On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Writing, Film, Television and More!
My Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting students are in town for the next 20 days and we are diving into our work.
This is a low-residency program where most of the work is done online but each cohort (1st year and 2nd year) comes to LA twice each year and meets for 10 days of intense workshops and research at the Jim Henson Studio (originally the Chaplin Studio) in the heart of Hollywood.
This week is the first workshop for our new class of 2020.
All of the callers shared Filippo’s enthusiasm for the making – and drinking – of wine, knowing that in 1768, Virginians exported from Britain a little more than thirteen tons of wine from overseas, and another 78,264 from other North American colonies. But a few warned him that Virginia soil had been tried and so far unproven to be suitable.
From America’s Forgotten Founding Father — Get Your Copy Today!
Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father
Print Edition | Kindle Edition | Apple iBooks Edition | Nook Edition
Also from the Mentoris Project
Want to use these books in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!`
When Women Wrote Hollywood – 18 in a series – June Mathis
June Mathis (January 30, 1887 – July 26, 1927) was an American screenwriter. Mathis was the first female executive for Metro/MGM and at only 35, she was the highest paid executive in Hollywood.[1] In 1926 she was voted the third most influential woman in Hollywood, behind Mary Pickford and Norma Talmadge.[2] Mathis is best remembered for discovering Rudolph Valentino and writing such films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) and Blood and Sand (1922).
Mathis was determined to become a screenwriter and, accompanied with her mother, she moved to New York City, where she studied writing and went to the movies in the evenings.[6] She entered a screenwriting competition; but despite not winning, her entry was so impressive it did bring job offers. Her first script, House of Tears, would be directed by Edwin Carewe in 1915 and led to a contract in 1918 with Metro studios, later to be merged into MGM. As one of the first screenwriters to include details such as stage directions and physical settings in her work, Mathis saw scenarios as a way to make movies into more of an art form. Much of the standard screenwriting styles can be attributed to her. Mathis later credited her success to a strong concentration on plot and theme: “No story that did not possess a theme has ever really lived…. Occasionally one may make money and perhaps be popular for a time. But in the end it dies.”[6]
By 1919 Mathis and her mother had moved to Hollywood. After only a year of screenwriting, she had advanced to the head of Metro’s scenario department.[7] She was one of the first heads of any film department and the only female executive at Metro.[8]
During her early years, she had a close association with silent star Alla Nazimova. Their films together can be said to be marked by over-sentimentality; what little praise these films received was due to Nazimova’s acting rather the conventional romantic stories.[6] — Wikipedia
Watch a movie by June Mathis
More about June Mathis
Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood
* 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
Watch this entire presentation: Gender Diversity in the Who-niverse: Paving the Way for a Lady Doctor with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (36:58)
For her 5th Doctor Who lecture to the CPP community, Dr. Rosanne Welch discusses how society – and the show’s writing staff – prepared the audience for a major change in this 50-year franchise – the creation of the first Lady Doctor!
Transcript:
Sarah Jane is one of my favorite companions. She’s come from the old Who to new Who and then she even had her own program The Sarah Jane Adventures. So what happened was she came into the Third Doctor’s life. She was an investigative reporter so she wasn’t some girl who did nothing and she wasn’t just reporting on fashion and/or celebrities. She was an investigative reporter. She looked for things that were wrong in her society and she highlighted that with being her newspaper writer. So that’s how she came to meet The Doctor. She traveled with him through Tom Baker obviously. Then she left and returned in an episode called School Reunion with David Tennant. So in the new Who era and at that time, of course, time had passed and she was invited to continue traveling and she had the strength and the intelligence to say No. I need to move on with my life. I’ve been thinking of you for too long. I need to have my own life.
Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter and Instagram
https://twitter.com/rosannewelch – http://instagram.com/drrosannewelch
Rosanne Welch, PhD
Rosanne Welch PhD teaches the History of Screenwriting and One-Hour Drama for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting.
Writing/producing credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences, ABCNEWS: Nightline and Touched by an Angel. In 2016 she published the book Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop; co-edited Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia; and placed “Transmitting Culture Transnationally Via the Characterization of Parents in Police Procedurals” in the New Review of Film and Television Studies. Essays appear in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television and Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology. Welch serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Written By magazine, the magazine of the Writers Guild.
