Category: Film

A History of Screenwriting – 26 in a series – Tchin Chao the Chinese Conjurer – George Méliès, France, 1904

A History of Screenwriting – 26 in a series – Tchin Chao the Chinese Conjurer – George Méliès, France, 1904

A History of Screenwriting - 26 in a series - Tchin Chao the Chinese Conjurer - George Méliès, France, 1904

A Chinese conjurer stands next to a table, it becomes two tables. A fan becomes a parasol, lanterns appear and disappear. The conjurer spins the open parasol in front of himself, and a dog leaps out from behind it. The dog becomes a woman, then a second woman appears. The conjurer sits them each on a box a few feet apart: suddenly the women have changed places. The disappearing and the transfers continue in front of a simple backdrop. — The Early Cinema


* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 25 in a series – Excelsior! Prince of the Magicians (George Méliès, France, 1901)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 23 in a series – The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 15 in a series – Athlete with Wand (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 8 in a series – Leaving Jerusalem by Railway (Auguste and Louis Lumiére, France, 1896)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 24 in a series – What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting by Marc Norman

“Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When You Aren’t in the Room: Now free online from Gender and the Screenplay Journal

“Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When You Aren’t in the Room: Now free online from Gender and the Screenplay Journal

My article “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” published today in a special issue called Gender and the Screenplay: Processes, Practices, Perspectives in the journal: Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network (Vol 10 No 2 (2017). 

“Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When You Aren’t in the Room PDF Version

The article provides a quick historical survey of the work of several prominent female screenwriters across the first century of filmmaking, including Anita Loos, Dorothy Parker, Frances Goodrich and Joan Didion. In all of their memoirs and other writings about working on screenplays, each mentioned the importance of (often) being the lone woman in the room during pitches and during the development of a screenplay. Goodrich summarized all their experiences concisely when she wrote, ‘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.’ Also, the rise of female directors, such as Barbra Streisand or female production executives, such as Kathleen Kennedy, prove that one of the greatest assets to having a female voice in the room is the ability to invite other women inside. Therefore, this paper contributes to the scholarship on women in film and to authorship studies.

The title is a riff on a series of one-act plays I worked on in college called “Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When the Water’s Running” written by Robert Anderson (author of the plays Tea and Sympathy and was Oscar-nominated for the screenplays A Nun’s Story and I Never Sang for my Father.)

You can read and download the entire journal, edited by Louise Sawtell, Stayci Taylor, which includes other fine articles have a global reach, covering questions of gender in screenwriting practice; reflections on the Irish film industry; Female Screenwriters and Street Films in Weimar Republic; Narrative and Masculinity in The Long Goodbye; How Hollywood Screenplays Inscribe Gender.

The editors had also asked all contributors to create video abstracts for each piece. Thanks to Doug’s help, mine came out pretty good:

 

 

 

 

Related posts:

  1. 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]
  2. Save the Date: Rosanne Hosts “Women Who Run The Room: A Conversation with Showrunners” – Sat. Aug. 6, 2015
  3. How to Succeed as a Female Writer in TV & Film by Rosanne Welch | Writers Digest Online [Article]
  4. A Woman’s Voice in the Writers’ Room – An In-Depth Interview with Dr. Rosanne Welch in Creative Screenwriting Magazine
  5. Women Who Run the Room: A Conversation with Showrunners at the WGAw and co-sponsored by the Stephens MFA in Screenwriting Program [Photo]

A History of Screenwriting – 25 in a series – Excelsior! Prince of the Magicians (George Méliès, France, 1901)

A History of Screenwriting – 25 in a series – Excelsior! Prince of the Magicians (George Méliès, France, 1901) 

1901 Excelsior Prince Of Magicians [Georges Melies]

The magician appears upon the stage with his assistant. Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, he causes an empty jar to suddenly appear under it. He places the empty jar upon the table and seizing his assistant by one arm, begins pumping, when lo! a stream of water emits from the mouth of the assistant and fills the dish. One by one he takes six fishes from the mouth of his assistant and places them in the dish. 

