Episode 33: Don’t Dismiss Your Dreams: Melissa Davey on Becoming a Filmmaker at 65.
Melissa Davey retired from a lengthy corporate career at the end of 2015 to pursue her second act and her dream of becoming a filmmaker, which she made a reality when she completed her film Beyond Sixty. It’s a feature length documentary about women over the age of 60 who have lived remarkable lives and have remarkable and inspiring stories to share with the rest of us. Her life-long love of film, reading about how films are made, seeing as many films as she could, put her in a position to take advantage of an opportunity that came her way, when she was the highest charity auction bidder for a day on a film set with director M. Night Shyalaman. His question to her, “What do you really want to do?” set in motion a new chapter in her life when she decided to leave her long-time corporate job and become a filmmaker.
Topics include:
Facing the fear of making a big life change
Her practice of Life Layering through her interest in all aspects of film prepared her for this moment
Taking a self-inventory
How taking a detour led her to meet M. Night Shyalaman, who asked her the question that would change her life
Her film, Beyond Sixty, and three of the women profiled in the film, including
Susan Bennett, the original voice of Siri; Peggy Bradnick Jackson, who has turned her traumatic abduction as a teenager into a plea for mental illness awareness; and A’lelia Bundles, the great great granddaughter and biographer of Madam C.J. Walker, the first Black woman millionaire.
Her next project
Guest Bio:
Melissa Davey, age 71, retired from a lengthy corporate career at the end of 2015. Pursuing her dream of becoming a filmmaker became a reality in late 2018 when Melissa completed her first film, Beyond Sixty Project, a feature length documentary about women over the age of sixty. During 2019 Melissa’s film was accepted by and screened at 8 film festivals throughout the United States and Canada, winning awards and confirming that it is truly never too late to learn something new. The film was picked up by a Distributor in late 2020 and was released in Spring, 2021 .
Resources:
Transcript:
Betsy Bush (00:00):
Welcome to the latest version. I'm your host, Betsy Bush. We are living longer, not just growing older. And we're pushing back against the expectations that we are finished at 50 or 60 or beyond. What do you still want to do? Is it follow your artistic passions, start a business or pivot to something completely unexpected. I'm talking to people who are sharing their insights and advice for others on the path to reinvention. So what's your latest version?
Melissa Davey (00:38):
All the time that I was working, I was interested in film, I was reading about how films are made. I was watching every film that I could, and I always had this little nagging voice saying, just do it, go make a film. If you're that interested, why not?
Betsy Bush (00:56):
Melissa Davey retired from a lengthy corporate career at the end of 2015 to pursue her second act and her dream of becoming a filmmaker. She's a great guest for the latest version, because she has just the kind of story my listener wants to hear. She made her dream of being a filmmaker, a reality when she completed her film beyond Sixty, it's a feature length documentary about women over the age of 60 who have lived remarkable lives and have really interesting stories to share with the rest of us, Melissa Davey, welcome to the latest version.
Melissa Davey (01:36):
Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be here.
Betsy Bush (01:39):
I am really astonished how good beyond 60 is. And I say this as someone who went to NYU film school, which was my first undergraduate degree, you know, graduating in the early eighties. And I know it's not an easy thing, it looks easy, but it's not, but you decided to pursue film after a lengthy career. And I would say management, how would you describe what you were doing?
Melissa Davey (02:12):
Yeah, all of my career, both in the nonprofit world and then later in the for-profit world was related in senior management. I was either developing programs and run operations and managing them throughout the country, all related to disability and the insurance market.
Betsy Bush (02:31):
I can see a lot of people going, wow. I don't think I would last 22 years or however long it was at your corporate job, but to go from something like that to a very creative field, what was that about? Was there always something inside you that said I need to bust out and do something different? Just curious.
