Melissa Davey: Embracing Passion and Transformation Through Filmmaking After 60

She was a corporate executive who ran a multi-million dollar business and became an award-winning filmmaker without any experience at all , at 65 , when many of us were thinking of slowing down . Melissa just got started .

Well , if you've been wondering if it's too late to pursue your dreams or jump into something new , you how determination , vision and courage can transfer your next chapter into the greatest journey of your life . Welcome , melissa .

He was always curious about what the possibilities were for next . So he would start new businesses , land new jobs and we would move . We moved a lot . It was pretty crazy actually .

So I got really good at , you know , rolling into the new house with the moving van and while my parents were unpacking , I would go around the neighborhood knocking on doors saying , hey , do you have any kids ? You know I introduced myself and do you have any kids that I could meet ? I did it .

It became like my mission every time I made a change was I needed to figure out where did I fit in and who were the people around me that I wanted to hang out with . So I took it sort of as a challenge and it actually became fun . And I think of my older brother . It was not fun for him , it was not easy for him .

You know two different personalities . But I look back and I see that for most people I think it would be kind of daunting and , you know , a little scary .

I always went to the movies , starting at a very young age , but at nine , when we lived in Connecticut , I was in walking distance to the theater and it was back when it was , you know , saturday matinee was 25 cents that's how old I am but we could go with our friends so we could grab a group of little kids and go off by ourselves to the movies , because

there was no , you know , nobody was worried about people lurking in the bushes waiting to take away their children . It was , you know , much more free society then . Take away their children . It was , you know , much more free society then . So I would go to the every Saturday matinee that I could possibly get to .

I went to , and across the street from the movie theater was a bookstore and in that bookstore there were books about movies and directors and I would go in there and read .

I would sit on the floor and just , you know , immerse myself in reading about the films , to the point where the owner of the bookstore asked me what I was doing and I said , hey , I was nine . How can I get a job here ? Because I like the books . So the guy hired me for , you know , I don't know , 50 cents or something .

I would come in and dust the shelves and just make sure things were straightened out and I would get to read all these books about film , which was you know . So it was always there that I love movies . Love , love , love .

You know , this is what you should do , or what society expected people to do . So I never even thought about it , I never even considered it . I thought that only certain people became filmmakers and I was happy with that and I was happy to watch their films , you know , and take what I could from each of those films .

First I thought I was going to be a teacher , but it wasn't quite for me and I ended up in legal services representing poverty individuals before the Social Security Administration and the Department of Education .

So I did that for a good number of years , training attorneys and paralegals in the world of Social Security , became a little bit of an expert and then after 12 years in that I was recruited to a for-profit company in Pennsylvania that's where I am now to come and build a for-profit arm of their company and had a very robust , large corporate career and it was

great . I mean , I moved a lot with my jobs . I was always on the road . I was , you know , which is that's me . I think I need to be moving and that was instilled in me at a very young age .

But I had offices around the United States so I was constantly going to those different offices , had great staff , great opportunities and no ageism in the company . So I didn't have to leave . You know , I could still be there today at 74 if I wanted to be .

And I was sitting at my desk at that same moment saying to myself oh my gosh , I'm 65 . And why am I still here ? And what haven't I done ? And I was making lists of all the things that I had dreamed about as a young person that I had never done , and just really asking myself , well , why not ? Why didn't you do it ?

And I would come up with you know all these crazy answers . And then the CEO came to me and said that and I thought , hmm . And then I ended up in DC at a congressional meeting for Social Security that I would go to on a regular basis , and I remember sitting there feeling like , oh my gosh , this is like deja vu .

Every time I come to this meeting it's the same year in and year out , and I remember that feeling of I am done with this . I was feeling a little bit done at work . I knew we were being bought out . I was looking at the calendar , I knew what my age was .

