Announcments – Page 10 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Jule Selbo, Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Program guest lecturer, garners great play reviews

Congratulations to Friend of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Program and frequent guest lecturer Jule Selbo (author of Film Genre for the Screenwriter – the topic on which she’ll lecture this January) for the great reviews her play BOXES has been garnering in its East Coast premiere.

The Good Theater’s production of Jule Selbo’s BOXES offers a taut psychological study of manipulation and longing, misconceptions about self and love, all carefully crafted into a thriller with rapid twists and turns that compels the audience’s attention for its brisk ninety-minutes. The boxes of the title are literal props used in a clinical psychological research study, but they are really metaphors for the constraints that shape our views of selfhood and for the inscrutable containers of dark secrets.

Read BWW Review: Containers of the Mind- East Coast Premiere of BOXES

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New Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting One Sheet – Please Post and Share!

Here is our latest one sheet for the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Program.

Applications are now open, so please share this flyer with our interested friends, family and students!

Download a PDF Version – New Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting One Sheet

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Dawn Comer Jefferson, Mentor with Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting at Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival

Enjoy this short clip of Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting mentor Dawn Comer Jefferson (right) moderating a conversation with Monroe Steele (left) and J’na Jefferson (middle) about skin bleaching after the screening of “Skin” (produced by Beverly Naya) at the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival.

Reel Sisters & Stephens College MFA in TV & Screenwriting Present Skin Screening – Oct. 20, 2019 from African Voices/Reel Sisters on Vimeo.

On Oct. 20, 2019, 4 pm, Reel Sisters and Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting hosted the closing night film Skin produced by Beverly Naya and directed by Daniel Etim Effiong. A documentary set in Lagos, Nollywood actress Beverly defines Black beauty and explores the practice of skin bleaching in African culture. Emmy-nominated, award-winning writer Dawn Comer Jefferson moderated the discussion with acclaimed culture, fashion and beauty journalists Channing Hargrove, J’na Jefferson and Monroe Steele.

This screening ass free and sponsored by Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting.

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#MentorMonday 5 – T.J. Brady – Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting

Applications for the 2020 Class of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting are now OPEN!

Inquire or Apply Today!

Deadline March 2020

For #mentormonday, in the spirit of Veterans Day we would like to spotlight a Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting mentor who is also a veteran: T.J. Brady. (IMDB)

Happy Veterans Day to our Stephens community!

T.J. Brady graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1996, and went on to serve as an Armor Officer at Fort Carson, Colorado in the roles of Platoon Leader, Battalion S-1, Company XO, and several staff positions, achieving the rank of Captain. In early 2001, T.J. left the military to pursue his writing dreams and moved to New York City, where he worked a corporate sales job by day, and took writing courses by night.

After building up a portfolio, T.J. moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and worked as a sales rep for a lighting company until 2008, when he was hired to write on staff for the Fox TV series, Lie to Me, where he wrote for two seasons. After Lie to Me, he went on to write for the Lifetime series, Army Wives, for three seasons. He currently works as a Writer/Producer for The 100, a Warner Bros., sci-fi drama that will premiere March 19th, at 9pm on The CW.

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#FemaleFilmmakerFriday 01: Ava DuVernay

Its #femalefilmmakerfriday and this week we’re featuring a writer, producer, director who embodies all the values of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting program: Ava DuVernay! (IMDB)

DuVernay is a writer, producer, director and distributor of independent film.

Winner of the Emmy, BAFTA and Peabody Awards, Academy award nominee Ava DuVernay is a writer, director, producer and film distributor. Her directorial work includes the historical drama SELMA, the criminal justice documentary 13TH and Disney’s A WRINKLE IN TIME, which made her the highest grossing black woman director in American box office history. Based on the infamous case of The Central Park Five, her next project is entitled WHEN THEY SEE US and will be released worldwide on Netflix in May 2019. Currently, she is overseeing production on her critically-acclaimed TV series QUEEN SUGAR, her new CBS limited series THE RED LINE and her upcoming OWN series CHERISH THE DAY. Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival’s Best Director Prize for her micro-budget film MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, DuVernay amplifies the work of people of color and women of all kinds through her non-profit film collective ARRAY, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies. DuVernay sits on the advisory board of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and chairs the Prada Diversity Council. She is based in Los Angeles, California.

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#MentorMonday 4 – Maria Escobedo – Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting

Applications for the 2020 Class of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting are now OPEN!

Inquire or Apply Today!

Deadline March 2020

Another #mentormonday, another Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting incredible mentor! This week we want to highlight Maria Escobedo (IMDB)!

Maria Escobedo is a film and television writer with credits including Grey’s Anatomy, Hulu’s East Los High and the indie film Rum and Coke, which she wrote and directed. She’s developed movies and pilots for Lifetime, Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon. She also has written for animated kids’ TV, including Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go, Elena of Avalor, Special Agent Oso and Nina’s World, which earned her a Humanitas Award nomination. Escobedo is currently writing for Amazon’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Netflix’s What-To-Doodles and Nickelodeon’s Santiago of the Seas. She also has developed original pilots for Amazon Kids. Escobedo served as chair of the Latino Writers Committee at the Writers Guild of America West for five years, and teaches writing at University of Southern California and California State University, Los Angeles.

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Mentoris Project Podcast: Dreams of Discovery: A Novel Based on the Life of John Cabot with Author, Jule Selbo [Audio]

The latest podcast is about the explorer, John Cabot and is now available on the Mentoris Web Site. Give it a listen and Subscribe for More! — Rosanne

Read Leonardo’s Secret: Dreams of Discovery: A Novel Based on the Life of John Cabot

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A determined man with a dream whose mentors and friendships supported him through his difficult life’s journey.