Melissa Davey (02:52):
Yeah. I mean, my life took many, uh, circuitous routes and because I had these jobs for long periods of time doesn't mean that I wasn't doing other things on the side. And I was always so curious, you know, about people's stories and at work, you know, the customers that I had, the staff that I hired, I was always listening to their stories into interested in their stories. And I think that's sort of what led me down the path of wanting to do film. I've always been in love with film, but it was this creative piece that wasn't quite being satisfied in building marketing and operating businesses for people. I mean, that in itself was wonderful and I had a wonderful run, but there was something eating at me and it really didn't hit me until I got a lot older. So as you said in the intro, I was 65 when I decided to leave. And, you know, I was one of the lucky women in senior management who, was in a company that really took no notice that I was of a certain age. I could have stayed there for another five, 10 years, as long as I wanted to. And as long as my creativity within the business world was, you know, still on top, but there was something eating at me. And I really believe it was looking at the clock and realizing one day that I was 65 at the time. And you know how you get on these trains in life and you're just going fast and everything's happening and you're growing your family, you're taking care of things. You're enjoying your work and you stop one day and you look and you realize that, Ooh, you know, here I am 65, do I really wanna do this? And a few things happened to make me really sit down and question that.
Melissa Davey (04:52):
And one was that our company was being bought out again by private equity. And I'd been on that train before we'd through that a few times. And I knew that they would require me to make a significant investment again of five years. And that's when I started saying, okay, um, 65, that means I would be 70. Do I still wanna be at this desk? And I always had a joke at work with my senior management team that I didn't want to die at my desk. And it was said, you know, tongue in cheek, but I really did mean that I didn't feel that this was my last hurrah. And it started to worry me a little bit. You know, when I sat there doing inventory of all the things that, that I hadn't done of all the things that interested me, like you, you have a leg up on me, you went to film school. I didn't do that. But all the time that I was working, I was interested in film. I was reading about how films are made. I was watching every film that I could, and I always had this little nagging voice saying, just do it. go make a film if you're that interested. Why not?
Betsy Bush (06:07):
Why not? That's so interesting because I've had guests who have wanted to pursue artistic careers early in their life, in their twenties and realized I don't want to be a starving artist. I don't wanna be struggling. I wanna be financially secure. And then at a certain point, that artistic urge really takes over. And they've reached a point where they can say, I'm gonna put this prior life aside I've done that. I've achieved a certain result. Now I want to return to my desk and write a novel or take up painting. And things like that. It's a very powerful urge to create.
Melissa Davey (06:51):
You're absolutely right. You are right. 100% on point with how I was feeling and how so many women that I've interviewed of a certain age or feeling as well. And, you know, there's the fear factor when you're younger. And you talked about that just a minute ago, you have this security of income and a steady job. And would you really throw all of that away to pursue something that may not bring you the same return? Yes. Maybe it would gratify you in a different way, but financially it's true. It is a huge risk to jump into something, you know, on the artistic side of things. I think sometimes it takes us years of experience and experiencing life before you can actually get through the fear to take a look at, you know, the entire landscape and say, is this the good time to try it? Because you do have to plan. You do have to make maybe some concessions in life in order to pursue what you really want to do, but it can be done. And in my, you know, observation, most of the people who don't make the jump it's because of that fear, some will clearly tell you I can't financially do it right now. And that makes perfect sense to me. And then maybe they're making a plan to do it at a later time in their life. But most people are just afraid. And most people, if you sit with them and talk with them about it will tell you it's too scary to make that leap to do something that I have no connection to. I have no training in, you know, why would I do that? So they kind of talk themselves out of it. I think.
Betsy Bush (08:40):
Yeah. That's interesting. I've interviewed someone who's written an interesting book. Michael Clinton has written a book called roar about, you know, taking those steps to change your life after a certain point, because a lot of us, well, as you know, I think in the insurance world, we could all live to be into our nineties. A lot of us will live to be a hundred. Do we wanna be 65? And that's a great time to be making a pivot because you don't wanna be 95 and say, gee, I had thirty years in which to do something. And I was too scared to do it. What was I afraid of? Right. And I've wasted, you know, a third of your life could be in retirement or whatever we wanna call. I happen to hate the word retirement, but.
Melissa Davey (09:29):
I do too.
Betsy Bush (09:31):
What do you call it? Do you have a way to describe this phase of your life?