Watch Dr. Welch’s talk “The Importance of Having a Female Voice in the Room” at the 2016 TEDxCPP.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
This series will focus on material I found while researching my book, America’s Forgotten Founding Father: A Novel Based on the Life of Filippo Mazzei.
These next few items come from the Bibliography I submitted when proposing the original book. — Rosanne.
Madison Papers at the Library of Congress
Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father
Print Edition | Kindle Edition | Apple iBooks Edition | Nook Edition
Also from the Mentoris Project
Want to use these books in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!`
More on the Monkees: “Isn’t That Dumb?”
Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
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
Michael Nesmith of The Monkees isn’t exactly known for being a road warrior. With the exception of a few tours with his past and present Monkee bandmates (Davy Jones died in 2012), the last two years have brought Nesmith back to the road for his first official solo dates since 1992.
But don’t mistake this for indifference or laziness. Nesmith is more than just a musician. He’s an innovator (after all, he IS partially responsible for the beginning stages of MTV), thespian, Liquid Paper heir, novelist, entrepreneur and producer. Yes, Michael Nesmith never seems to have a problem staying occupied.
Over the last year Nesmith has cited several reasons for his long awaited return to the stage, but don’t expect a greatest hits package if he decides to stop by a venue near you.
Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
* 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
“It” is a 1927 silent romantic comedy film that tells the story of a shop girl who sets her sights on the handsome, wealthy boss of the department store where she works. It is based on a novella by Elinor Glyn that was originally serialized in Cosmopolitan magazine.
This film turned actress Clara Bow into a major star, and led people to label her the It girl.
The film had its world premiere in Los Angeles on January 14, 1927, followed by a New York showing on February 5, 1927. “It” was released to the general public on February 19, 1927.
The picture was considered lost for many years, but a Nitrate-copy was found in Prague in the 1960s.[1] In 2001, “It” was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. — Wikipedia
Watch the Movie
More information on It
More about Elinor Glyn
Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood
* 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
![11 The War and The Monkees from How The Monkees Changed Television [Video] (0:53)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/monkees-tv-11-monkees-war.jpeg)
Rosanne Welch, PhD, Author of Why The Monkees Matter, presents “How The Monkees Changed Television” at a Cal State Fullerton Lunch Lecture on May 8, 2018.
In this talk, she shows how The Monkees, and specifically their presence on television, set the stage for large changes to come in the late 1960s.
Transcript
This is a great shot. I love from the Associated Press. All four of the men — three of the men — were drafted while they were on the show because they were all like 18, 19 and 20 years old. Michael Nesmith had already been in the Air Force so he was not but the other 3 guys were and they had to find a way around it. Even Davy Jones who was from England was drafted because he was living and making money in the United States. Thee girls took to the streets and said “If Davy goes, we go too!” The protests against losing them were very huge, but in general they were talking about how this is a bad war.. So if you look at this line I love from one of the episodes…
“They want to put the blame on teenagers. Take the war. Whose fault is it? We’re not fighting. it must be those crazy kids. They’re the ones doing all the fighting.”
Again, if that’s not an anti-war message wrapped up in a funny show. I have not idea how they got away with that, but they did.
Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
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
About Rosanne Welch, PhD
Rosanne Welch, PhD is a writer, producer and university professor with credits that include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences, Touched by an Angel and ABC NEWS/Nightline. Other books include Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture (McFarland, 2017) and Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection (ABC-CLIO, 2017), named to the 2018 Outstanding References Sources List, by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association. Welch has also published chapters in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television (I.B.Tauris) and The American Civil War on Film and TV: Blue and Gray in Black and White and Color (Lexington Books, 2018) and essays in Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology and Outside In Makes it So, and Outside in Boldly Goes (both edited by Robert Smith). By day she teaches courses on the history of screenwriting and on television writing for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting programs. Her talk “The Importance of Having a Female Voice in the Room” at the 2016 TEDxCPP is available on YouTube.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Linda and Rosanne at Readymix Music as Lexi records her demo.
Learn more about Hollywood History with these books
* 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
