Screenwriting Panel at the Writers Guild Foundation via Instagram

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From @writersguildf – Writers Guild Foundation

Screenwriting Panel at the Writers Guild Foundation via Instagram

Happening Now: We team up with @ColumbiaChi to talk about how locations inform and impact characters on TV with @qu33nofdrama, @SparksAnthony, Matt Lutsky, @RosanneWelch and Connor Kilpatrick.



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From The Journal Of Screenwriting 2 : The screenplay as boundary object by Rosamund Davies

Highlighting the articles in the latest edition of the Journal of Screenwriting, of which I am the Book Reviews Editor. Hopefully these abstracts will entice you to did a little deeper into the history and future of screenwriting. — Rosanne


The screenplay as boundary object
Rosamund Davies

Described by Pasolini as a ‘structure that wants to be another structure’, the question of what kind of thing-in-itself the screenplay might be has produced a range of answers. Screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière has used the metaphor of the chrysalis – of vital importance in the process of the caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly – but useless and empty once the butterfly, or film, has emerged. Film scholar Claudia Sternberg has considered the screenplay’s status as a ‘second rank’ text, in relation to the ‘first rank’ film performance. The idea of the screenplay as blueprint is common. Meanwhile, scholars (e.g. Maras, Millard, Price) have raised issues with such definitions, pointing out their limitations. In this article, I propose the notion of the ‘boundary object’ as a useful way of thinking about the role and nature of the screenplay within the development and production of a screen narrative. My starting point is sociologist Susan Leigh Star’s concept of the boundary object, defined as an object that allows different individuals or groups with heterogeneous skills, knowledge and interests to cooperate towards a common goal by creating a ‘shared space’, situated at the boundaries between their habitual spheres of practice. I propose that, avoiding the problems inherent in an analogy such as the blueprint, the concept of the boundary object offers a useful starting point for understanding and analysing the role of the screenplay in audio-visual production.

Journal of Screenwriting Cover

The Journal of Screenwriting is an international double-blind peer-reviewed journal that is published three times a year. The journal highlights current academic and professional thinking about the screenplay and intends to promote, stimulate and bring together current research and contemporary debates around the screenplay whilst encouraging groundbreaking research in an international arena. The journal is discursive, critical, rigorous and engages with issues in a dynamic and developing field, linking academic theory to screenwriting practice. 

Get your copy and subscription to the Journal of Screenwriting Today!



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21 Anita Loos from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (57 seconds)

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

Watch this entire presentation

21 Anita Loos from

 

Transcript:

This lady people should know more. You might recognize from the title of her book Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. This is Anita Loos. Anita Loos is probably the most prolific female writer of the silent era and she made the transition into talkies. Many, many writers did not. She did because she could write really witty dialogue but Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a novel that fascinates me. She wrote it because she was on a train with M Somerset Maugham who she loved as an intellectual and a blonde chick got on the train and he started to fawn all over her after they were having this lovely intellectual conversation and it made her mad. So she wrote a book about how blonds aren’t stupid. They’re actually working it and getting out of men exactly what they want. Yeah. So they pretend to be dumb. It’s really Legally Blonde long before there was Legally Blonde and it’s never gone out of publication but it is not taught in American literature class where The Great Gatsby is always taught.

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.


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† Available from the LA Public Library

1 Year Ago – When Women Wrote Hollywood Launch Party at the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Workshop

1 Year Ago! A fun, fun time – and we’ll be doing it again next August at the Autry!

The essays in When Women Wrote Hollywood were written by students (now alumni) of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting

1 Year Ago - When Women Wrote Hollywood Launch Party at the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Workshop

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Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

Rosanne Speaks About Doctor Who At Who Con San Diego This Weekend – October 4-6, 2019

For the second year in a row I’ve been invited to do a couple of my favorite lectures about Doctor Who to the attendees of the SD (San Diego) Who Con which happens this coming Friday-Sunday October 4-6th. 

It’s a chance to wear my new 13th Doctor (played by actress Jodie Whitaker who I first saw in Broadchurch) shirt and trenchcoat (which I bought from a vendor at last year’s SC Who Con).  I’m updating two of my lectures on the show and its quality writing and then doing a ‘superbowl/commentary’ group watch of an episode called School Reunion which I use in my television writing courses as an example of a tight script/backdoor pilot.


* Friday. October 4, 2019

1:00-2:00
Dr. Rosanne Welch
How Doctor Who Redefines Masculinity: Join Dr. Welch in a discussion about masculinity and Doctor Who.

3:30-5:00
Dr. Rosanne Welch
School Reunion Workshop: Dr. Welch will deconstruct the David Tenant episode “School Reunion” to show how well written it is, highlighting the set-up/payoff style of writing; the 4-act structure and the deft inclusion of exposition.

* Saturday, October 5, 3019

11:30-1:00
Dr. Rosanne Welch
School Reunion Workshop: Dr. Welch will deconstruct the David Tenant episode “School Reunion” to show how well written it is, highlighting how the set-up/payoff style of writing; the 4-act structure and the deft inclusion of exposition.