Melissa Davey (09:35):
I haven't quite figured out anything that feels terribly comfortable, but retirement to me means you've stopped. Yes. You know, you've stopped everything. I now have gotten more comfortable saying I left my job and I started a new one and people will many times try to put me in the retirement box and say, no, no, you retired from your job. I'm like, no, I didn't. I actually quit. Uh, so that I could pursue something new so that there is this, you know, false sense that people have careers and that's what counts. And then when they leave that career, that secure career and go into something maybe artistic that, that isn't as equal.
Betsy Bush (10:21):
Yes. It takes on, you know, the guise of a hobby. Oh, well, that's just a hobby. It's just a pastime. It's somehow is less legitimate than what you were doing in an office.
Melissa Davey (10:34):
Yes. And that's our culture. I mean, every think based on what are you earning, what is it that you are doing that is bringing you, you know, money. And that is a cultural thing. I think in our society that we need to get over. Yeah. Because I don't feel retired. And I have people asking me all the time in the grocery store, there was a woman behind the counter taking my, you know, groceries. And she said, oh, are you retired? I guess, because I was there in the middle of the day. And because I look a little bit older, but I said, no, actually I'm not retired, but today I have off. And you know, I'm doing my grocery shopping and it, it was an interesting comment. I thought, oh, you must be retired. Yeah. You know, cause many artists don't work nine to five.
Betsy Bush (11:22):
No, that's one of the appealing factors. Isn't exactly. You know, one thing that Michael Clinton talks about in his book ROAR is this idea of life layering, adding depth to your life, by taking on the way you were talking about how you love filmmaking and studying film and going to films and reading about films is I think what Michael Clinton would call life layering. You've added these different layers to your life that have enriched your life. And then now you're able to deploy all that knowledge. Yeah. Is there for you? I'd love to hear how you first got this idea that you could do film or what were those first steps that put you on the road to being a filmmaker?
Melissa Davey (12:15):
Okay. It's a little again, circuitous roots. It's the way I do things. So I was sitting there in my desk at 65 saying, oh, gee whiz, what am I gonna do? Will I sign up for another five years? No, I can't do that this time. And I remember talking with my boss who was the CEO O and saying, I, you know, don't wanna die at my desk. I have to quickly figure this out. I need to do something. So I did the interview, you know, self inventory and really started coming up with things. And I had a, quite a list.
Betsy Bush (12:50):
Well, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, tell me about the self inventory. This is intresting. Was this something you had read about, or it was just something I'm going to,
Melissa Davey (12:57):
No, it was just, it seemed natural. It was like a, you know, it just started happening where I picked up a pen and my pad and started making a list of all the things that I wish I had done, but I hadn't done. And some were re ridiculous, you know, and some, I didn't have the physical capacity to do, but I found them interesting. So I started crossing off the ones that were pie in the sky and film just stayed there the whole time playing a saxophone, stayed there. But I finally had to remove that because I don't read music. And I thought, well, if I don't start to learn how to read music until now, it could take me a while, but a film, I think I could figure it out immediately. I think I could start doing it and learning it as I go, which was really how I did business. You know, when you're young and you start creating businesses and bill holding businesses, you really don't have that experience of doing it. You can be, uh, taught via books and whatnot as to what you should be looking for on how to create a budget or whatever. But I didn't really have experience when I built the division of the company that I did. So I thought, well, if I could do that, why couldn't I make a film? And then a couple of things happend. So I, again, I'm just cogitating and thinking about it. And I went to a meeting in DC, a congressional meeting, which I had been to many, many, many times. And I remember sitting there thinking, you know, this will probably be my last meeting if I leave. And then I remember thinking how awful this meeting was, because it seemed like Groundhog day.