Directed by Georges Melies
Produced by Georges Melies
DetailsCountry France
Release Date: 1900
Production Co: Star-Film 


* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 8 in a series – Leaving Jerusalem by Railway (Auguste and Louis Lumiére, France, 1896)
  2. Adapting The Prince of Tides from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (1:03)
  3. More On Adapting The Prince of Tides from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (1:00)
  4. Final Thoughts On Adapting The Prince of Tides from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (0:40)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 24 in a series – What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting by Marc Norman

A History of Screenwriting – 24 in a series – What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting by Marc Norman

A History of Screenwriting – 24 in a series – What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting by Marc Norman

Screenwriters have always been viewed as Hollywood’s stepchildren. Silent-film comedy pioneer Mack Sennett forbade his screenwriters from writing anything down, for fear they’d get inflated ideas about themselves as creative artists. The great midcentury director John Ford was known to answer studio executives’ complaints that he was behind schedule by tearing a handful of random pages from his script and tossing them over his shoulder. And Ken Russell was so contemptuous of Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay for Altered States that Chayefsky insisted on having his name removed from the credits.

Of course, popular impressions aside, screenwriters have been central to moviemaking since the first motion picture audiences got past the sheer novelty of seeing pictures that moved at all. Soon they wanted to know: What happens next? In this truly fresh perspective on the movies, veteran Oscar-winning screenwriter Marc Norman gives us the first comprehensive history of the men and women who have answered that question, from Anita Loos, the highest-paid screenwriter of her day, to Robert Towne, Quentin Tarantino, Charlie Kaufman, and other paradigm-busting talents reimagining movies for the new century. 


* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 15 in a series – Athlete with Wand (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 7 in a series – Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (The Lumière Brothers, 1895)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 6 in a series – Baby’s Meal – Repas de Bebe (1895) – LOUIS LUMIERE
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 3 in a series – Making An American Citizen (1912) – Alice Guy Blaché
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 11 in a series – Caicedo (with Pole) (1894)

A History of Screenwriting – 23 in a series – The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)

A History of Screenwriting – 23 in a series – The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)

This movie is insane, and I love it. Coke Ennyday, a cocaine-shooting detective parody of Sherlock Holmes injects himself with opium from a bandolier of syringes worn across his chest and liberally helps himself to the contents of a hatbox-sized round container of white powder labeled “COCAINE” on his desk. A clock-like sign on the wall divides time between EAT, DRINK, SLEEP, and DOPE. He observes visitors at his door on what appears to be a closed-circuit television called a “scientific periscope”. The super-sleuth helps the police and discovers a contraband of opium (which he eagerly tastes) transported with “Leaping Fishes”, and the blackmail of a mysterious man who wants to marry the “fish blower” girl.

It stars the acrobatic Douglas Fairbanks as the odd action hero and Bessie Love as The Little Fish Blower, was directed by Christy Cabanne and John Emerson, and was written by Anita Loos, Tod Browning, and D. W. Griffith. — Change Before Going Productions

 


* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 15 in a series – Athlete with Wand (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 6 in a series – Baby’s Meal – Repas de Bebe (1895) – LOUIS LUMIERE
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 2 in a series – The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 18 in a series – Fire Rescue Scene (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 11 in a series – Caicedo (with Pole) (1894)

A History of Screenwriting – 22 in a series – The New York Hat – 1912 – Anita Loos

A History of Screenwriting – 22 in a series – The New York Hat – 1912 – Anita Loos

A History of Screenwriting - 22 in a series - The New York Hat - 1912 - Anita Loos

Short directed by D. W. Griffith, written by Anita Loos, starring Mary Pickford (in her final role for Biograph Studios) and Lionel Barrymore, with an appearance by Lillian Gish.

From Wikipedia…

The New York Hat is one of the most notable of the Biograph Studios short films and is perhaps the best known example of Pickford’s early work, and an example of Anita Loos‘s witty writing. The film was made by Biograph when it and many other early U.S. movie studios were based in Fort Lee, New Jersey at the beginning of the 20th century.[1][2][3]

Mollie Goodhue leads a cheerless, impoverished life, largely because of her stern, miserly father. Mrs. Goodhue is mortally ill, but before dying, she gives the minister, Preacher Bolton, some money with which to buy her daughter the “finery” her father always forbade her.

Mollie is delighted when the minister presents her with a fashionable New York hat she has been longing for, but village gossips misinterpret the minister’s intentions and spread malicious rumors. Mollie becomes a social pariah, and her father tears up the beloved hat in a rage.

All ends well, however, after the minister produces a letter from Mollie’s mother about the money she left the minister to spend on Mollie. Soon afterwards, he proposes to Mollie, who accepts his offer of marriage.


* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 15 in a series – Athlete with Wand (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 5 in a series – The Sprinkler Sprinkled (1895) – 1st Comedy Movie – LOUIS LUMIERE – L’Arroseur Arrose
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 3 in a series – Making An American Citizen (1912) – Alice Guy Blaché
  4. Women’s History Month – 15 in a series – Anita Loos
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 17 in a series – Interior New York Subway, 14th St to 42nd St (Billy Bitzer, Mutoscope, 1905)

A History of Screenwriting – 21 in a series – Ramona (1910) – MARY PICKFORD – D. W. Griffith | G.W. Bitzer

A History of Screenwriting – 21 in a series – Ramona (1910) – MARY PICKFORD – D. W. Griffith | G.W. Bitzer

A History of Screenwriting - 21 in a series - Ramona (1910) - MARY PICKFORD - D. W. Griffith | G.W. Bitzer

Based on Helen Hunt Jackson’s 1884 novel Ramona, starring Mary Pickford & Henry B. Walthall. The first film to identify filming locations in its credits. Was promoted as ‘The most expensive motion picture ever made’ by Biograph in 1910. Film debut of Mae Marsh.

From Wikipedia…

Ramona is a 1910 American short drama film directed by D. W. Griffith, based on Helen Hunt Jackson‘s 1884 novel Ramona. Through a love story, the early silent short explores racial injustice to Native Americans and stars Mary Pickford and Henry B. Walthall.[1] A copy of the print survives in the Library of Congress film archive.[2] The film was remade in 1928 (dir. Edwin Carewe) with Dolores del Rio and 1936 (dir. Henry King) with Loretta Young.

Ramona chronicles the romance between Ramona (Mary Pickford), a Spanish orphan from the prestigious Moreno family, and Alessandro (Henry B. Walthall), an Indian who appears on her family’s ranch one day. A man named Felipe (Francis J. Grandon) proclaims his love for Ramona, but she rejects him because she has fallen for Alessandro. They fall deeply in love, yet their desire to wed is denied by Ramona’s stepmother, who reacts by exiling Alessandro from her ranch. He returns to his village, only to find that it has been demolished by white men. Meanwhile, Ramona is informed that she also has “Indian blood”, which leads her to abandon everything she has to be with Alessandro. They marry, and live among the wreckage of Alessandro’s devastated village. They have a child together and live at peace until the white men come to force them from their home as they claim the land. Their baby perishes, and then Alessandro is then killed by the white men. Ramona is then rescued by Felipe and returned to her family back on the ranch.[3]


* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 17 in a series – Interior New York Subway, 14th St to 42nd St (Billy Bitzer, Mutoscope, 1905)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 19 in a series – The boxing cats (Prof. Welton’s)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 2 in a series – The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 15 in a series – Athlete with Wand (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 7 in a series – Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (The Lumière Brothers, 1895)

A History of Screenwriting – 20 in a series – The Kiss (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1896)

A History of Screenwriting – 20 in a series – The Kiss (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1896)

A History of Screenwriting - 20 in a series - The Kiss (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1896)

From Wikipedia…

The Kiss (also known as The May Irwin Kiss, The Rice-Irwin Kiss and The Widow Jones) is an 1896 film, and was one of the first films ever shown commercially to the public. Around 18 seconds long, it depicts a re-enactment of the kiss between May Irwin and John Rice from the final scene of the stage musical The Widow Jones. The film was directed by William Heise for Thomas Edison. At the time, Edison was working at the Black Maria studios in West Orange, New Jersey.

In 1999, the short was deemed “culturally significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The film contained the very first kiss on film, with a close-up of a nuzzling couple followed by a short peck on the lips (“the mysteries of the kiss revealed”). The kissing scene was denounced as shocking and obscene to early moviegoers and caused the Roman Catholic Church to call for censorship and moral reform – because kissing in public at the time could lead to prosecution.[1]

The film caused a scandalized uproar and occasioned disapproving newspaper editorials and calls for police action in many places where it was shown. One contemporary critic wrote, “The spectacle of the prolonged pasturing on each other’s lips was beastly enough in life size on the stage but magnified to gargantuan proportions and repeated three times over it is absolutely disgusting.”[2]

The Edison catalogue advertised it this way: “They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss and kiss and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.”

Perhaps in defiance and “to spice up a film”, this was followed by many kiss imitators, including The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) and The Kiss (1900).

Learn more about Thomas Edison and Early Movies with these books and videos

* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 13 in a series – Annabelle Butterfly Dance (1894) – William K.L. Dickson
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 14 in a series – Buffalo Dance (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 15 in a series – Athlete with Wand (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 16 in a series – Imperial Japanese Dance (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 18 in a series – Fire Rescue Scene (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)

A History of Screenwriting – 19 in a series – The boxing cats (Prof. Welton’s)

 A History of Screenwriting – 19 in a series – The boxing cats (Prof. Welton’s)

A History of Screenwriting - 19 in a series - The boxing cats (Prof. Welton's)

Title
The boxing cats (Prof. Welton’s)

Other Title
Boxing cats

Summary
From Raff & Gammon price list: A very interesting and amusing subject. $10.00.