* Sunday, October 6, 2019

11:00-12:00
Dr. Rosanne Welch
Gender Diversity in Doctor Who: Join Dr. Welch as she discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the various writers and showrunners of the program.


This all came about thanks to a chance meeting on the Raleigh Studios lot with a wonderful fellow Who fan who happens to bear a striking resemblance to Alex Kingston, the actress who played the character River Song. Her office was strewn with Who memorabilia so I stopped in one day to say “Hi” and talk Who and she connected me to the organizers of the event. So the moral of this story is – say “Hi” to more people often. You never know what new (time) travels might be right around your next corner- — Rosanne

Rosanne Speaks About Doctor Who At Who Con San Diego This Weekend - October 4-6, 2019

WHO CON 2019 “WHODUNNIT?”
OCTOBER 4 – 6, 2019

AT THE FOUR POINTS SHERATON HOTEL
8110 AERO DR, SAN DIEGO, CA 92123 [Map]

 

 

06 TV After The Monkees from “Why The Monkees Matter: Even 50 Years Later [Video] (53 seconds)

Enjoy This Clip? Watch this entire presentation and Buy Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

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?

06 TV After The Monkees from

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Transcript

So this is TV before our folks showed up and this is TV after and it’s definitely different. Suddenly we’re talking about on Laugh-In sex, politics, what’s going on in the world. We have Sonny and Cher who a couple of the writer’s The Monkees moved on to the Sonny and Cher show. If you know enough about The Monkees, there were two seasons of the program. The third season, the four guys wanted it to be a variety show — set around rock and roll and the problem was the network said “Nobody’s gonna watch a variety show that has to do with rock and roll” and the next season Sonny and Cher showed up and won some Emmys right? So there you go. Of course, The Smothers Brothers who were canceled you’re being too political. The Mod Squad which was a whole movement into the new hippie generation and of course All In The Family is gonna happen in the 70s and we’re going to get very serious about how we talk about politics on television but The Monkees were there in the beginning.



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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Dr. Rosanne Welch Joins The Executive Committee of the Screenwriting Research Network

Rosanne Joins The Executive Committee of the Screenwriting Research Network Opening Reception, Screenwriting Research Network Conference, Porto, Portugal via Instagram

Presenting my talk at most recent SRN Conference in Porto, Portgual

I’m pleased to announce that I am beginning the first year of a two year term on the Executive Committee of the Screenwriting Research Network.  I will assist with editing the newsletter and meet via Skype once a month with some of the most wonderful colleagues I’ve had the chance to work with so far in my career. 

The Screenwriting Research Network was established in 2006 by Ian Macdonald when it became clear that there was interest across the world towards research on screenwriting, but individual scholars tended to be isolated. I’ve been a member since I attended my first conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Since then I’ve presented at – and listened to fascinating presentations – in such wonderful international locations as Leeds, New Zealand, Milan and Porto, Portugal – with Oxford and Vienna next on the list. 

And I’m most excited about the fact that the 2022 conference will be held at my home campus of Stephens College!

Quotes from When Women Wrote Hollywood – 45 in a series – Nick and Nora

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

Buy “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!

Quotes from When Women Wrote Hollywood - 45 in a series - Nick and Nora

The success of The Thin Man (1934) led to plans for a sequel, the series would eventually go on to feature six films. David L. Goodrich wrote in his book The Real Nick and Nora: “The couple intentionally closed all three of their screenplays with intimate, emotionally charged and funny final scenes. In the first they deftly caught the delicious, naughty, only us feeling of exciting sexual encounters – and did so without resorting to today’s flesh shots and heavy breathing (113).

Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett: The Most Beloved Couple in Hollywood
By Julie Berkobien


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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

Screenplay “Indivisible Mom” by Ilona Rossman Ho,  Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Alumni, is Official Selection for the Sherman Oaks Film Festival

Congratulations to Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting alumni Ilona Rossman Ho (IMDB) — her screenplay “Indivisible Mom” is an official selection for the Sherman Oaks Film Festival!

Indivisible Mom by Anon by I. Rho
A devoted, introverted mom becomes a grassroots organizer to save her friends’ healthcare and is swept into the blue wave and Congress

Screenplay

Sherman oaks film festival

 


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Presenting my talk “How the chaos of collaboration in the writer’s room created the golden age of television” at the Screenwriting Research Conference in Porto, Portugal

Presenting my talk “How the chaos of collaboration in the writer’s room created the golden age of television” at the Screenwriting Research Conference in Porto, Portugal

Presenting my talk “How the chaos of collaboration in the writer’s room created the golden age of television” at the Screenwriting Research Conference in Porto, Portugal

** We have returned from Porto and I am streaming out our photos over the next few weeks.

Opening Reception, Screenwriting Research Network Conference, Porto, Portugal via Instagram

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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!