Writing the Script
The most difficult part of writing the script about historical persons was using their actual words as dialogue. The research took nearly a year, reading the autobiographies, biographies, articles, and hundreds of hours watching the silent films. The more I researched the more I began to uncover the hundreds of tragic stories that needed to be told. It was difficult to choose and narrow down which ones we would tell. We decided on 15 that Jacquie Donley studied and prepared to perform. Our final shooting script was 275 pages long. We shot every page and every scene. Later, in post, 2 of the characters were cut along with 45 minutes of footage.
When I began writing the script, my oldest son who had been a child actor and won 2 Emmys as an editor, fell sick and was admitted to the hospital. For 32 days I sat near his bedside or in the cafeteria and worked on the script. I was more motivated than ever because he had experienced many of the same issues as a child actor as these women of silent film. In December of 2016, after 32 days in a coma, he passed away leaving 8-year-old twin daughters. He won his second Emmy 4 months after he passed away. That same month we began shooting the film. The film is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Lewis. Two of my sons have roles in Silent & Forgotten: Matt Lewis who plays William Randolph Hearst, and Jeremy Lewis (a Kennedy Center Award winning director) plays James Card. (John Lewis, Writer/Director)
When I began writing the script, my oldest son who had been a child actor and won 2 Emmys as an editor, fell sick and was admitted to the hospital. For 32 days I sat near his bedside or in the cafeteria and worked on the script. I was more motivated than ever because he had experienced many of the same issues as a child actor as these women of silent film. In December of 2016, after 32 days in a coma, he passed away leaving 8-year-old twin daughters. He won his second Emmy 4 months after he passed away. That same month we began shooting the film. The film is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Lewis. Two of my sons have roles in Silent & Forgotten: Matt Lewis who plays William Randolph Hearst, and Jeremy Lewis (a Kennedy Center Award winning director) plays James Card. (John Lewis, Writer/Director)
Financing the Film
Isn’t it the same story with all independent filmmakers? Where do we get the money? Friends, investors, credit cards, begging, selling off your personal belongings? Yes, we did all of that and more. But that all happened after our leap of faith into the project. We didn’t think about the money first, we just decided to DO IT and then the financial reality hit in the middle of the project. Still that didn’t stop the creative process. With our experience in creating theater on low budgets, we improvised, and used extraordinary creativity to tell our story without compromising the quality. This was possible because we owned every piece of the project giving us 100% control of the creative vision to have full autonomy while making the film. It also meant that our post production period would be long and drawn out as we continued to personally finance along the way. We are indebted to our crew, many of whom were friends and extremely experience in the TV and film worlds they took huge pay cuts or worked for free because they believed in the project and more humbling, they believed in us. It has meant that everyone involved in the project felt like they had a vested interest in seeing it succeed.
Casting the Film
It might sound simplistic to say that 13 of the characters were played by one actress, Jacquie Donley. However, as a director I had to treat each character as a separate actor. Jacquie the actress also had to approach each character as a separate person. Fortunately, Jacquie is a partner and was with me during the process from the concept to final deliverables. We are happy to say that she survived the process and does not have multiple personality disorder.
But there were close to 80 supporting characters to cast. We began casting actor friends from theater and other film and television projects. Jacquie who had been at Stella Adler Acting Academy for 7 years, recruited many of their actors. After that, we held open auditions and were amazed at the response of talent. Most of the actors worked for free because they were friends, or loved the project. All SAG actors were payed a day rate. As a theater director I have always cast based on the “backstage” person as much as the onstage talent. It was a privilege to work with a group of actors without ego, and committed to the community of storytellers.
