An essential collection of essays, interviews and filmographies, this was a seminal work (and a precursor to Corliss’s 1974 manifesto, Talking Pictures) in terms of bringing the screenwriter out from under the director’s shadow, following a decade of auteurist criticism run rampant. There are essays on Anita Loos, Jules Furthman, Ben Hecht, Preston Sturges and Dudley Nichols; a memoir by Howard Koch about working with Max Ophuls on LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN; interviews with Ring Lardner Jr., Borden Chase, Dalton Trumbo, James Poe, Eleanor Perry and Penelope Gilliatt; a ” Screenwriters Symposium,” featuring twelve noted screenwriters’ answers to a questionnaire (included are Philip Dunne, Norman Krasna, Ernest Lehman and Michael Wilson); and filmographies of fifty prominent screenwriters. The Foreword is by Carl Foreman.
This book signing at Book Soup was wonderful – good people, good conversation (before and after the signing). Just another example of the kind of quality positive people who have been drawn to The Monkees across generations – I even met a former head of publicity for ScreenGems who had some fun stories to tell. — Rosanne
…but it’s not just 50 years that makes the show special. That’s not the only reason that people were paying attention to it. I think it’s the ability to analyze the artistic achievements of the writers, the actors, the directors on the program. Many of these people had earned awards later in their career with Emmys, Grammys. Oscars across the whole time and the book wants to critically study who The Monkees were as a television program. Something that challenged the new rules of a new medium and the show itself paved the way for future innovation on television. Now television itself took nearly the same 50 years to climb out of the shadow of film. People have not wanted to respect television for a long time. We didn’t have television studies. We had film studies. That’s what important people went for, but in this time period, think about the shows that had been winning Emmys — in fact, last night we had the Emmys — so we had all the new stuff. In the last few years we’ve had Breaking Bad and Mad Men and now we have Game of Thrones and happily, Master of None won for best writing last night, so television has grown up.
New material in the form of Outtakes included in the course of an episode or added to the end in the form of a Tag, often became interjected inside the locked script. These outtakes truly let the audience feel as if they were a part of the whole production, in on the laugh as it were. In the end that is one key to the success of the program, letting the young audience be a part of something at a time they felt they had little say in anything going on around them.
You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time… None of the People All of the Time: A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More!
Dr. Rosanne Welch speaks on A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More! at the California State University, Fullerton Library
Part of the program series for Dune by Frank Herbert: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
Hey, guess what’s in the theaters right now that’s an adaptation? We have the Steve Jobs film which comes originally from the book by Walter Isaacson. Being made into the film now which just opened. Aaron Sorkin is the screenwriter here and Aaron Sorkin fully admits in all interviews “I want you to get the feel of his life, not the facts of his life.” So he made up a bunch of stuff and added it to the movie because he thought it made a more interesting scene. It doesn’t even come from the book. It’s things he imagined maybe Jobs might have done when he was visiting with friends or having a private conversation with this daughter. And Sorkin fully admits that he was interested in studying the relationship between the father and the daughter because in his own life he has a dysfunctional relationship with his daughter and so in a couple of interviews I heard recently on NPR he came out and said, “I really just wrote a movie about me and my daughter and I threw Steve Jobs name on it.” That’s how far from the book he has taken that particular story.
About this talk
Dr. Rosanne Welch (RTVF) speaks on the craft of history of film adaptations from the controversy of the silent film Birth of a Nation (protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1915) to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (to which author Truman Capote famously said, “The only thing left from the book is the title”) to The Godfather . Naturally, the behemoth in adaptation – Harry Potter (which depended on the relationship created by adapter Steve Kloves and author J.K. Rowling) will be discussed, as will the subject of this month’s celebration: Dune.
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
About Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
Each author was asked to describe their book. The encyclopedia came first (since Peg’s last name is Lamphier and the practice of alphabetical discrimination lives on). I let her have the honors since I knew I would speak about The Monkees’ book last. Going last I also had to keep in mind that the rest of the audience had already received their awards and were anxious to get back to the delightful dessert table – so humor came to the rescue as I commented on how odd it was to be speaking about my favorite television show when I was six after other professors had spoken of Immanuel Kant and architectural digs in South America and Mass Spectatorship in Modern France.
Here’s how I closed out the show…
Thanks to Doug for taking all the photos and video – and to Peg for being such a great collaborator – and to all the friends and fans who have read the book and enjoyed learning more about the 1967 Emmy Winner for Best New Comedy Series.
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During the ’30s and ’40s, Hollywood produced a genre of madcap comedies that emphasized reuniting the central couple after divorce or separation. And the female protagonists were strong, independent, and sophisticated. Here, Stanley Cavell examines seven of those classic movies for their cinematic techniques, and for such varied themes as feminism, liberty and interdependence. Included are Adam’s Rib, Bringing Up Baby, and The Philadelphia Story.
You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time… None of the People All of the Time: A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More!
Dr. Rosanne Welch speaks on A History of the Art of Adaptation in Movies like Dune, The Godfather, Harry Potter and More! at the California State University, Fullerton Library
Part of the program series for Dune by Frank Herbert: A 50th Anniversary Celebration.
So, because of simply changing his age by a few years they totally tweaked how the book turned into a film and it failed, miserably. They were going to make all 5 films, but they only ended up making two. Which is really kind of amazing when you think about it because it came after Harry Potter. They had a lesson in how to do it properly and they ignored every single moment, which shocks me.
About this talk
Dr. Rosanne Welch (RTVF) speaks on the craft of history of film adaptations from the controversy of the silent film Birth of a Nation (protested by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1915) to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (to which author Truman Capote famously said, “The only thing left from the book is the title”) to The Godfather . Naturally, the behemoth in adaptation – Harry Potter (which depended on the relationship created by adapter Steve Kloves and author J.K. Rowling) will be discussed, as will the subject of this month’s celebration: Dune.
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
About Dr. Rosanne Welch
Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.
Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”
In “Monstrous Monkee Mash” (written by Neil Nephew and David Panich, directed by James Frawley and edited by Pozen) when a frightened Micky piles chairs before the door to avoid the Wolfman, the film is sped up to highlight his fear and sense of panic. The creative team on The Monkees often used the frenetic personality of Micky’s character in this fashion as in “Alias Micky Dolenz” (edited by Stanley Frazen).
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![A Movie Not Really About Steve Jobs from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (0:57)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/adapt-45-steve-jobs.jpeg)
![Dr. Rosanne Welch at Golden Leaves Presentation 2017, Cal Poly Pomona [Video]](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/golden-leaves-award.jpg)
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