I went to this meeting and said and that's when I really started to pay attention to that list that I made , and coming to the top of the list of the fantasy list for Melissa Davey was filmmaking making and that one was , you know , it had . I had a happy face next to it with laughter tears coming out of , like , really , could I really do this ?

Just to give you an idea , one of the other things was play the saxophone and be in a band . And you know why didn't I do that ? Well , I don't read music . So I kept moving that one down lower because I thought I'm never going to be able to learn how to read music plus learn how to play in a short period of time . And I kept coming back to it .

Well , I think maybe the film part would be the easiest thing for me to do , but but I just sort of let it sit there . Then , that day that I came back from DC , I left early and I leaned over to a friend after I did my piece and I said I'm you know , I'm not going to stay today , I'm going back , I'm done .

So I came back here , did not go back to work , and instead hooked up with a friend that I hadn't seen in a while and she said you need to come with me to pick up her daughter and drop her off at the horse barn . Now I live in Chester County , pennsylvania . If anybody knows where that is , it's about 24 miles due west of Philadelphia .

And so I went with her and we went up the dirt road to drop Grace off at the horse barn . And she said to me you know I come here every day and I think they're making a movie over there . And I looked over and she was right there were lights and you know all the things that you would see on a set .

It was outside , it was kind of a spooky day and it was all craggly trees , going down a long driveway to an old farmhouse . And I thought to myself , I thought I knew who it probably was . So we dropped her off , came back , sat there by the side of the road and she said how could you possibly know who it is ? And I said well , think about it .

It's Chester County , pennsylvania . Looks pretty spooky . I'll bet you it's M Night Shyamalan . So I pulled up my iPhone , opened it up , put in his name went to a website and up popped a picture of where we were sitting at that moment . So I said well , it looks like it's him and you know the long driveway with the craggly trees .

He had taken a picture of that and he put it on his website . So we were sitting there and on the website there was a little red button that said charity buzz . I didn't know what it was , so I hit it and it said win a day on the set with M Knight Shyamalan and all of the proceeds will go to his educational foundation .

So we're sitting on the side of the road reading all this and she was like , oh , you have to do this . You love movies , you need to do this . So I started bidding that day and it ended up . A couple weeks I was bidding against a dentist in New Jersey . He'd go up , then I'd go up , then he'd go .

And I was starting to get nervous because I thought , okay , this is getting really expensive . But I kept justifying it by saying , but it would go to a great cause , plus , I'd get to go see how this is done . So anyway , short story , I win the day on the set with M Night Shyamalan .

And a couple of weeks later I was at the 30th Street Amtrak station in Philadelphia where he was filming that day , and I spent I don't know eight to 10 hours there with him , no idea what was going to , you know , transpire , but he had me behind the camera with him talking to me the whole time .

He was doing what he does so wonderfully asking me what I thought , listening to my questions , answering my questions . I was beyond excited , like I hadn't . You know , I was 65 years old . I hadn't been that excited in a very long time . And then we sat down at lunch and he said to me what do you do ?

for work , because he had never done Charity Buzz either . I was the first one that showed up and he was like this was a real crap shoot . And I'm sure glad it was you and not some young person with a script in their hand that wanted to give it to me . And I said , oh no , no , I just want to watch and soak it all up .

And so he said what do you do for work ? And I tried to explain this corporate job to a guy who'd only been a filmmaker his entire life . He looked at me kind of quizzically and he said ugh , what do you really want to do ? And I said oh , I want your job . And he said well , you better hurry up .

And as I sat there and he said that he was kidding around , it hit me like I could feel it in the pit of my stomach . He said you better hurry up . So all of these things that I just told you happened all at the same time Me making the list , the company you know making a change that would definitely require me to re-up for another five years .

And I kept thinking , my God , I'll be 70 . That's really old . Now I'm 74 . And I kept thinking , my God , I'll be 70 . That's

really old . Now I'm 74 . But anyway , you know , and then the DC thing that led me to go on this detour with a friend and end up behind the camera with him , like totally kind of an out of body experience . And I realized , okay , all the planets have lined up for me and there is a message here . You do have this interest . Why aren't you doing it ?

