Dr. Rosanne Welch – Page 131 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Drs. Rosanne Welch and Sarah Clark discuss “Success Story” on the Zilch Podcast’s Monkees 101 Series [Audio]

Zilch just posted another of the Monkees 101 segments I so enjoy recording with my co-host and fellow Doctor – Sarah Clark – as we critically study each episode of the show chronologically.

In this episode we take apart one of our favorites – Success Story – which involved Davy’s grandfather visiting Los Angeles and discovering that he had not yet become successful, so it was time to return to England and the real world. It brings a pang to most Monkees – and all Davy’s fans – because the goodbye scene enacted all those years ago became the clip all the newscasters chose to use when Davy Jones died in real life, and therefore became the first one to leave the group.

It’s always fun to look at the times in which a piece of media was made, how that affected the way the story was digested then – and how changes across time affect the way the story is seen in concurrent generations. The Monkees is quite a rich show for the kind of sociological slicing Sarah and I give it each episode.

Hope you enjoy listening!

Zilch is back! “SUCCESS STORY”-Monkees news and Mailbag. MONKEES 101 looks at the episode “Success Story” and the times around it,

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Want to learn more about The Monkees? Buy Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Acheivement in Comedy.

Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined, and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.

This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers.

Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Riderand Five Easy Pieces.

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

Want to use “Why The Monkees Matter” in your classroom?

Order Examination Copies, Library and Campus Bookstore orders directly from McFarland

Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alum Jackie Perez (2017) becomes semi-finalist in the 2019 ScreenCraft Public Domain Screenplay Contest

Congrats to Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alum Jackie Perez (2017) for having her STEM-centric screenplay – AMAZING GRACE (based on the life of Grace Hopper) move from quarter-finalist to semi-finalist in the 2019 ScreenCraft Public Domain Screenplay Contest.

“It wouldn’t be in the shape it’s in without the insightful notes and feedback from Julie Berkobien, Sarah Amble Whorton, Amelia Phillips, and Amy Banks. Really appreciate all the Stephens’ MFA love and encouragement,” says Perez.

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17 Tressie Souders from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (49 seconds)

Part of the California State University, Fullerton Faculty Noon Time Talks at the Pollak Library.

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Transcript:

The hardest thing to do now — we’re having trouble reviving some of these female names but it is far more worse reviving African-American female names because these folks have had no paperwork left about them and even the men they worked with haven’t been cataloged in a way that we can look to them for information. Tressi Souders, we only have through newspaper accounts of films of hers that were opening in African-American neighborhoods. So we can see advertisements that she had product but the product doesn’t exist. You can’t find it even on — most of the women I’m gonna mention, the Caucasian women — the European women — and you could find some of their movies on YouTube because stuff has been kept in the Library of Congress. Sadly some has been saved because of men it’s connected to but at least it’s been saved. These women, none of their work exists anymore and that’s one of the most depressing things.

Dr. Rosanne Welch discusses the women in her new book “When Women Wrote Hollywood” which covers female screenwriters from the Silents through the early 1940s when women wrote over 50% of films and Frances Marion was the highest paid screenwriter (male or female) and the first to win 2 Oscars. Yet, she fails to appear in film history books, which continue to regurgitate the myth that male directors did it all – even though it’s been proven that the only profitable movies Cecil B. de Mille ever directed were all written by Jeannie Macpherson film ever won for Best Picture was written by Robert E. Sherwood (who people have heard of, mostly due to his connection to Dorothy Parker) and Joan Harrison.

Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

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Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Alum Sarah Phillips (2017) among the Top Films for the Louisiana Film Prize!

Congratulations to alum Sarah Phillips (Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Inaugural class of 2017) for her film “Supplements” (which she wrote, directed and produced) being chosen among the 2019 Top Films for the Louisiana Film Prize!

“Supplements” was created by Phileon Productions, a female-led production company located in Los Angeles.

In the film the year is 2289 and all that’s left on Planet Earth is the domed city of Old Centauri, roaming sun flares that scorch the land, and the nomadic tribes that mitigate the two. Kiirke comes from one such tribe, and she must travel to Old Centauri, along with her brother, to seek a small fortune to save her family.⁣ (Now if THAT doesn’t draw you in, we are at a total loss for what will!)⁣

Written & Directed by Sarah Phillips
Produced by Laetitia Leon & Sarah Phillips⁣
Cinematography by Sarah Phillips⁣
Starring Laetitia Alix Leon

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02 Rosanne’s Writing History from “Why The Monkees Matter: Even 50 Years Later – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1 minute)

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From Denver Pop Culture Con 2019.

Wherever you go, you find Monkees fans and the Denver Popular Culture Con was no different. Amid rooms full of caped crusaders and cosplay creations, I was initially not sure how many folks would attend a talk on a TV show from the 1960s – but happily I was met by a nice, engaged audience for my talk on Why the Monkees Matter – and afterward they bought books! What more could an author ask for?