Contributor Names
Dickson, W. K.-L. (William Kennedy-Laurie), 1860-1935, production.
Heise, William, camera.
Welton, Henry, cast.
Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Hendricks (Gordon) Collection (Library of Congress)
Created / Published
United States : Edison Manufacturing Co., [1894]

Subject Headings
– Cats–Training–United States
– Boxing–United States
– Animal fighting
– Animal trainers–United States

Genre
Novelty films
Peep shows (Motion pictures)
Silent films
Nonfiction films

Notes
– Copyright: no reg.
– Featuring: Henry Welton.
– Camera, William Heise.
– Duration: 0:20 at 27 fps.
– MAVIS 179897; The boxing cats (Prof. Welton’s).
– Filmed ca. July 1894, in Edison’s Black Maria studio.
– Sources used: Copyright catalog, motion pictures, 1894-1912; Musser, C. Edison motion pictures 1890-1900, 1997, p. 104-5; Raff & Gammon. Price list of films, ca. June 1895, p. 1 [MI].
– Available also through the Library of Congress Web site as digital files.
– Received: 1994-05-13; viewing print; preservation; Hendricks (Gordon) Collection.
Medium
viewing print 1 film reel of 1 (ca. 33 ft.) : si., b&w ; 35 mm.

Call Number/Physical Location
FEC 8057 (viewing print)

Repository
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division Washington, D. C. 20540 USA dcu

Digital Id
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/edmp.4020

Library of Congress Control Number
00694112

Online Format
image
video

Description
From Raff & Gammon price list: A very interesting and amusing subject. $10.00.

LCCN Permalink
https://lccn.loc.gov/00694112

Additional Metadata Formats
MARCXML Record
MODS Record
Dublin Core Record 

Learn more about Thomas Edison and Early Movies with these books and videos

* 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! 

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus.  As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era  who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order  to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Related posts:

  1. A History of Screenwriting – 16 in a series – Imperial Japanese Dance (W. K. L. Dickson, USA, 1894)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 9 in a series – Men Boxing, William K. L. Dickson, William Heise – Edison Manufacturing Company, 1891
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 11 in a series – Caicedo (with Pole) (1894)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 12 in a series – Luis Martinetti Contortionist
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 10 in a series – Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894)

Adapting The Martian and Conclusion from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (2:06)

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.

Watch this entire presentation

Adapting The Martian and Conclusion from A History of the Art of Adaptation

 

Transcript:

The latest latest is the Martian which is a really interesting book on several levels. You guys know it was self-published and he would put chapters online one chapter at a time and he would take input from people and then he would add that to the stuff he was writing as he went further and he had so much of a following online he was able to take it to publishing companies. They said “well so many people care about what’s happening we’ll try publishing it.” It became a best-seller now of course it’s become a movie with Matt Damon hugely successful the last two three weeks at the box office. It’s been the number one movie. What have they changed? Well happily not too much. In the book they jump right into him being there you know in the movie they have to show you how stuff exploded so it’s big and exciting. That’s why we know he’s stuck at Mars. That’s a small change no one’s too upset. What bothers me is we have another Argo situation. There’s a character in the book named Mindy Park and she is his connection down at NASA right. If I say the last name Park to you does any ethnicity come to mind? Korean-American that’s who she is in the book. In the movie can’t get much blonder than that. Absolutely every bit of ethnicity has been washed out of that character which is amazing because clearly it’s a very successful and popular character inside the novel. Why they didn’t think that they could allow a Korean-American actress to portray here kind of fascinating but also kind of sad because if you don’t read the book you don’t really get the story. and so frankly the moral of the story which I thought was hilarious is actually a book called the moral of the story. The Morel of the Story, you got to read the books. You can’t just see the movies.You have to read the book so you’re not really having the experience that the person wanted you to have and I think that’s the coolest thing because it lets a movie continue to live with you. If you liked it that much you’re going to love the extra details you get inside the book. That’s it. Thank you very much.

Yea!

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.”

Her upcoming book, “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture” will be published in Fall 2016

Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space are two books she has written. Los Angeles Times and the Journal of Screenwriting hold some of her published articles.

Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog

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Dr. Rosanne Welch on YouTube

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