Posted by Milan Skrecek
on December 29, 2025
People love the moment when a director calls “Action.”
What they don’t see is everything that has to go right before that word can be spoken out loud.
Long before cameras roll on A Caliente Christmas, the real work happens quietly, methodically, and very much off-screen. This is the phase where a film either becomes real or falls apart.
At the end of January, our team will be on the ground in Jalisco, Mexico, entering the next stage of pre-production. Alongside our partners at COBRAFILMS and Aceves Spirits, we’ll be conducting a focused location and logistics scout to determine where this story can be told best, and how it can be executed responsibly, efficiently, and authentically.
Location scouting isn’t about finding something that looks good in a photo. It’s about pressure-testing reality.
Every potential location is evaluated through multiple lenses at once. Can the scene be staged here without compromising the story? Is there reliable power access for lighting, sound, and production infrastructure? How close are support facilities, crew access points, and secure holding areas for equipment? What does movement look like for cast, crew, and vehicles during a shooting day?
Then come the questions most audiences never think about, but every experienced location scout does.
Who controls the land? Who needs to approve access? How does production interact with local businesses, neighbors, and local shareholders? What impact does a film crew have on daily operations, and how do we make sure that presence is respectful, collaborative, and mutually beneficial?
In Jalisco, those questions matter even more. This isn’t just a backdrop. It’s a living culture, a working region, and a place with deep ties to the story we’re telling. That’s why these conversations happen in person, on location, and early.
Our meetings with the Aceves family are a critical part of that process. Their historic distilleries are not just visually striking, they are operational spaces with real rhythms and responsibilities. Understanding how production can integrate without disruption is essential, and that understanding only comes from walking the ground together.
COBRAFILMS brings the same discipline to the table. Their production experience in the region allows us to evaluate logistics with clarity, from crew workflows to permitting realities, from infrastructure needs to contingency planning. This phase is about aligning creative ambition with practical execution.
This is also when decisions get harder and sharper. Some beautiful locations won’t work. Some scenes will evolve based on access, light, or movement. That’s not compromise, that’s craftsmanship.
By the time an audience sees a finished film, the locations feel inevitable. They feel like they were always meant to be there. That feeling is earned here, in this phase, with boots on the ground, questions asked early, and answers tested honestly.
This is the unglamorous, essential work of filmmaking. And it’s the work that makes everything else possible. I LOVE IT!
Part of this scouting process also includes something that lives at the intersection of story, culture, and audience experience.
While in Jalisco, the team will be tasting and testing a tequila concept that aligns directly with the world of A Caliente Christmas. This isn’t a novelty add-on or a branding afterthought. It’s about building a ritual that mirrors the film itself, inclusive, celebratory, rooted in tradition, and designed for everyone at the table.
Just as importantly, it allows the film to extend beyond the screen in a way that feels organic rather than promotional. A shared moment. A shared flavor. Something that fits naturally into how people gather during the holidays.
That timing is intentional.
A Caliente Christmas is positioned for theatrical release on December 18, 2026, opening the same weekend as Avengers: Doomsday. Internally, we’ve started calling it CaliVengers.
Big event films don’t split audiences, they expand weekends. One crowd goes in for spectacle and destruction. Another looks for warmth, music, romance, and color. Both leave happy. Both go to the movies.
Historically, this kind of counter-programming doesn’t compete, it complements. It gives audiences choice. It creates conversation. It turns a single release date into a cultural moment.
The tequila concept fits directly into that thinking. It’s not about competing with the spectacle, it’s about enhancing the alternative. A ritual that belongs to the movie, the season, and the audience choosing connection over chaos for a couple of hours.
This kind of thinking happens early, on location, before cameras roll. Because when a film understands who it’s for, where it lives on the calendar, and how people experience it, the rest of the decisions get clearer.
The story isn’t just what’s on screen. It’s how people gather around it.
We’ll share more as we move through this stage, but for now, know this. A Caliente Christmas is no longer just being written and imagined. It’s being walked, measured, discussed, and built, one location at a time.