Melissa Davey (14:44):
And it hit me squarely in the face that you've been coming to these meetings with congressional people for 20 plus years. And it never changes. We don't move forward. So that day I knew I couldn't do this anymore. I did not want to do it anymore. So I went home early from that meeting after I gave my little testimony, went home early and, um, met up with a friend and she asked me to go with her, to pick up her daughter at school and drop her off at the horse barn. And that's locally here in Chester county, Pennsylvania. So as we're driving up this dirt road on this dark and dreary, strange looking March day, she said, you know, I come up here every day and I think they're making a film over there. And she pointed and I looked and there were, you know, it was weird. There were, there were lights and camera people. And, and I said, oh, absolutely. So we continued up the road, dropped off grace and came back down and we stopped and watched. And, you know, I took a picture of a very interesting driveway with CRA trees leading to this old farmhouse. And I said, you know, I think I know who it is. That's filming this. And she looked at me kind of curiously, like how the heck could you know that? And I said, M. Night Shyamalan, he lives here and he does spooky movies and look at this set. And so I pulled out my iPhone and I pulled up his website and up came a picture of the picture that I just took of the driveway. And it said, and I thought, oh boy. And it said, M Night Shyamalan making a micro budget film in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So we confirmed that it was him. And then there was this little red button on his website and it said, charity buzz. And I didn't know what that was at the time. So I hit it and up came this information about his educational foundation. Um, so I'm reading that. And then it said win a day on the set with him, M. Night Shyamalan and the proceeds that you would be betting would go to this wonderful educational foundation. So I did, I started, you know, my girlfriend was like, you've gotta do this. Yes, this is destiny do it. So I started betting against a dentist in New Jersey for a few days. And you know, it was starting to get a little expensive. So I went and told my husband, you know, by the way, just FYI, you know, I'm trying. And he said, oh, that sounds great. You would love that. And so short story, I was the one who was chosen, I guess I gave the most money and they chose me. While I was sitting at my desk at work. I had my own propped up cuz I knew they were gonna be announcing. And there it was, you went a day on the set with M Night Shyamalan. Yeah, it was crazy. So within the month I was, you know, with him for eight plus hours filming a scene from the visit. And when I say with him, I mean that he was so welcoming and open that he had me behind the camera with him. He had me with his crew. He asked me what I thought about how he was doing things. And he encouraged me to ask him questions. So here I was, you know, this older woman with this young filmmaker. And I was amazed that he didn't have me sitting in a chair just watching
Betsy Bush (18:23):
That is incredible. What a story.
Melissa Davey (18:26):
Yeah. I was completely enthralled. And at lunch we sat together and he said, what do you do for work? And I tried to do the one sentence, you know, manage care, disability insurance, you know, representation for social security. And he glazed over and he looked at me and he said, what do you really want to do? And I quickly said, I, I want your job. And he said, 'you better hurry up'. And this was something that he wouldn't even remember. He was being, you know, funny. He said, you better hurry up. I was a 65 year old woman sitting there. And you know, those feelings, you get kind of the feelings. Like you felt this before, like the stomach drops, it was like that. It was like a ton of bricks had hit me. And I thought his simple words, 'well, you better hurry up" that did it that day. So I went home late that night, walked in the door and said to my husband, I'm quitting my job and I'm going to make a film. And he, you know, he's been with me a long time. So he just kind of noded and said, okay, all right. And the next day I did, I went to the CEO and I gave a very, I gave a year's notice because I needed to mentor someone to take over this division that I had built. And I figured that that one year would give me time, plan this out, decide what it was and walk out the door already working in the film. And that's exactly how it worked.
Betsy Bush (20:00):
That is incredible. So you've kind of figured out that transitional moment when you leave that behind, but fortunately you had this overlap yes. That allowed you to continue to work, do what you had to do to leave on the best of terms, everything taken care of, but at the same time, opening that door to that new life.
Melissa Davey (20:22):
Yes. Yeah. And by the time I left, I had actually started the film, found a production company to help me had already done the teaser as I had done the first three interviews and I had a website and I was, you know, I walked out the door ready to go and it made it less scary. It made it less scary because I had already spent months figuring out how I was going to do this and knowing pretty much what I wanted it to look like.
Betsy Bush (20:55):
So how did you decide on the topic Beyond Sixty? I mean, obviously you are yourself beyond 60. Yes. So tell me how you decided that that was how you were going to make your first film.