John Cabot was born Giovanni Caboto in Genoa, Italy. As a child, he dreamed of captaining a ship across a mysterious, uncharted ocean, from Europe to the riches of China. There was another boy in Genoa at the same time, with the same dream: Christopher Columbus.

The Turks, in the fifteenth century, had a stranglehold on the trade routes to the Far East. Europe’s race to find an alternative passage was heating up. But an explorer needed patrons, funds, ships—and a vision. Whereas Columbus had taken a south and west route from Spain, Cabot was convinced a more northern route from England would lead directly to China.

Cabot remained convinced, even on his deathbed, that he’d reached China—not realizing he’d claimed much of North America for his patron, the King of England, and made an amazing contribution to the fabric of America.

About the Author

Jule Selbo is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright, and novelist. She has written feature films, and has written and produced television series for major studios and networks. Credits include George Lucas’s Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, HBO’s Women Behind Bars—Prison Stories, and the feature Hard Promises, starring Sissy Spacek.

Her Disney credits include the animated features Hunchback of Notre Dame Part Deux, Cinderella II, and Ariel’s Beginning. Her plays Boxes and Isolate have won regional theater awards. Her novels include Piazza Carousel (2018) and Pilgrim Girl (2005, co-written with Laura Peters). In addition, she is a professor of film and television at California State University, Fullerton, and has written books on screenwriting and film history, including Screenplay: Building Story Through Character (2015), Film Genre for the Screenwriter (2015), and Women Screenwriters: An International Guide (2016, edited with Jill Nelmes).

Selbo has contributed to Journal of Screenwriting as well as anthologies on film writing. She holds a PhD in film from the University of Exeter in England and holds seminars on writing in the U.S. and internationally.

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Teachers! Get A FREE Mentoris Adventure Lesson Plan on Filippo Mazzei, America’s Forgotten Founding Father

We love teachers at The Mentoris Project! You inspire your students, us and the world–just like the unsung heroes in our Mentoris books.

We want to say thanks with this FREE Mentoris Adventure Lesson Plan.

Breathe like back into your classroom with this creative lesson plan. It isn’t for the classroom— it’s an adventure!

On America’s Forgotten Founding Father: A Novel Based on the Life of Filippo Mazzei by Rosanne Welch

His loyalty lasted a lifetime… Surgeon, merchant, vintner, and writer Filippo Mazzei influenced American business, politics, and philosophy. Befriending Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Mazzei was a strong liaison for others in Europe. Mazzei was Jefferson’s inspiration for the most famous line in the Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal.” Clearly, Mazzei had a gift of language and often used his words to share his ideas about religious freedom. Mazzei encouraged other Italians still living overseas to join him in a country rich with opportunity and promise. Often, when returning from Italy, he booked passages on ships for people who desired to travel to America and employed them on his estate—just to ensure a better, more fruitful life for everyone. During those travels, Mazzei found himself at the center of many fights for freedom. He was truly a friend to freedom around the world.

#MentorMonday 3 – Valerie Woods – Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting

Applications for the 2020 Class of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting are now OPEN!

Inquire or Apply Today!

Deadline March 2020

Today’s Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting #mentormonday goes out to none other than Valerie Woods! (IMDB)

Valerie C. Woods is a writer/producer in television and film, and also is a publisher, editor and author. Woods currently is co-executive producer/writer on the critically acclaimed television drama series Queen Sugar, created by Ava DuVernay and airing on Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). She also has been adjunct faculty for Stephens’ Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting program since 2015.

Recently, Woods served as creative director for Syd Field – The Art of Visual Storytelling. She is one of four Syd Field Screenwriting Method Instructors trained by Mr. Field. She also wrote the screen adaptation of the novel Tempest Rising by Diane McKinney-Whetstone, with the production company of actor/director Phylicia Rashad.

In 2013, Woods founded the independent press BooksEndependent, which has published five titles, including Woods’ novel Katrin’s Chronicles: The Canon of Jacqueléne Dyanne. She also is the author of Something for Everyone (50 Original Monologues), which is published by Samuel French, Inc. In 2016, Woods produced a series of staged readings of scripts adapted from literary work via Staged/Lit.

During Woods’ 20+ years as a member of Writers Guild of America West, she has written on one-hour drama series for CBS, Lifetime, and Showtime. Credits include consulting producer/writer for the drama series Soul Food on Showtime Network and co-executive producer/writer on the drama series Any Day Now on Lifetime Network. Her episode “Family is Family” was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. Her television career began after winning a fellowship with Walt Disney Studios.

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Rosanne Reads At Paperback LA Event in Echo Park – November 7, 2019

I had a great time joining fellow authors at the first reading for Paperback LA, the anthology series that published my article about the writers of The Monkees — so I’m super excited to appear at a second event celebrating the series. And it’s a chance to experience another bookstore in LA.

I hope you can join me, my fellow authors and our intrepid editor, Susan La Tempa, on Thursday November 7th at Stories Books and Cafe on Sunset Blvd in Echo Park.

The critics call Paperback L.A. “Genius!” and “incredibly fun” but they’re understating the pleasures of this new school “casual anthology.”

Join us to toast and hear from incredible L.A. writers with stories about all sorts of things–1920s books, 1960s street racing, 1960s TV writers, 1980s plumbing — all set in L.A. Featuring contributors from all three volumes: Victoria Dailey (L.A.’s Early Moderns), Jim Gavin (Middle Men), Lou Mathews (L.A. Breakdown), Rosanne Welch (Why the Monkees Matter), and series editor Susan LaTempa.

Amenities: eat and drink on the premises; beer & wine served 5 p.m. to close; parking lot behind store.

Reading at the Paperback LA Launch Party