the Creative Package

Sophisticated
In 1920s Hollywood
one woman broke all the rules
Logline
Dorothy Arzner sets out against
all odds in Hollywood’s Golden
Age to become its singular
female director, but winning the
heart of the woman she loves is
a far greater feat.
The Studio
System
Dorothy
& Marion
Directed by
Dorothy
Arzner
Synopsis
SOPHISTICATED is the
semi‑fictional account of dashing
film director DOROTHY ARZNER—
her rise through the 1920s/30s
Hollywood studio system and
her enduring but tumultuous love
affair with choreographer, MARION
MORGAN... and her trysts with
starlets along the way.
From her unlikely star t as a
volunteer ambulance driver, to
her first job on a studio lot as
a typist who can not type, to a
script girl who provides much
more than continuity, to an
ingenious editor who moonlights
as a writer, Arzner ultimately
takes her place on set, as a bold
and brilliant director.
SOPHISTICATED conjures the
colorful, well-drawn characters
and rhythms of the roaring 20s/30s. We follow
Dorothy’s escapades at gay underground clubs,
her dalliances with rising stars, cross-dressing,
industry scandals, inner circle trysts, always
orbiting back to her big and complicated love,
Marion Morgan.
Arzner directed Paramount Pictures’ first talkie, invented the boom-mic, and
innovated the use of stock footage in film. To this day, Arzner has directed
more feature films than any other woman in the studio system. She made
stars of Katharine Hepburn, Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford, and many others
while she, herself, has remained strangely all but unknown.
SOPHISTICATED intends to put the long overdue spotlight on the
groundbreaking icon that is Dorothy Arzner, as personally intriguing as she is
historically notable.
Dorothy &
her Starlets
Gay
Underground
Fashions
for
Women
Director’s Statement
If a groundbreaking, bold
force of nature such as
Dorothy Arzner can be all
but forgotten not only by
history, but also by the very
industry she helped create,
what hope do any of us mere
mortals have of leaving any
sort of mark on this world?
SOPHISTICATED falls into that rare category of movies that matter. It matters
because it puts the spotlight on a woman who dared to take a leadership role in a
time and a place when women, both in film and in life, could only have supporting
roles. She not only shattered the glass ceiling in the work place, to become one of
the most accomplished and prolific directors of her day and ours, she also broke the
mold of what it meant to be a woman.
She openly cross-dressed, was a pivotal, rabblerousing character in the gay
Hollywood underground, and refused to choose between having a fruitful career and
a meaningful love life, ultimately achieving both to staggering degrees.
I am drawn to Dorothy because she embodies all that is possible to achieve in
one’s lifetime, both professionally and personally. I am drawn to her bold disregard
for how things are and her keen vision and follow-through for how she would like
them to be. I don’t profess to be like her, although directors have been known to be
rather self-aggrandizing, but I do profess to have the same innate view of myself in
the world. Meaning, I have never let my gender or sexual orientation dictate for one
moment what I can or cannot do in this lifetime. Mind you, I am keenly aware that
this is easier done in 2016 than 1920, but in the end I believe it to be an inborn
character trait, one of defiant disregard for anything that stands between me and
my path. And it is in that Arzner spirit that I take on this film that will bring her
fascinating, provocative and historically important life to the screen and to the world.
Dorothy Arzner
Charismatic, driven and boyishly handsome. She
has the guts to go toe-to- toe with Glamour Era
Studio big wigs and finds success in the man’s
world of directing. She has a weakness for young
starlets, but ultimately answers her calling to true,
meaningful love.
Marion Morgan
Famous choreographer and dancer.
Free‑thinking, independent woman.
Fiercely loving mother. She is fifteen
years Dorothy’s senior and the
ultimate love of her life.
Clara Bow
An uninhibited flapper, she
reaches the top as the “It
Girl” in 1927—the year
Dorothy Arzner directs her in
Paramount’s first “talkie,” The
Wild Party.
Joan Crawford
Dynamic and unpredictable,
one of Hollywood’s most
infamous movie stars at the
height of her career.
Katharine Hepburn
The inimitable Hepburn early
in her career. She speaks her
mind, wears the pants and
likes the idea of Dorothy
Arzner making her a star.