And why don't you hurry up and just do it ? So that day I said that's it . I am going to try and the word is try to make a film , because it was too exciting not to , you know , to put it at the bottom of the list any longer . And I came home and I you know my husband was waiting was late at night and he was like , how was it ?

I'm like , oh , my God , it was amazing , like the most amazing experience . And , john , I'm going to quit my job and I'm going to make a film . And I remember his look at me , you know , I mean he knows me . But he just said , oh , okay .

And the next day I didn't sleep that whole night because I started thinking , okay , I said it out loud Now I'm going to do it , how do I approach this . So I went to work and I gave a year's notice because I thought that was the prudent thing to do financially . And you know I couldn't .

I had built the division of this , you know , my unit for the company , and I needed to mentor someone to take it over . And I needed to mentor someone to take it over and I figured , by doing that for a year I would also have time to start planning how I was going to do this film .

I don't know this , this , this and this . So what is the logical thing to do ? Go find somebody that can help you . And that is no different than any job you've had where you were responsible for building a team .

You know , I always brought in people smarter than me in certain areas of my work , so that we had a great team , so that everything ran smoothly and that we were profitable . You know that was the . You know the way that we would measure things .

So I was very clear that I needed to get in touch with people in the film industry that could help me set my direction and plan . I was also very clear that I wasn't going to write a script . I wasn't going to . You know , I was going to do storytelling , which I did that every day of my life in my jobs . That's what I was good at .

I could help tell stories . So I figured okay , what kind of stories ? Well , what about me ? What about women like me , 65 , 60 , 70 , 80 , whatever ? They have a boatload of experience and stories to tell , and the only ones that I'm hearing are Oprah and Jane Fonda , and I didn't want to do a film about celebrities that already have films out there about them .

There's enough coverage . So why not the ordinary woman that you would pass on the street , not even consider having a conversation with her , never knowing what her story might be ? So I thought , well , that will be a good jumping off point . I will start curating , you know , a group of women that I can interview , and that's how Beyond 60 was born .

I went out and I found a production company in Philadelphia that loved the idea , loved it , and I thought they were just going to introduce me to different people . But they're like we want to do this with you . So I hired them on and for the next almost three years it took from beginning to very end we did the film Beyond 60 .

That highlights the stories of nine women , their life stories , just to show that they're still relevant , that they're still doing cool things and they're talking about how they feel about aging , and I bookended it with young people to talk with them about how they viewed aging , to talk with them about how they viewed aging .

So it was a wonderful collaborative experience and it took a long time . When I sat with them , they said , well , what's your timeline ? I said , well , a year , one year . And they looked at me . They started to laugh . They said , oh , documentaries on average take three to five years .

And I'm like , oh no , I said , but I'm old , so I need to do this more quickly . And I worked in a for-profit company . Everything was due yesterday . So I was used to doing fast-paced work and I was ready to do that . But then I realized , ok , I need to learn patience and slow this down and do it the way it should be done .

And we finished the darn thing . We finished the film , and that was my goal . Could I even make one that looked like a film ? And then the next goal can you get into a film festival ? And we did . I got into eight with Beyond 60 and won some awards . And you know , it's been out there streaming now since 2021 and doing very well .

So that was my foray into filmmaking .

There are thousands of them , so you have to research the ones that you think will be woman-centric , aging , anything that would be relatable to women's stories , and you try to at least curate a group that you're reasonably familiar with them and you want to see if you can possibly get in , and they're taking between 1% and I think it's 10% of submissions .

So it's a real crapshoot to be able to get into them . But we got into eight with the first film and I thought , okay , now it's being seen by audiences and so then it started feeling . That's when it started to feel real , and then really real when the distributor picked it up in 2021 and got it out on all the streaming platforms .

