On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Writing, Film, Television and More!
Congratulations to Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting graduate (and graduation speaker for the Class of 2019) LeeAnne Lowry who joined the University of Missouri School of Journalism yesterday teaching “Fundamentals of Visual Journalism and Strategic Communication”.
Way to put your MFA to work! — Rosanne
Follow and Like the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting
On Wednesday the 2nd year Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting candidates were treated to a tour of the backlot of Warner Bros. Studios courtesy of Emmy-winning Sound Supervisor Michael Lawshe…
…which culminated with a one-hour Q&A with Supernatural Executive Producer Bob Berens, discussing the crafting of their final season.
Follow and Like the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting
Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Workshop guest lecturer (author of “Based On” which explains how to option rights to a book/article/song for the purpose of adapting that into a screenplay) recommended this article to explain the #1 question asked by students:
“How Do I get an Agent?”
I thought I ought to share it with the whole community, so here it is… — Rosanne
As established members of the entertainment community, we are frequently asked to speak to aspiring filmmakers. And with the success of our book, The Hollywood Pitching Bible, the number of speaking invitations has greatly increased. We are now regularly invited to speak at numerous entertainment industry events, festivals, film schools and conferences.
No matter what the topic of the event, inevitably the dialogue with the audience veers onto our views about the industry in general and life in the biz. Overwhelmingly, there’s one question we get asked more than any other: “How do I get an agent?”
Often the question is asked with such intense interest that we sometimes wonder if the rest of our lecture has been “filler” for the audience who are just waiting to get to this topic. Because of the overwhelming concern with this question, we are presenting this in-depth, three-part article on the topic for the benefit of LA Screenwriter readers.
* 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!
Follow and Like the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting
Do you know about these women screenwriters? Many don’t. Learn more about them today!
Get “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!
When Lois Weber disparaged happy endings in favor of more complicated plots, she was not simply rejecting filmmaking formulas; she was calling for a wholesale rethinking of tropes surrounding heterosexual romance… When she advocated nuanced character development over action… she was demanding that we rethink roles typically assigned to men and women on screen.
Writing Around Lois Weber
by Chase Thompson
Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood or Buy the Book on Amazon
†
Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition
* 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
Here’s a great Forbes article by Shelley Zalis that our Dean recently shared about the power of women supporting women in their professional worlds.
It illustrates ideas already in place within the alumni and current students in our Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting from “Finding your Squad” to “Amplifying other Women” to “Taking the ‘work’ our of ‘Networking’”. — Rosanne
I always say a woman alone has power; collectively we have impact. Traditionally we have been taught to be competitive with one another, because there was such a scarcity of jobs at the top. It’s so clear that strategy doesn’t work. The truth is that raising each other up and channeling the power of collaboration is truly how we’ll change the equation—and have a lot more fun along the way.
There is a boys’ club where women never felt comfortable, so we decided to create a Girls’ Lounge more than six years ago where everyone feels like they belong. We discovered two things:
There is power in the pack.
You realize your strengths make the table better.Read Power Of The Pack: Women Who Support Women Are More Successful via Forbes
Follow and Like the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting
Credit: Chase Thompson (shot on real, black and white film)
How Women Wrote Hollywood Book Reading and Signing, Skylark Bookshop @skylarkbookshop , Columbia, Missouri during the Citizen Jane Film Festival
When Women Wrote Hollywood Book Reading and Signing, Skylark Bookshop, Columbia, Missouri
On Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 several of the contributors to When Women Wrote Hollywood gathered at the Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri for a signing and launch party that functioned like a mini-reunion of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Class of 2017.
Many thanks to all who came to hear them each speak with passion about the research subjects who became whole chapters in this book of essays on female screenwriters from the Silent Era into the 1940s.
Check it out!
Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood
Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition
* 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 was a double-header for the 2nd year MFA candidates when they were visited by two writers from The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon on consecutive nights this week. On the first night, Eric Kaplan (also a former David Letterman staff writer) came at the invitation of student CJ Ehrlich.
On the second night, producer Tara Hernandez sat for an interview with Khanisha Foster for our How I Wrote That podcast.
We thank them both for sharing their expertise (and their humor) with the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting.
Follow and Like the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting
Watch this entire presentation
![13 Alice Sheldon and Alice Mary Norton from The Sisterhood of Science Fiction - Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1 minute)](https://rosannewelch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/scifi-rmw-cpp-13.jpeg)
This one allowed me to riff on some of my favorite female science fiction writers across time, whether they be novelists or television writers. It also opened up a good conversation on what art we support and include in our lives – and what that art says to us and about us. — Rosanne
Transcript:
So she’s James, right? There there’s your buddy James. This is a marvelous new book about her life. So really gets into the story of what she was doing and why. I really like autobiographies or biographies because it’s fun. You learn so much about a historical period when you read someone’s individual story and how they worked in the world and society as it was allowing them at the time. So this is actually a book about Alice Sheldon. This lady, Alice Mary Norton, had to be Andre because the boy’s name right? Andre is writing all of these books and look at her again, not the face you imagine when you think of a science fiction writer. She looks like somebody’s great aunt. But why shouldn’t your great-aunt write a really good book, right? Why did we not allow those two things to live in our brain at the same time? So I think it’s really interesting and her stuff is really fascinating. You know we’re all into swords and all that sort of thing. She’s doing the whole Game Of Thrones thing long before we get involved in that right? So we need to give her a little more credit.
* 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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
On Saturday both Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting cohorts had the chance to work in teams on the concept of rebooting a show from the 1970s that involved the Egyptian goddess.
As any writer does, we invited a technical consultant – Dr. Marissa Stevens – to give the teams some historical background in the culture of ancient Egypt before they broke into groups to brainstorm their new ideas.
Follow and Like the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting
Subscribe to the How I Wrote That Podcast
Producer/Screenwriter Cindy Chupack on the “How I Wrote That” Podcast from the Stephens MFA in TV and Screenwriting Program [Podcast]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Cindy Chupack has won two Emmys and three Golden Globes as TV writer/producer whose credits include “Sex and the City,” “Better Things,” “Divorce,” “Modern Family,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” and most recently Showtime’s darkly comic hour “I’m Dying Up Here.” She is the author of two comic memoirs: the New York Times bestseller The Between Boyfriends Book: A Collection of Cautiously Hopeful Essays, and The Longest Date: Life as a Wife. Last year she directed her first episode of television for “I’m Dying Up Here,” and her first feature, OTHERHOOD, starring Angela Bassett, Patricia Arquette, and Felicity Huffman. OTHERHOOD is a comedy Chupack co-wrote that premiered this week in select theaters and on Netflix.
It feels very paint by numbers so it seems so easy – but it’s not.
As soon as I get good and comfortable I want to take a risk. To challenge myself.-Cindy Chupack