William De Lourde
The gruff but big-hearted
good old boy at the top of
Paramount in the Glamour
Era (composite character)
Harr y Cohn
Columbia Pictures big wig during the
Golden Era in Hollywood. Known as
“King Cohn.” He is crude, uneducated,
foul and, even on his best behavior,
abrasive.
Louis B. Mayer
The stereotypical Hollywood studio
mogul—a short, feisty, cigar-chomping
czar who rules his kingdom with an
iron fist. Equally respected and feared,
part father figure, part tyrant.
Dorothy’s Posse
Zelma Wellers
A butchy big boned gal and
Dorothy’s best chum.
Ellie Fells
A blond who looks like trouble, she has
a heart for romance and a surprisingly
good head on her shoulders.
Missy Chambers
A light-hearted constant
friend of Dorothy. A
perennial 20-year-old.
Betsy O’Mally
A large, red-headed Irish gal
who’ll go out on a limb for
Dorothy. That and her loyal
ways land her as a colleague
who becomes Dorothy’s
true friend.
Sophisticated Team
Wendy Haines
Producer
Brings twenty successful years in the Entertainment Industry coupled with an
entrepreneurial background in business management. Award winning Beyond
the Bridge, Operation 021.
Nellie Bellflower
Producer
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Finding Neverland (Best Picture Academy
Award Nomination).
Upcoming: Road to Oz (Newline), Union Square (Pandemonium)
Francesca Gregorini
Director
Tanner Hall (Official Selection Toronto Film Festival), The Truth About Emanuel
(Dramatic Competition Sundance).
Upcoming: UK Series - Humans (AMC), Feature - Olivia (Summer 2017)
Marilyn Freeman
Writer
Group (Official Selection London LGBTQ Film Festival), Meeting Magdalene
(Official Selection Seattle International Film Festival). Writer, media artist and
scholar; visiting artist at Evergreen State College, founded media arts studio,
Wovie.
Contact Wendy Haines, Producer :
[email protected]
(310) 383-3267
Director’s Biography
Raised in Rome, Los Angeles, and the English countryside,
Francesca brings a worldly, passionate and unique sensibility
to her filmmaking. Her character-driven films are visceral and
darkly humorous, stylistically bold, with undertones of the
magical and surreal.
A Brown University graduate with a Theater Arts major,
Francesca sold scripts to both HBO and Paramount before cohelming her directorial debut TANNER HALL with Tatiana Von
Furstenberg. The film marked the screen debut of two-time
Oscar nominee, Rooney Mara in a lead role. Rooney alongside
Oscar winner, Brie Larson play boarding school girls entering
their senior year. This coming of age drama focuses on the girls
flirting with adulthood and the consequences that brings. The
film was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival.
Francesca next wrote and directed THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL, which stars Jessica Biel, Kaya
Scodelario and two-time BAFTA nominated actor, Alfred Molina. This psychological drama/thriller follows
the eerie journey of Emanuel a troubled girl who becomes preoccupied with the mysterious new
neighbor that bears a striking resemblance to the girl’s dead mother. It premiered in the US Dramatic
Competition at Sundance 2013.
In addition to film, Francesca has been courted by the world of fashion. In 2011 she was asked to
co‑direct the DVF Fall Campaign, shot in China, and more recently, she completed the Jigsaw 2014 Fall
Campaign, shot in London. Her experience working across various mediums give her advertising work a
distinctive and cinematic feel.
Summer 2016 Francesca will be directing two episodes for the second season of the hit British-American
science fiction series, HUMANS produced by AMC, Channel 4 and Kudos. The eight-episode second
season is scheduled to air in the UK late 2016 and in the United States in 2017.
In the Fall/Winter 2016 Francesca is attached to direct SOPHISTICATED, the untold story of Dorothy
Arzner. Dorothy set out against all odds in Hollywood’s Golden Age to become its singular female director.
This all but unknown icon directed Paramount’s first talking picture, made stars of Katharine Hepburn,
Lucille Ball and Joan Crawford and directed more feature films in the studio system than any other woman
to this day, all while kicking up plenty of scandal along the way and managing to find true love.
With filming planned for Spring/Summer 2017, Francesca has adapted and will direct the novel OLIVIA
by Dorothy Strachey Bussy. It is considered one of the most beautifully written lesbian novels of the
century. Set in the Belle Époque, this 1949 classic awakens the passions of an English adolescent sent away
to a small finishing school outside Paris, where she ends up in a deadly love triangle with her beguiling
headmistresses.