One interesting and tragic note: While in post-production we began to follow news stories of a young actress from Stella Adler Acting Academy, Adea Shabani who was last seen alive on the fuzzy elevator surveillance footage of a Los Angeles apartment. Her boyfriend became a suspect and stories of abuse sounded like it was right out of our film. When an arrest was attempted: “The California Highway Patrol pursued him down Interstate 15 and then Highway 91 on a high-speed chase for more than 50 miles, from Hesperia to Corona, according to local reports. He exited the highway and came to a stop. “He remained in the vehicle,” Hayes said, “and at some point committed suicide, dying as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” The Mercury News. As we watched this pursuit on television we soon realized that this was CHRIS SPOTZ, one of our actors in the film who played DAVID BELASCO. He was also from Stella Adler Acting Academy.
But there were close to 80 supporting characters to cast. We began casting actor friends from theater and other film and television projects. Jacquie who had been at Stella Adler Acting Academy for 7 years, recruited many of their actors. After that, we held open auditions and were amazed at the response of talent. Most of the actors worked for free because they were friends, or loved the project. All SAG actors were payed a day rate. As a theater director I have always cast based on the “backstage” person as much as the onstage talent. It was a privilege to work with a group of actors without ego, and committed to the community of storytellers.
One interesting and tragic note: While in post-production we began to follow news stories of a young actress from Stella Adler Acting Academy, Adea Shabani who was last seen alive on the fuzzy elevator surveillance footage of a Los Angeles apartment. Her boyfriend became a suspect and stories of abuse sounded like it was right out of our film. When an arrest was attempted: “The California Highway Patrol pursued him down Interstate 15 and then Highway 91 on a high-speed chase for more than 50 miles, from Hesperia to Corona, according to local reports. He exited the highway and came to a stop. “He remained in the vehicle,” Hayes said, “and at some point committed suicide, dying as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” The Mercury News. As we watched this pursuit on television we soon realized that this was CHRIS SPOTZ, one of our actors in the film who played DAVID BELASCO. He was also from Stella Adler Acting Academy.
Sets, Props & Costumes
After 40 years of producing theater we have built an extensive inventory of costumes and props. Most of the dresses that Jacquie Donley wore were authentic from the period. One of the dresses was actually worn by Jacquie’s great-grandmother as a teenager in the 1920’s. The car used in the film was the same car her grandmother learned to drive in and is still owned by the family. Although many of the props used in the film were authentic from the period-that was not the point. The sets and props were intended to look like studio props and were used over and over again in different scenes. The walls were intended to look like movie flats and the same furniture and desks were used in different scenes. The main set piece used was the FRAME where the actresses emerged from their films. It was 8 feet high by 10 feet wide. It was connected to a stage 8 feet deep with a hard curved cyc painted with green-screen paint. The characters could literally walk out of the screen. The 4 theater seats were taken from our theater and placed on a rolling platform.
The Shoot
The shooting schedule was probably the most extraordinary, difficult, magical, problematic, brilliant, challenging, and exciting part of the whole journey. Imagine trying to lay out a shooting schedule based on one actress making costume changes, wig & makeup changes to play 15 characters interacting with 80 other actors. All while accommodating schedules of volunteers, SAG guidelines, and even replacing no-show actors. 275 pages to be shot in 2 weeks. 14 days. But Producer Becky Broyles made it work. Brilliant at organizing, we finished the entire shoot in 9 days. Dealing with actors, contracts, location, craft services, and all other logistics, she still had time to step into the role of a “no-show” actor. She quickly learned the lines, got into makeup wig and costume and stepped into a very important scene as Daisy DeVoe with Clara Bow.
Music
Becky Broyles is a Singer/Arranger and Jacquie Donley is a Singer/Concert Pianist. It just made sense that they would write, arrange, and score the film. The rest of the music is public domain from before 1923 which worked out well for our period film. The final song “Fallen Angels” was written by Natalie West, who also played B.P. Schulberg’s secretary. Natalie was discovered by legendary record producer, Rick Jarrard, when she sent him the song when she was only 13 years old. In the final recording for the film, Becky Broyles sings the song while Jacquie Donley plays the piano.