now has the bank account open. We need to start collecting paperwork and checks and also drum up the final investment units. We’ll be announcing more castings in the run up to Christmas. A lot of wonderful support for this film.
If yesterday put anything front and center for me it’s to keep following your path. I don’t know how many films I have still in me but I’ll keep creating and moving forward. Cherish those mentors in your life while you can and remember to turn around and mentor those around you. The holidays have been filled with joy and today we will decorate the beautiful tree.
Be good to one another.
DJ
DJ Perry's Official Blog 'Clawing My Way to the Middle' 