Rosanne speaks as part of Art for Healing and Renewal, Part ar the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History, November 21, 2024, 6pm

On November 21st I’ll be in Jacksonville, Florida on a panel at the MOSH (Museum of Science and History) to discuss a chapter I wrote in the upcoming book Stories Of The Holocaust: Art for Healing and Renewal, edited by Dr. Karen Berman and Dr. Gail Humphries.

Rosanne speaks as part of Art for Healing and Renewal, Part  ar the Jacksonville Museum of Science and History, November 21, 2024, 6pm

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I was honored when Dr. Humphries invited me to write the opening reflection to a section in Vol. 2: On Screen and in the Gallery. Then, being me, I asked if they had a chapter on screenwriters Frances and Albert Hackett who adapted The Diary of Anne Frank from book to Pulitzer-Prize-winning Broadway play and then into the film. The editors hadn’t planned such a chapter but it sounded valuable to the collection so they commissioned me to write it. Now I’ll have the chance to tell even more people about the brilliant work of this married team of screenwriters who also gave film fans The Thin Man, Father of the Bride, Easter Parade, and It’s a Wonderful Life.

Joining Dr. Humphries:

Elizabeth Gelman, Senior Director of Arts and Cultural Programming for Creative Pinellas, previous director of The Florida Holocaust Museum (Pinellas County, Florida)

Ruth Gordon, Former social studies teacher in Miami-Dade County and founder/current advisor for Holocaust Impact Theater (Miami, Florida)

Dr. Laurence Sherr, Award-winning composer of international stature, concert producer, and professor of music, Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw, Georgia)

Dr. Rosanne Welch, Executive Director of Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Program, author and screenwriter (Los Angeles, California); also author for Reflection

Link on MOSH Site

Celebrate the Daring Dialogue of Women Writers with Dr. Rosanne Welch – Screenwriting Research Network Conference 2004, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czechia

With the conference theme “A Conversation Beyond Script,” I decided to use my presentation time to “Celebrate the Daring Dialogue of Women Writers,” which allowed me to introduce the audience to the work of famous female screenwriters, from Anita Loos to Mae West to Lillian Hellman. 

Then I delved into some names lesser-known to our international SRN members because they came from the TV world before the great sharing that streaming has offered us. From Gertrude Berg of The Goldbergs in the 1950s to Susan Harris (Soap, Golden Girls) and Linda Bloodworth Thomason (Designing Women) we covered the progressive (and often controversial) topics they brought to mainstream Americans.

Celebrate the Daring Dialogue of Women Writers with Dr. Rosanne Welch – Screenwriting Research Network Conference 2004, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czechia

She Co-Wrote ‘The Maltese Falcon’ But You’ve Never Heard Her Name – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, October 2024

She Co-Wrote 'The Maltese Falcon' But You’ve Never Heard Her Name – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, October 2024

Read She Co-Wrote ‘The Maltese Falcon’ But You’ve Never Heard Her Name 


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Serial Queen Ruth Ann Baldwin Knew How to Craft a Cliffhanger – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, August 2024

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Read Serial Queen Ruth Ann Baldwin Knew How to Craft a Cliffhanger


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Our Book, “Civil War on Film” Now As An Affordable Paperback! – Pre-now for August 22, 2024 Release

Our Book, “Civil War on Film” Now in As An Affordable Paperback! – Pre-now for August 24, 2024 Release 

One of the benefits of the merger between our first publisher – ABC-Clio – and Bloomsbury Publishing is that Bloomsbury is a larger, more international company with more reach. What that means for my co-writer, Peg Lamphier and me is that our book, The Civil War on Film, will be available in paperback with a $26.95 price tag (much more accessible than the hardback version that is $63) on August 22, 2024.

So if you’ve always wanted to read what Peg and I have to say about which Civil War films are the most honestly historical (spoiler alert – it’s Glory) now’s your time to buy a copy! We were so pleased to include chapters on such great films as Friendly Persuasion (1957); Gettysburg (1993); Gangs of New York (2002); Lincoln (2012); and Free State of Jones (2016) 

As they move forward they plan to release American Women’s History on Film in paperback as well so stay tuned!

The Civil War on Film at the Bloomsbury Publishing Web Site

Adapting Classic Novels Not the Only Tool in her Kit: Silent Screenwriter Dorothy Farnum – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, July 2024

Adapting Classic Novels Not the Only Tool in her Kit: Silent Screenwriter Dorothy Farnum – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, July 2024

Read Adapting Classic Novels Not the Only Tool in her Kit: Silent Screenwriter Dorothy Farnum 


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Where’s Her Museum? Betty Burbage – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, June 2024

Where’s Her Museum? Betty Burbage  – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, June 2024

Read  Where’s Her Museum? Betty Burbage


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Recognizing Female Genius by Dr. Rosanne Welch

I was doing editor rewrites on a chapter titled “Dorothy Parker: The Creative Genius Behind Film Franchise A STAR IS BORN.” To the note asking me to consider a “less hagiographic title,” I said “No”.

A quick check showed me that many, many, many male writers are called geniuses – but few women.

For instance, this article, Genius – still a country for white, middle class, heterosexual men*, notes:

“Try a quick google search of the terms “literary genius”. The same names keep appearing: William Shakespeare, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Henry James, William Chaucer, Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, J.D. Salinger, and so on.” 

But I would object to J.D. Salinger. Catcher in the Rye did not move me at all – but S. E. The Outsiders(Susan Elizabeth) Hinton’s The Outsiders moved me and all the generations from mine through my son’s Millennial group and into the folks watching the musical on Broadway right now – while teaching us all to love the poetry of another male genius – Robert Frost. See, I’m willing to use the adjective on men when they deserve it.

So the lesson of the day is that if any writer deserves to be called genius, it’s Dorothy Parker.

Own your genius. And use it to describe other female creatives. And maybe refrain from using it on less men for once. 

* Genius – still a country for white, middle class, heterosexual men, Natalie Kon-yu, The Conversation

From High School Teaching to Writing the First Screenwriting Bible: Marguerite Bertsch – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, May 2024

From High School Teaching to Writing the First Screenwriting Bible: Marguerite Bertsch – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, May 2024

Read From High School Teaching to Writing the First Screenwriting Bible: Marguerite Bertsch


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Flipping Your Classroom with Dr. Rosanne Welch – Screenwriting Research Network Working Group on Comparative Screenwriting [Video]

Many thanks to SRN member Romana Turina for inviting me to give an online seminar on the benefits of Flipping Your Classroom for the Working Group on Comparative Screenwriting in the Screenwriting Research Network that she leads.

Every month she presents and records a guest lecture for our membership that is then open to the public once she posts it on YouTube.

Flipping Your Classroom with Dr. Rosanne Welch - Screenwriting Research Network Working Group on Comparative Screenwriting [Video]

This month she asked me to speak about the pedagogy of flipping your classroom to enhance learning which, while created with K-12 students in mind is equally effective – and I would add necessary – in the world of MFA candidates. I use this practice in the teaching of screenwriting in our low residency Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting.

It involves the professor providing less “Sage on the stage” performance and more student-focused opportunities. I’ve also come to describe it as not teaching (as defined by dumping all my info into their heads) but as curating an experience from which they glean the knowledge they need.

In the lecture I give examples of the kinds of activities I curate, keeping in mind the different learning styles each MFA candidate presents.