Transcript

First thing is a little bit of who I am. On television I wrote for Touched By An Angel, Beverly Hills 90210, and Picket Fences and ABC’s News Nightline. When I decided to get into academia and start writing first of all the Monkees book obviously but then I’ve written a lot of stuff about women in history, women in popular culture, very interested in that and you’ll be hopefully interested in finding out but there is some things to be said about feminism on The Monkees in the 60s which nobody would have expected until I studied it. I also do book reviews for the Journal of Screenwriting. I’m their book review editor and I work on Written By magazine on the editorial board. That’s a magazine for members of the Writers Guild. So my deep focus is generally — words matter — writers matter — and women writers matter and we’re gonna find out that on The Monkees, there was the first female television writer who didn’t need a male partner in order to be have job which is sounds a little crazy to us today but was true back in the day.

Buy Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Acheivement in Comedy.

Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined, and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.

This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers.

Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Riderand Five Easy Pieces.

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

Want to use “Why The Monkees Matter” in your classroom?

Order Examination Copies, Library and Campus Bookstore orders directly from McFarland

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Quotes from When Women Wrote Hollywood – 41 in a series – “Men have largely run the film industry from the start…”

Do you know about these women screenwriters? Many don’t. Learn more about them today!

Get “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!

Despite this body of work, Gauntier is largely unknown in texts on screenwriting used in major universities today. She does appear in Cari Beauchamp’s Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. In an interview with Beauchamp, David Sterritt posits that “Men have largely run the film industry from the start, allowing little power or prestige to their female counterparts. Men have also dominated the film-history field, writing books that take male privilege in Hollywood for granted.

Gene Gauntier: Ascending by Drowning
by Yasser Shahin

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood or Buy the Book on Amazon

†

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

14 Pat Murphy from The Sisterhood of Science Fiction – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (51 seconds)

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The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know And Love

This one allowed me to riff on some of my favorite female science fiction writers across time, whether they be novelists or television writers. It also opened up a good conversation on what art we support and include in our lives – and what that art says to us and about us. — Rosanne

Transcript:

We get around to this point and Pat Murphy. She can have her name on the book because why? (Audience) Her name is unisex. (Welch) Pat is one of those great names. Is it a boy or girl? You don’t know looking at it. So then she has to decide, do you put your picture on the inside cover where it’s the author’s thing or you don’t and then you leave it up to people to assume that Pat must be a boy because you know. This is a pretty kind of interesting book. Must be written by a boy. I think that’s funny. It’s also one of my pet peeves when you’re watching movies or TV shows and there’s a really tough woman character. She’s always got a name that can be a boy’s. She’s always Samantha so she can be Sam right or she’s Patricia so she can see Pat. There’s always that name, seriously I want Tiffany to be really cool and I want her to do something amazing or Betsy. I don’t want it always to be a name that could be a boy’s name if you want, and that happens all the time.

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!

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Event: Story Structure in Cinematography with Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alum, Sarah Phillips

Story Structure in Cinematography with Sarah Phillips
Sep 05, 2019 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT
Canon Burbank

Get Free Tickets at Canon

Come join Cinematographer Sarah Phillips (and Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alum (inaugural class of 2017)) as she talks about how to help (or hurt) your story structure with the way you (as a director, writer, actor, or producer) work with your cinematographer, and the way you craft light and character together.

Sarah Phillips is a cinematographer (and camera nerd) in Los Angeles who works in many areas of film. She primarily shoots independent films, including scripted features, documentaries, and short films, but also can be found the camera departments of national commercials and music videos, because her passion for writing story with light supersedes that of genre and form. sarahphillipscamera.com

Key Takeaways:

Learn about story Structure as a Cinematographer
Hear how to craft light and character together
Discuss working with directors, writers, actors and producers on building story structure

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Mentoris Project Podcast: Grace Notes: A Novel Based on the Life of Henry Mancini with Author, Stacia Raymond [Audio]

My latest podcast with my fellow Mentoris authors is now available on the Mentoris Web Site. Give it a listen and Subscribe for More! — Rosanne

Grace Notes: A Novel Based on the Life of Henry Mancini with Author, Stacia Raymond

Hosted by Dr. Rosanne Welch

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Today’s guest is Stacia Raymond, author of Grace Notes: A Novel Based on the Life of Henry Mancini

With a legacy that resonates today in the work of contemporary film composers, the magnanimous Henry Mancini left an indelible mark on the culture. Over the course of a life cut short, Mancini helped liberate a concentration camp at the end of WWII, created some of the most iconic film and television themes ever written, and unseated the Beatles from the number one spot at the apex of rock and roll.

About the Author

Stacia Raymond is a freelance writer and editor based in Southern California. With more than fifteen years of experience in the film and television industry, Raymond has built a body of work that includes fiction, non-fiction, and ghostwriting for clients in the fields of music, film, and technology. Raymond’s television writing has been produced by CBS, Paramount, and Lifetime, and she has developed projects with Showtime and ABC Family. In 2013, she was awarded a Fellowship with the Puglia Film Commission as part of a program to bring more production to the Southern Italian region.

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Also from the Mentoris Project

Want to use these books in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!`

Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alum Ilona Rossman Ho (Class of 2019) BAFF Screenplay Award Winner!

Major Congratulations to Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alum Ilona Rossman Ho (Class of 2019) who’s screenplay “Indivisible Mom” has been named a 2019 summer edition BAFF (Big Apple Film Festival) Screenplay Award Winner!

Ilona worked on the script with mentors Niceole Levy and Lisanne Sartor while in the MFA program.