In memory of the anniversary of the loss of Davy Jones in 2012 I wanted to post this newscast by Diane Sawyer where she spoke of the news as “startling bulletin” which came across her desk in the newsroom that day (February 29, 2012). Sawyer then proclaimed “He is still that forever young and sunny singer from The Monkees who made more than one generation want to sing along.”
The question I ask in the book is why would a serious journalist (not merely an entertainment reporter) consider news of the death of a former teen idol ‘startling’ unless she, too, had once been among his fans? To me it speaks volumes about how he – and The Monkees – effected all our lives.
We know our new 4-volume encyclopedia Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection is not the kind of thing an average person purchases based on size and cost (though I remember a pre-internet time when door-to-door salesmen still hawked the Encyclopedia Britannica and my mom bought a copy to help me do well in school and get to college).
In this modern world, if you want to help Peg and I (and all the students who can benefit from learning about all these wonderful women who helped shape American culture) consider passing a copy of the attached flyer out to your local public or university librarians (in print and/or via email) and ask if they will order a set for their branch.
My CalPolyPomona colleague (and encyclopedia co-editor) Peg Ann Lamphier and I wanted to put our feminist money (or at least time) where our feminist lectures are — so we auditioned for the annual performance of The Vagina Monologues, produced by the Women’s Resource Center on campus.
We’re sharing one near the very end of the program with two students that tells the story of a birth. It’s been a blast working with these great young women.
Can’t wait for the performance on Tuesday Feb 16th. Come check it out!
For another example of old-world misogyny planting its flag in the new world of online media, witness the work of Sam Parr, founder of Hustle Con, a conference that promises “the best non-technical founders (a.k.a. hustlers)” who’ll show you “how they got started and give practical advice on growing your startup.”
Parr recently posted a piece entitled 10 Amazing Entrepreneurs Who Had Accomplished Nothing By Age 30 on his site. The list offered subscribers proof that “you don’t have to be a prodigy to succeed” because those who made his list “had accomplished next to nothing before the age of 30.”
The list managed to include the likes of Henry Ford and Sam Walton (each of whom began their multi-million dollar companies over the age of 40) but did not include a single female entrepreneur, from any era. Some subscribers, such as Abigail Mela Wick, a PR and market researcher in Berlin quickly noticed the lack of female representation, “I liked this article until I realized there weren’t any women in this list.”
Thanks to Dan Kammer, the Library Director at Stephens College, for including a display of my publications in an exhibition of work by various faculty members this month. It looks great – and hopefully the students will be intrigued enough to stop by and read some of the books – or use them for research in their own academic adventures!
A video abstract for Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When You Aren’t in the Room: Key Female Filmmakers Prove the Importance of Having a Female in the Writing Room.
I’m Dr.Rosanne Welch. I teach screenwriting and history of screenwriting to MFA students in the Stephens College MFA program.
Screenwriters are often the unsung heroes of Hollywood, a fact that is doubly true for female screenwriters. While writers can research many things and are capable of creating unknown worlds such as Narnia or Lothlorien, it is true that the subject they know best – and will protect the most – will always be themselves and their experiences. Proof of this truth of filmmaking can be found in the careers of many successful female filmmakers from the start of the Hollywood studio system to the modern world of independents. Films produced by these women illustrates how important it is to have a female voice in the room.
My paper will discuss the ways female characters were created and protected by the presence of such female writers as:
Anita Loos, famous for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which involves much more than Marilyn Monroe singing “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”;
Dorothy Parker, who with her husband wrote A Star is Born, where a famous actress must juggle her rising fame as her husband’s career fails.
Ruth Gordon who co-authored Adam’s Rib and Pat and Mike, both iconic lead characters played by Katherine Hepburn.
Phoebe Ephron wrote several films, adapted Carousel from the stage to the screen all while nurturing the creativity and career of her four daughter-writers including Delia, Amy, Hallie and Nora Ephron…
Joan Didion who co-wrote the 3rd remake of A Star is Born (the one starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson)
and Frances Goodrich Hackett who adapted The Thin Man; It’s a Wonderful Life and The Diary of Anne Frank who said the quote that set me on the path to write this piece:
“I’m always the only woman working on the picture and I hold the fate of the women [characters] in my hand… I’ll fight for what the gal will or will not do, and I can be completely unfeminine about it.”
Beyond bringing better quality female characters to the screen, these women brought more three-dimensional, equal marriages to the screen, creating role models other could follow.
Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch on the Web and via social media at:
Though I teach One-Hour Drama I thought it would be cool to highlight the fact that for the first time ever the 3 finalists for the Thurber Prize for Humor Writing are all female. The prize is named after James Thurber of Ohio who wrote The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and years of New Yorker cartoons (even after he went blind!).
We should be reading these women:
Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Annabelle Gurwitch, I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities, and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50
Our inaugural class — with Program Director, Ken LaZebnik, instructor, Dr. Rosanne Welch, and David Wilks (Mindfulness Meditation for Writers Instructor) — for the new MFA in Screenwriting program from Stephens College, held at the Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood, California.
The Stephens College Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting will prepare you to compete in the high-stakes world of professional screenwriting. The second-oldest women’s college in the country, Stephens is an institution on a mission: To increase the voices and impact of women in television and film.It’s a mission that has drawn both the attention and the support of some of the most successful and well-known women writers in Hollywood—women who care deeply about ensuring that women’s voices and stories are heard.
Program Highlights
You’ll begin the program in Hollywood (we meet at the beautiful Jim Henson Studios) where you’ll spend 10 days in classes and workshops, and return for another 10 days six months later.
Between residencies, you’ll work online with at least four different mentors. Our entire faculty is comprised of working writers, members of the Writer’s Guild of America, including Ken LaZebnik, Carol Barbee, Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, Barbara Nance, Rosanne Welch and William Rabkin.
Our community of professors and professional working writers are here to help you develop your vision, your voice and your career as a screenwriter. And they’ll do it on your schedule, on your time and in-between all of the other demands of your crazy-busy life.
Learning the craft of writing is essential but so is learning the business of selling what you write. Providing you with access to prominent show-runners, writers from the film world, development executives, agents and managers is a vital component of this program.
![Diane Sawyer’s Obituary to Davy Jones 2012 [Video]](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/davey-jones-abc-857x198.png)
![Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When You Aren’t in the Room: Key Female Filmmakers Prove the Importance of Having a Female in the Writing Room [Video]](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/gender-screenplay-abstract-560x198.jpeg)
![Our Inaugural class – Stephens College Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting [Photo]](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/stephens-mfa-2015-560x198.jpg)