Melissa Davey (21:11):
I actually figured that out that night that I came home from being with Shyamalan, you know, I didn't sleep well that night cuz I had made the decision to do something big. And while I was awake, laying in bed, I was thinking about, well, what will I do? You know, what kind of a movie? And I didn't feel that I was ready to, you know, write a script and do something in that realm. And I thought about, well, what makes sense? And I thought, well documentary because I love stories and I'm good at storytelling, you know, that was part of business as well. And that would be comfortable for me. And what would I talk about? Well, me, you know, people like me, women over the age of 60 who become invisible. I mean that had been something that I was concerned about anyway. You know, hearing stories about women in other businesses who were being, let go early because of their age or, you know, being ignored and not, you know, or passed on for higher roles because they were of a certain age and it had bothered me for years. So I thought, well, you know, all these women I know are so relevant and so interesting and have such great back stories. Why don't I just go find some women and start interviewing them and come up with some type of a documentary that would prove to people and inspire people to show them that women are still relevant and they're still doing really cool things as they get older.
Betsy Bush (22:48):
Really cool. Tell me about some of your guests because you have a wide range of stories and abilities and talents. You know, some that are really intriguing. I was telling my producer today you found the woman who voiced Siri. I know that we, and I don't know what we thought look like, but she's a lovely woman, but you would not think that maybe her voice was that of Siri, but how did you find her?
Melissa Davey (23:17):
You know what we connected on Twitter. Oh, but she saw something that I had written about beyond 60, what I was trying to do. And she got in touch. And so we started to chat back and forth. And then I got on the phone with her and, and I asked her, after I heard her story, would you be willing to do this? And she said, sure. And she is a wonderful person. I still talk with her Susan Bennett,
Betsy Bush (23:44):
Susan Bennett. We should mention her name. Susan Bennett is the voice actress. Yeah. Yes.
Melissa Davey (23:49):
And she's so multifaceted. I mean, she's a musician and a singer and she has a band. You know, she decided she's my age. I mean, we're in our seventies and she's decided there's no way I'm hanging it up. And if I don't have voice over work, I'll play in the band and sing. And she's had a wonderful, interesting life and she continues to be extremely relevant. And she tells a great story in the film about, you know, why companies use voiceover. They don't want you to see who it is. Want you to imagine who it is that you're speaking with. So it could be some young woman that you hope you're speaking with, but it's really somebody who could be much older. And it's really interesting. The voiceover world is really interesting. Yeah. I love Susan. And she was a great part of the film.
Betsy Bush (24:46):
Truly. You also interviewed the granddaughter of Madam CJ Walker, who is, I hear more and more about her all the time. She was the first black woman who became a millionaire. She was an entrepreneur who pioneered beauty products made for black women, hair products, skin products, things like that. And her granddaughter wrote her biography.
Melissa Davey (25:13):
Yeah. A’lelia Bundles is actually her great, great granddaughter.
Betsy Bush (25:16):
Oh my gosh. Okay. Right. Okay.
Melissa Davey (25:18):
But A’lelia is amazing. She she's had an amazing career as a writer, a journalist, you know, she was wor working on presidential campaigns back in the eighties. She's just a fascinating woman. And she found this need to bring her great, great grandmother's story forward because there were so many stories about her that weren't quite accurate. So she digs deep and she's come up with several books now covering Madam CJ Walker, which are phenomenal. Some are for young people and some are adult versions. And it is just an amazing story. And A’lelia is an amazing woman. And she is very visible these days, not only connected to the books that she's written, but she does a lot with pursuing stories around black history and making sure that these stories are told. She's a wonderful woman.
Betsy Bush (26:19):
I thought it was so interesting. The shot of her in the room where she keeps all the files of materials on Madam CJ Walker. And if anyone thinks that, oh, I'm gonna write a biography of so and so someday take a look at her bedroom or the spare room where everything is, right. You know, piles and piles of milk crates filled with file folders, you know, everything, all your documentation, just, it took up an entire room.
Melissa Davey (26:47):
Literally it did. It was literally on the bed, on the floor, up the walls. I mean, thousands of documents that she has filed away on every character and every book that she's written about Madam CJ Walker. And it was, I remember walking up there with her. She was laughing. We were downstairs interviewing and she said, okay. I said, can you show me the room where you're keeping all these papers? And she hesitated for a moment. She laughed. She said, follow me. And we got up there and we couldn't believe it. It was an amazing sight and it is in the film, but it just does go to show you how much research she had to years and decades of research is in that room. Amazing. And then she's taking a lot of that and now putting it into the computer, which is, you know, tedious and long hours, but she loves it. And she's a wonderful writer, wonderful writer,
Betsy Bush (27:48):
Just incredible. You know, all of the stories touched me, but there was one in particular, it was a woman in Pennsylvania who had a really traumatic experience as a young woman when she was abducted by someone who kept her hostage for a few days. And then the state police, you know, found her. Can you tell us a little bit about her.
