How I Produced
SECRET LIFE, SECRET DEATH as a No-Budget Feature
I produced, directed, wrote,
designed and edited SECRET LIFE, SECRET DEATH.
The film tells the true story of a young mother who fell into
bootlegging and prostitution in Gangland Chicago in the Roaring 20's. And the story of her granddaughter hunting
down the family secret in the present.
The film has played in London, Rome, LA, New Orleans, Mobile, Chicago
and Wisconsin. It won Best Art Film at
the Indie Fest USA film festival last fall.
You can see the trailer,
clips, reviews and awards at www.secretlifesecretdeath.com You can contact me at
info[at]ctober7thstudio.com or @GenevieveDavis3 on Twitter. You also can buy the book, which I also
wrote, and the movie in the store there.
The antique cars in the movie
came through the generosity of the owners.
The Model T, which is in the date scene and then redressed for the train
scene in Philadelphia, came from a friend of a friend. I had this friend named Keith, who was in
his 80's at the time and I knew he had an old Willis Knight that wasn't in
running condition at the moment, but I knew he knew other people with
cars. So I asked him and he said there
was a guy out by the lake who had a Model T.
I prodded Keith to figure out what else he remembered about the guy, so
I could find him and ask him to bring his car to the set. Keith remembered that the guy's wife ran a
day care. So I looked in the yellow
pages and found Bunny Hill Day Care out by the lake and called up the gal and
asked her if her husband had an old car.
She was very friendly and said yes and she would have him call me. So then he called me and not only was he
willing to come with his car, but he also wanted to know if he and his wife
should come in costume and if they could bring a couple of girls with them who
would be visiting that weekend. So
basically, with one week's notice, this guy, Dennis, came out in 1920's
costume, along with his wife and 2 girls in costume, the vintage Model T, and a
camper that the girls could relax in when they weren't on set. He wouldn't take any money for gas and he
was just fantastic. I cast them all as
background actors.
It's a
crazy story, but that's how things work around here in Wisconsin and that's how
I got all the cars and locations and vintage clothes and costumes and
props. I just asked people who had the
resources I needed. When people heard I
was making a movie, they all wanted to help!
People at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum were great. They let us shoot there twice, let us use
their station and film on the train when it was moving, just for the
asking. Some of their guys in uniform
were background actors in the shots.
Even the executive director at the time, suited up and played a ticket
agent. A volunteer restorer at the
museum lent me some vintage props, including a telephone, alarm clock and a
bulldog ashtray that were exactly like ones in a 30's Humphrey Bogart
movie. One of the engineers showed me
some footage a guy in Milwaukee had taken of the vintage steam engine. I was able get permission use that from the
guy who shot it.