So you know and that will be out there for another 10 , 12 years that people can , you know , find beyond 60 and get inspired and hopefully do something really cool . So that's how that got off the ground . That's amazing .

I think that if you're open enough and daring enough to dare yourself , to have discussions with yourself about your age and what is possible , that you can open up to many , many possibilities .

And another thing that has come with age for me and going through this process of making films is I'm more patient than I used to be and I really appreciate that , because I've always lacked patience . I want things to happen very quickly , and sometimes they do and sometimes they don't , and it would definitely affect my mood when things were taking too long .

But this has given me like permission to slow down a little bit and to do it right and just to do it for myself , and then , when it's done , others will see it and others will be moved or not moved by it , and that's good enough . You know there's something about aging , patience and acceptance of who you are patience and acceptance of who you are .

So you have to plan that . But it was worth planning it , it was worth making concessions on things . It was worth going from two cars to one . You know to be doesn't seem to relate to what they ever did before . They get too scared . You know it's too scary , but I'm here to tell you the fear is just . That's normal

. Yes , I was feeling a little nauseous myself , you know , jumping into things , thinking what am I doing , but then I would have the conversation with myself . You know exactly what you're doing and you want to do this , so why would you not ? And you need to surround yourself with people that will shore you up and that will give you positive feedback .

Stay away from the naysayers , because they'll be there . There will be naysayers that will say you can't do that , you weren't trained to do that . What if you use up all your money . I mean , I heard those things and I quickly just closed the door on those because if I listened to it seriously , maybe I would have not done what I did .

I don't know , but I listened to all the people saying you can do this , of all the people we know you're going to be able to do this . You know , let us help you . What can we do ? How are you doing ? How are you feeling ?

You know there were people checking in all the time and we need to do that , you know , with our friends , we definitely need to do that on a regular basis . And you know , women , supporting women , is a beautiful thing , it's really an amazing thing , and that's not to leave men out of the mix .

But I have focused my stories on women's stories and I'm focusing , you know , that feeling of the support you get , the groundswell of women who are excited for you , is an amazing feeling and it's needed , it's necessary to , you know , to keep you going .

So in that process I started to realize that , wow , people are missing out on these stories . You know there's plenty of stories about . I found more about men like older men . Men like older men . They're revered you know , the CEO or whoever it might be revered in the storytelling . And I couldn't find those same stories for women , unless they were celebrities .

So I really thought , boy , we're missing out here . And when women hear the stories of other women and hear what they went through and hear how they may have made change and move forward , they get inspired . And I've heard this over and over again . Now I have two movies and I'm hearing it over and over again . I saw your movie and I heard this .

So the next day I decided to do this . Yeah , and you know , they're just like . We need more of these stories .

Her first film Beyond 60 , can be seen on most streaming platforms like Apple TV , prime Video , vudu and YouTube TV , and her second film is Climbing Into Life , which is making the festival rounds right now as we speak . Where can people find you , melissa ?

So if anybody's down there , just holler . And we're all over social media , both Climbing Into Life and Beyond . 60 are on Instagram , facebook , twitter . They're everywhere . So or me , melissa Davey , you can find me .

If you've enjoyed this episode , you may also like Boomer Banter , a podcast that focuses on financial literacy , mental and physical health , relationships and purpose as well , and so check out that in the links below as well . And now , my friends , what's next for you ? Are you just going through the motions or are you really passionate about your life ?

My weekly self-coaching tips will help empower you through your journey , and that link will also be in the show notes below .

You can connect with me , Beverley Glazer , on all social media platforms and in my positive group of women on Facebook that's Women Over 50 Rock , and if I can help you find your purpose and passion in your life , please schedule a quick Zoom . And where do you think that will be ? That link will be in the show notes below .

I want to thank you for listening . Have you enjoyed this conversation ? Please subscribe so you don't miss the next one , and send this episode to a friend , and always remember that you only have one life so keep aging with purpose and passion and celebrate life .