Rosanne speaks as part of Art for Healing and Renewal, Part ar the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History, November 21, 2024, 6pm

On November 21st I’ll be in Jacksonville, Florida on a panel at the MOSH (Museum of Science and History) to discuss a chapter I wrote in the upcoming book Stories Of The Holocaust: Art for Healing and Renewal, edited by Dr. Karen Berman and Dr. Gail Humphries.

Rosanne speaks as part of Art for Healing and Renewal, Part  ar the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History, November 21, 2024, 6pm

MOSH animated logo 600.

I was honored when Dr. Humphries invited me to write the opening reflection to a section in Vol. 2: On Screen and in the Gallery. Then, being me, I asked if they had a chapter on screenwriters Frances and Albert Hackett who adapted The Diary of Anne Frank from book to Pulitzer-Prize-winning Broadway play and then into the film. The editors hadn’t planned such a chapter but it sounded valuable to the collection so they commissioned me to write it. Now I’ll have the chance to tell even more people about the brilliant work of this married team of screenwriters who also gave film fans The Thin Man, Father of the Bride, Easter Parade, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Joining Dr. Humphries:

Elizabeth Gelman, Senior Director of Arts and Cultural Programming for Creative Pinellas, previous director of The Florida Holocaust Museum (Pinellas County, Florida)

Ruth Gordon, Former social studies teacher in Miami-Dade County and founder/current advisor for Holocaust Impact Theater (Miami, Florida)

Dr. Laurence Sherr, Award-winning composer of international stature, concert producer, and professor of music, Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw, Georgia)

Dr. Rosanne Welch, Executive Director of Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Program, author and screenwriter (Los Angeles, California); also author for Reflection

Link on MOSH Site

My new book chapter in The Works of Shonda Rhimes from Bloomsbury [Book]

Rosanne announces her book chapter in The Works of Shonda Rhimes from Bloomsbury [

Order from Bloomsbury | Amazon | Bookshop.org

I’m very proud to have a chapter in this new inaugural book in the Screen Storytellers collection covering The Works of Shonda Rhimes. Edited by Anna Weinstein, an Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at Kennesaw State University, the series is designed to do one of my favorite things – bust the outdated ‘auteur’ theory by bringing attention to the writers of the stories we have loved and watched – and rewatched – all our lives. 

For this collection, my chapter focuses on how Rhimes’ shows come from the Humanism ideology even moreso than simply a feminist one, though that is what many people think. But Rhimes’ hired Dan Shapiro, chair of the College of Medicine’s humanities department at Penn State Hershey, as a consultant for her first two medical dramas Grey’s Anatomy (2005–) and Private Practice (2007–13). In this way, Rhimes was able to bring the real-world philosophy of medicine to her fictional hospitals, presenting authentic depictions of humanism to her audiences. One of the things I love about research is learning new things about people/shows/events I thought I already knew well.

The other exciting thing about this inaugural book arriving is that I have signed on to edit a similar book on The Works of Susan Harris so this book is my example of what that future project will feel like when it arrives in the mail!

 

The Literary References Doctor Who Has Introduced You To With Dr. Rosanne Welch– San Diego Who Con 2024 [Video]

At San Diego Who Con 2024 (https://www.sdwhocon.com/), I enjoyed lecturing on “From Shakespeare to Shelley or Dante to Dickens: The Literary References Who Has Introduced You To!”. 

I first thought of it while watching an episode with my favorite classic Doctor Peter Davison. I heard a line that was so specific I thought that it had to come from some book I didn’t know. It did. So then I researched what other famous authors had been quoted by the various Doctors and deeply enjoyed finding lots of Shakespeare and Dylan Thomas and of course, Byron and Shelley were in that mix. It was a reminder that writers READ. They read a lot to fuel their work.

The lecture also allowed me to highlight some great English actors who’ve starred in Shakespeare’s works like Patrick Stewart, Derek Jacobi, and Alex Kingston – some of whom also (of course) guested on Doctor Who.

 

Celebrate the Daring Dialogue of Women Writers with Dr. Rosanne Welch – Screenwriting Research Network Conference 2004, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czechia

With the conference theme “A Conversation Beyond Script,” I decided to use my presentation time to “Celebrate the Daring Dialogue of Women Writers,” which allowed me to introduce the audience to the work of famous female screenwriters, from Anita Loos to Mae West to Lillian Hellman. 

Then I delved into some names lesser-known to our international SRN members because they came from the TV world before the great sharing that streaming has offered us. From Gertrude Berg of The Goldbergs in the 1950s to Susan Harris (Soap, Golden Girls) and Linda Bloodworth Thomason (Designing Women) we covered the progressive (and often controversial) topics they brought to mainstream Americans.

Celebrate the Daring Dialogue of Women Writers with Dr. Rosanne Welch – Screenwriting Research Network Conference 2004, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czechia

She Co-Wrote ‘The Maltese Falcon’ But You’ve Never Heard Her Name – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, October 2024

She Co-Wrote 'The Maltese Falcon' But You’ve Never Heard Her Name – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, October 2024

Read She Co-Wrote ‘The Maltese Falcon’ But You’ve Never Heard Her Name 


Read about more women from early Hollywood

 

The Monkees Pad Show – Ep 15- MONKEES MASTER CLASS – Why The Monkees Matter with Rosanne Welch and JoeR [Podcast]

I always say I could talk about The Monkees all day – or at least for an hour, which is what I just had the privilege of doing with Joe Russo of The Monkees Pad on YouTube.