Melissa Davey (28:13):
Yeah. That's Peggy Bradnick Jackson and she was abducted from the school bus. She was 16 years old in Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, which is about three hours plus west of me in the center of the state, north central, very mountainous and woodsy and very small towns out there. And she got off the bus and this, you know, mentally ill man who had been in the community for a very long time, but nobody quite knew who he was, but he did odd jobs and he was a little strange and he, they knew him as Bicycle Pete. That's what they called him because he rode a bike around town, but he abducted her at gunpoint and took her into the woods for eight days. So it was eight full days in this treacherous mountainous area. And he was really trying to get somewhere. And he was hoping that if he took someone who could steal a car for him and get him to where he needed to be, that, you know, it was the poor man was just, you know, obviously not thinking straight. Yeah. But it was a torturous time for her. Sure. And she's lucky that she was alive. Yeah. At the end of it. And it became this huge manhunt. They were brought in people from all over the country to help the FBI came in from Philadelphia. One of the FBI agents was shot by this man. This man also shot someone else during their eight days in the woods. And, you know, Peggy talks of thinking that she probably was going to die. And the things that happened to her shouldn't happen to any young girl. Yeah. But her story, you know, finally the police kill him. She's chained to him and they kill him. She's right near him when this happens. So she goes through this traumatic experience and many years later, she has taken that and made it positive of in that she wants to do more, to help reform mental health services to people in prisons. And you know, people like this poor man, she has forgiven him, you know, where most people wouldn't be able to find whatever it was that they had inside to be able to forgive him. She did. And she took her story forward all these decades to talk about how we need to forgive people and how we need to help people and identify people with mental illness and do more for them as opposed to just stick them in prisons.
Betsy Bush (30:56):
It's an incredibly moving story. And to have lived through that, probably have, you know, carried this traumatic event with you, but to find forgiveness and, and understanding of his life story. As I think they were able to piece together someone who did not have a loving home who was not cared for at all, and that this is what happened. And as a result, two people were killed and you know, her life was also in danger that this is the cost of uncared for people, people whose mental health is ignored by the community. Everyone can be affected.
Melissa Davey (31:36):
Right. And she says, it's not his fault. It wasn't his fault. And I don't, you know, and I spent a couple days with her. So I don't know that I could have found that, that in, I don't know, cuz I've never experienced anything like that. And I hope I don't, but I don't know if I could be able to say it wasn't his fault and I forgive him. I hope I could. Yeah,
Betsy Bush (32:01):
No, truly a remarkable story under a remarkable woman. Yes. And a story that I'm glad you brought to the attention of viewers, of your wonderful film Beyond Sixty. Yeah. How did you find your crew and who did the editing, who made those decisions? You have some interesting graphic choices that you made. I'm curious how that all came through. Very
Melissa Davey (32:22):
Interesting. Well, right away when I had made that decision that I was going to leave, I immediately started networking with people to find out who should I talk to in the Philly area that could help me. Cause I knew that I needed help with camera lights and sound. I knew that. So I was mentoring a young woman to help her find a new job. And I was telling her that I was going to be leaving to do this. And she said, oh, my boyfriend is an owner of a production company in Philly. Why don't I introduce to you? And you can talk with him about what you want. He might be able to set you in a positive direction. So we met and he had two other partners and they fell in love with the story. And I liked them. These three young men, I mean, you know, younger than my children. And they had something that I didn't have and I had something they didn't have. And they were very intrigued about doing a documentary about older women. So we formed this little partnership and off we went. So for the next, almost three years, it took us to film all the different subjects in all the different states to edit it, put it together. I sat with the editor because I did not have the computer editing experience. And I chose, you know, what pieces I wanted in the film and then worked with them to come up with all the creative sides. It was a very collaborative, wonderful experience. And it gave me the tools I need to move forward to the next film.
