“I’ve been researching the life of Olive Thomas for more than 20 years. You might say I have an obsession with her, one which started when I was a young girl and came across her photo in Mary Pickford’s autobiography. Since then, I’ve been digging through loads of rumours and misinformation to try and uncover the truth about her story. ”
—Michele Gouveia, Director
Movies are a part of our everyday lives yet we rarely stop to think about their origin and how they evolved into the films we watch today. OLIVE & JACK: The love story that changed Hollywood is a feature documentary that explores the early days of filmmaking through one of its most shocking tragedies. Silent film stars Olive Thomas and Jack Pickford were Hollywood’s golden couple until Olive’s mysterious death in 1920 shattered their image and the industry. It was a tragedy that would become Hollywood’s first public scandal and ultimately change movies forever.
At its core, OLIVE & JACK is a story centered on two young stars whose public persona was that of the perfect American couple. Fawned over by the press and adored by moviegoers, they came to symbolize the vibrant new film industry. Yet behind the scenes, their lives were far from the fairytale that the newspapers and magazines painted. Movie fame brought countless young people wealth and attention but often at a cost. Our film explores the pressures of the spotlight and of the dangers that lurk in the shadows.
Set against a backdrop of early 20th-century America, the film examines the society at the time, from prohibition and drug addiction to the rise of celebrity culture and the evolving role of women in the country. It highlights how the film industry reflected society and how a series of scandals created a shift in sentiments that would change the way movies were made for decades to come.
In 1916, up-and-coming actress and former Follies girl Olive Thomas met popular screen actor Jack Pickford. The two would fall madly in love and become one of Hollywood’s first It couples.
After building a career in New York as a model, Olive landed a role in the biggest show on Broadway, The Ziegfeld Follies. She left a year later for the movies. Jack was a movie star with a bad boy reputation. He was also the younger brother of Mary Pickford, the most powerful woman in Hollywood.
Their relationship and subsequent marriage were popular fodder for the press. Yet, despite the happy headlines, their relationship was marked by long separations and Olive’s rejection by the Pickford family.
In 1920, Olive made film history when she played the lead in The Flapper—the first time that the term was used in American cinema. Although bobbed hair and short skirts were to come later in the decade, Olive’s character has all the makings of what we now associate with the progressive woman of the Roaring 20s. It was one of her last performances. Olive would die later that year on September 10, 1920.
100 years later, Olive’s death is still one of the most unsettling and mysterious stories in American film history. It would be the first in a series of scandals that would crack the glittery facade of Hollywood, outrage the public, and usher in a period of change that would affect the course of Hollywood and the movies it produced.
While a wide range of changes swept through the film industry, one of the most significant was the impact on the women of Hollywood. Many films of the silent era were directed and produced by women, and it was commonplace to see female leads, like Olive, playing a rich variety of roles—complex dramatic heroines, slapstick comediennes, and powerful action stars. But with the consolidation of the film studios and the obvious financial potential of the industry, women leaders were pushed out and the amount of meaningful roles offered to actresses slashed. We want to explore the forces that would drive this representation of women on screen for decades to come and the barriers that continue to face women in Hollywood today.
It’s believed that almost 90% of all silent films are lost. Telling the story of the beginnings of the film industry and its stars will bring attention not only to their importance but of an art form that needs to be remembered and preserved.
We want to do this film right and, unfortunately, filmmaking is expensive. Paying our crew, covering travel, and digitizing archival materials all costs money, and while getting the film completed will take more than our $30,000 goal, we know we can make it through initial production if we reach it.
INTERVIEWS: At the center of most great documentaries are great interviews, and the people who know Olive and Jack’s story best are spread out across the country. Many of these experts are in our hometown of New York City but many are elsewhere, particularly in the land of American cinema itself, Los Angeles. Reaching our goal will allow us to travel to California and beyond to shoot key interviews with some of today’s leading storytellers.
ARCHIVAL RESEARCH: Materials like Olive and Jack’s films, personal photographs, and film memorabilia will be crucial to telling this story. While we have been conducting research in New York City, finding all the materials we need will mean hitting the road. Reaching our goal will allow us to track down some of our stars’ films, dig for rarely-seen materials, and hunt for hidden gems that will help bring our stars’ story to life.
MICHELE GOUVEIA (Producer/Director) – Michele is an accomplished writer and producer who has worked in both television and film. Her documentary work has covered the history of the 20th century with topics ranging from the silent movie era to the Olympics. An authority on the 1920s and early Hollywood, she has lectured on film history and regularly hosts film screenings at the New York Public Library.
DAN KERRIGAN (Producer/Cinematographer) – Dan is a seasoned documentary filmmaker, having spent many years both behind the camera and in the edit suite on all manner of short and long form projects. Most recently, his work as a documentary cinematographer screened at the 2018 DOCNYC Festival in New York and was released on STARZ.
ALLISON ANDERS (Executive Producer)- Allison Anders is an award-winning screenwriter and film and TV director. Her film work includes Gas Food Lodging and Grace Of My Heart, and she’s directed episodes of TV which include Sex And The City, Orange Is The New Black, and Mayans. She has been nominated for an Emmy for Best Director and won a Peabody Award for her film Things Behind The Sun.
WAYNE BARKER (Composer) – Wayne Barker has garnered acclaim for his original compositions and live performances in the theatre, including a Tony nomination and Drama Desk award for best original score for Peter and the Starcatcher. His numerous credits include piano scores for Beth Henley’s Laugh, an homage to silent-era slapstick, and Joe DiPietro’s Hollywood, centered on the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor.
Check out what some of our rewards will look like with the mockups below! The LIMITED-EDITION POSTCARDS and the OLIVE & JACK TOTE BAG!
The main difficulty we will face is the age of our story. Much of the narrative is over 100 years old and this presents unique challenges. There are no first person accounts to be had and much of the history and source materials (films, images) from early Hollywood has been lost or forgotten. We have already begun to overcome this by securing interviews with top experts who know this story best. In addition, we intend to physically visit the locations where existing material resides and gather every available resource and, hopefully, discover new material. We are expanding the story to the larger historical and cultural contexts in which it took place and the ramifications that are still felt from these events today. This will allow us to add a richness to the narrative that may have been lost otherwise.