Ep 15- MONKEES MASTER CLASS~Why The Monkees Matter with Rosanne Welch and JoeR

It’s especially fun to talk with folks like Joe, who know The Monkees so well – both the music and the TV show, which is more my specialty. We covered how the show got on the air (thanks to a young Grant Tinker), how so many of their counter-culture jokes made it past the censor, and why the fandom keeps growing across the generations.

If you love The Monkees individually or as a group, and if you love the TV of the 1960s, I hope you enjoy the listen.

Get Why The Monkees Matter” Today!

Available in Print and Kindle Versions

“Writing Females in Leadership Roles” WGA Panel Now Online [Video]

Since there’s been so much talk this week about mothers being proud of their highly accomplished children it’s a wonderful week to share the link to the latest Writers Guild Foundation panel co-sponsored by the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting covering the topic of “Writing Females in Leadership Roles”.

Wgaf female characters.

Moderated by our Executive Director Dr. Rosanne Welch the panel includes three writers from shows that celebrate female leaders from the real-life 23-year-old Miep Gies who hid Anne Frank’s family to real-life First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Obama, and Betty Ford to the fictional female leaders of Station 19. Many thanks to Joan Rater (A Small Light), Zora Bikangaga (The First Lady), and especially to our Stephens College MFA alum Alexandra Fernandez (Station 19) for joining us to discuss everything from our childhood role models of female leadership (mostly moms and aunties) to the traits we expect to see in our leaders, to the nuts and bolts of working in a television writers room.

 

Serial Queen Ruth Ann Baldwin Knew How to Craft a Cliffhanger – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, August 2024

Scriptmag 202408.

Read Serial Queen Ruth Ann Baldwin Knew How to Craft a Cliffhanger


Read about more women from early Hollywood

 

Our Book, “Civil War on Film” Now As An Affordable Paperback! – Pre-now for August 22, 2024 Release

Our Book, “Civil War on Film” Now in As An Affordable Paperback! – Pre-now for August 24, 2024 Release 

One of the benefits of the merger between our first publisher – ABC-Clio – and Bloomsbury Publishing is that Bloomsbury is a larger, more international company with more reach. What that means for my co-writer, Peg Lamphier and me is that our book, The Civil War on Film, will be available in paperback with a $26.95 price tag (much more accessible than the hardback version that is $63) on August 22, 2024.

So if you’ve always wanted to read what Peg and I have to say about which Civil War films are the most honestly historical (spoiler alert – it’s Glory) now’s your time to buy a copy! We were so pleased to include chapters on such great films as Friendly Persuasion (1957); Gettysburg (1993); Gangs of New York (2002); Lincoln (2012); and Free State of Jones (2016) 

As they move forward they plan to release American Women’s History on Film in paperback as well so stay tuned!

The Civil War on Film at the Bloomsbury Publishing Web Site

Learning More from Derry Girls Than Merely More Irish Slang

Learning More from Derry Girls Than Merely More Irish Slang

If you haven’t yet watched Derry Girls you have to – This trailer to the first season shows the brilliance of creator Lisa McGee, who wrote ALL 3 seasons worth of episodes herself (much like Susan Harris wrote many of her early season shows herself to cement the tone and style). 

I don’t always agree with the idea of no writers room – writers rooms have a deeply important purpose – but in this case, her story was SOOOO distinctly of Derry, not even merely of Ireland but completely from her own home town and her own time period as a teen in that town, that I understand. In essence, she wrote an 20 hour movie broken up into 3 seasons of 8 half hour episodes apiece.

So like a loooong film, what the trailer can’t yet show is the wonderful arcs of each of these young women who by the Season 3 series finale (not a spoiler alert since I’m not telling you what they decide) must decide how to vote on the Good Friday Agreement. 

In 2022 the New Yorker had this great interview with McGee:

The house where Lisa McGee grew up, in Derry, in Northern Ireland, sits on the bank of the River Foyle, near a largely Catholic neighborhood known as the Bogside. In 1969, the Bogside was the site of a three-day conflict. Residents hurled projectiles and petrol bombs; they were met with tear gas and batons. The violence spread to other cities and towns, and ultimately resulted in hundreds of injuries and a number of deaths. British troops were called in to Derry—the beginning of a long-term military operation. The conflict, known as the Battle of the Bogside, marked what many would call the start of the Troubles, which dominated Northern Irish politics for roughly three decades. In 1972, violence flared in the Bogside again. More than a dozen civilians were killed by soldiers in a massacre known as Bloody Sunday.

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Tidbits with great points for writers (aspiring and published/produced because writers are always learning) include:

Write what you’re afraid of writing: “ “I had said my whole life, ‘I’ll never write about the Troubles,’ ” she told me. “Everything I saw about the Troubles was either the news, or something quite shit that was going on in my actual life.” In films about the period, she didn’t recognize the people. “There were never any jokes. I don’t know any Northern Irish person that isn’t funny,” she said. Lewin, who had been listening to McGee tell stories about her childhood for years, persuaded her to try. “They’re so joyful,” she said.”

AND

Create writerly habits: “She often carries a notebook. “If somebody says something funny, she’ll write it down,” Mallon said. “She might even ask you again, ‘What was that? What did you say?’ She wants to get it right, word for word.” Mallon told me that McGee once heard his father say something about his car—“It stinks of fish in here!”—and borrowed the line years later in “Derry Girls.”

While the show is comical to anyone who has any experience in a Catholic school –that background isn’t required. We all understand coming-of-age and coming-to-love-our-heritage and teenagers and parents dealing with each other. 

But on top of all that viewers outside of Ireland learn about the history of another country and its political turmoil and hear some great discussions about peace and how we’re all a lot more similar than we are different. And that’s what art can do.