Betsy Bush (34:11):
Well, I wanna know what your next film is. What's the plan. Now
Melissa Davey (34:15):
I am working on another film, which I hope will start filming sometime may and it's in Northern California. So this time, instead of interviewing nine women, I'm going to be interviewing one woman who is also over the age of 60, who has a very, very compelling, compelling story. The backstory and the current story is very, very interesting. And if you've ever heard of the documentary Free Sp;p about Alex, Honnold the climber, the only person to climb El Capitan in Yosemite without ropes. It's his mother.
Betsy Bush (34:56):
Oh my.
Melissa Davey (34:57):
And she has an extremely interesting story. So I hope to be out there. I'm working now this week to interview crews out in the Sacramento area to get that set up. And I hope to be out there in may. Now that COVID has kind of settled a bit on everybody's vaccinated, it feels a little bit like it's time to maybe venture out again.
Betsy Bush (35:22):
Well, that sounds great. This has been an incredible conversation, Melissa. And I so appreciate your sharing so much of how this all came together and your process of transitioning. And I'm wondering if you have some advice to share to others who might be listening to your story and saying, I wanna do something like that. What would you tell them?
Melissa Davey (35:48):
Well, I think first I would say, and it sounds very basic, but it really hits home. And that is don't dismiss dreams that you have. Don't dismiss them and put them in a box and say, well, they're only a dream, because you can make dreams a reality. And you really, if you do have dreams that keep coming back over the years, they're worth looking at, and then the next one would be to work through the fear because it's usually, you know, the fear that's going to hold you back from pursuing anything that is new different and something that you feel you're not qualified possibly to do, that you have to really listen to your fear, work through it. Maybe that even means going and speak with someone to help you get through that fear. Because, you know, we all know that we've done things that we were very afraid of, but we didn't die. We came out the other end and it felt very uncomfortable in the beginning, but we came out the other end and we have to kind of go back to our, our entire life. And remember all of those times we were afraid, but we made it through.
Melissa Davey (37:04):
And then the last thing I think, I always tell people, especially those people that I mentor the younger people is to take the detours in life. Always take detours because detours can present something to you that you wouldn't see at all. If you stayed on the same route all the time, there are a lot of people that are very comfortable driving the same way to work every day for 50 years, there are people who will only go to two restaurants because that's where they go. And it kind of keeps you in a sphere that is very limiting. So for me, it's always been, I always have taken, even when I was younger detours all the time and many times it has brought me to something that made me curious, made me stop, made me look, and I learned something from it. So, you know, that day I took the detour and went up the dirt road, right. I would've never been on the set with M Night Shyalaman and he never would've said, "what do you really want to do?" You know, all of that was because of a detour that day. So I think those are the three things I would say.
Betsy Bush (38:17):
Wow, always take the detours. That is so true. Cuz you never know what you're going to run into. Um, Melissa Davey, I am so grateful for the time you've given us today and sharing your incredible journey. I want to make sure my listener knows how to see your film. It's streaming on. I got it on apple, apple plus. Yeah, it's called Beyond Sixty. Yes. And anything you wanna add about that?
Melissa Davey (38:48):
You can find it. It's streaming almost everywhere right now. It's on Vimeo, voodoo, apple TV, Amazon prime video. It's also on demand. If you still have cable TV and some people still do so you can just, you know, punch in Beyond Sixty and you spell it out. S I X, T Y into the search bar and boom, you'll be able to rent it there as well.
Betsy Bush (39:14):
Well, well worth your time. And you'll be really inspired by the nine women that Melissa talked to in the movie and wow. What an incredible conversation we've had. Thank you so much, Melissa Davey.
Melissa Davey (39:28):
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Betsy Bush (39:31):
Bye-bye Thanks for listening. You can listen to episodes on our website, the latest version podcast.com and read more about me and my guests. If you're listening to the podcast on apple or Spotify, please rate, review and subscribe. And if you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe and give us a thumbs up. You really helps the show. I'm Etsy Bush, and this is my latest version.
