Gladys & Dee Dee: SECRETS

Gladys & Dee Dee: SECRETS started in my TV pilot screenwriting class during film school. After a read-through in class, the feedback was positive; in particular, everyone gravitated toward the characters. I knew I was onto something special. Gladys Clock is a wife, a mother, but who she is on an intimate level is much more intriguing. I’m passionate about this story, because it’s universal – every child grows up with dreams, but the real conflict comes when those dreams are crushed. During production, I was always mindful of a quote from the French film director, Robert Bresson, “I’d rather people feel a film before understanding it.” With this project, I was never concerned with packaging a neat little “dramatic question” and then answering it at the end. Rather, we root for Gladys (even though she’s a killer), because we have empathy; and eventually project our own feelings on her. I was inspired by multiple mediums: theatre, music, literature. Noteworthy, Edward Hopper paintings and Diane Arbus photographs. I felt compelled to place the characters in the forefront like a family portrait. Props and people are balanced and perfectly placed to mock Gladys’s imperfect life. And so, the prettier we make Gladys’s world, the more absurd it becomes. The genre falls in the category of dark comedy. In addition to being a dark comedy, the style focuses on surrealism – distorted and irrational. The cinematography and edits are long and deliberate, encouraging introspection. After viewing, I want the audience to love it or hate it … anything in-between will be a failure on my part.