EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
'WHISPER ISAAC!'
LOGLINE: A dramatic feature film based on the epic story, and extraordinary life and career of legendary horse jockey, Isaac Burns Murphy.
Born in 1861, before the start of the Civil War, Isaac was the son of free parents. His
father died a Union Soldier. At thirteen, Isaac Burns and his mother America, move to
Lexington, where they lived with Lucy's father; Green Murphy, eventually taking his last name.
America finds employment as a domestic for William Owings. a thoroughbred racehorse
owner. A bond soon develops between Owings and the young Isaac, who he gives training as a horse jockey. One day Isaac is asked to substitute, at the last minute, for an injured jockey and ride in his first professional horse race. At just fifteen he wins the race, and so begins, not only Isaac's amazing racing career, but also, the rise of the sport of horse racing to a national prominence, while simultaneously boosting the pride and self-esteem of a just freed Negro race all around the country!
Despite racing in a post-Civil War, still-segregated, society; Murphy wins three
Kentucky derbies and four American Derbies en route to a total of 628 wins. He eventually commands a phenomenal twenty-thousand dollars a year salary and rides the greatest horses of his era. He and his young bride, Lucy, dress in the finest clothes, live in a palatial mansion in segregated Lexington, and give some of the most elegant parties in all of Kentucky. Yet, with all his wins and public accomplishments, Isaac finds himself still fighting for his dignity and respect in the nearly all-white sport that he dominates.
His life and career takes a most dramatic arc. By the end of his career he was broke, an alcoholic, and unable to find a job. Young writer, John Bailey (White, 20s), comes to Lexington from New York City. A publishing company has hired him to write Isaac's life story. He arrives to find Isaac sick and unwilling. But Bailey, an alone, career-driven young man (who's only real goals in life are to have his own newspaper column and writing career), gets a break and is granted a simple interview of Isaac Burns Murphy. Young John persuades Isaac to tell him his remarkable life story and, unexpectedly, reveals himself in the process and learns life lessons of his own!
WRITTEN BY: G. G. HENDERSON
PRODUCTION COMPANY: MARY ALICE ENTERTAINMENT, LLC
GENRE: DRAMA
PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY: 2021
