Category: Film

How Gidget Got Into the Girl Ghetto – Dr. Rosanne Welch – SRN Conference 2017 [Video] (23 mins)

How Gidget Got Into the Girl Ghetto – Dr. Rosanne Welch – SRN Conference 2017 [Video] (23 mins)

How Gidget Got Into the Girl Ghetto - Dr. Rosanne Welch - SRN Conference 2017 [Video] (23 mins)

 

At this year’s 10th Annual Screenwriting Research Network Conference at Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand I presented…

“How Gidget Got Into the Girl Ghetto by Accident (and How We Can Get Her Out of it): Demoting Gidget: The Little Girl with Big Ideas from Edgy Coming of Age Novel to Babe on the Beach Genre Film via Choices made in the Adaptation Process.”

It’ a long title, as I joke up front, but covers the process of adapting the true life story of Kathy Kohner (nicknamed ‘Gidget’ by the group of male surfers who she spent the summers with in Malibu in the 1950s) into the film and television series that are better remembered than the novel. The novel had been well-received upon publication, even compared to A Catcher in the Rye, but has mistakenly been relegated to the ‘girl ghetto’ of films. Some of the adaptations turned the focus away from the coming of age story of a young woman who gained respect for her talent at a male craft – surfing – and instead turned the focus far too much on Kathy being boy crazy.

Along the way I found interesting comparisons between how female writers treated the main character while adapting the novel and how male writers treated the character.




Gidget

Dr. Rosanne Welch

Dr. Rosanne Welch teaches the History of Screenwriting and One-Hour Drama for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting.

Writing/producing credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences, ABCNEWS: Nightline and Touched by an Angel. In 2016 she published the book Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop; co-edited Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia; and placed “Transmitting Culture Transnationally Via the Characterization of Parents in Police Procedurals” in the New Review of Film and Television Studies. Essays appear in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television and Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology. Welch serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Written By magazine, the magazine of the Writers Guild.

Watch Dr. Welch’s talk “The Importance of Having a Female Voice in the Room” at the 2016 TEDxCPP.

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The Screenwriting Research Network is a research group consisting of scholars, reflective practitioners and practice-based researchers interested in research on screenwriting. The aim is to rethink the screenplay in relation to its histories, theories, values and creative practices.

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Related posts:

  1. Adapting Gidget from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (1:07)
  2. More on Adapting Gidget from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (1:03)
  3. Watch Now: Rosanne Welch talks about “Why The Monkees Matter” with Jean Hopkins Power [Video] (45 mins)
  4. Dr. Rosanne Welch at Golden Leaves Presentation 2017, Cal Poly Pomona [Video]
  5. SRN: 1960’s TV Censorship, The Monkees: Challenging Norms with Dr. Rosanne Welch

A History of Screenwriting – 40 in a series – The Son of the Sheik – Frances Marion

A History of Screenwriting – 40 in a series – The Son of the Sheik – Frances Marion

A History of Screenwriting - 40 in a series - The Son of the Sheik - Frances Marion

The Son of the Sheik is a 1926 American silent adventure/drama film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky. The film is based on the 1925 romance novel of the same name by Edith Maude Hull, and is a sequel to the 1921 hit film The Sheik, which also stars Rudolph Valentino.[2] The Son of the Sheik is Valentino’s final film and was released nearly two weeks after his death from peritonitis at the age of 31.

In 2003, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.[3]

At the time of the film’s release, Rudolph Valentino was attempting to make a comeback in films.[4] He rose to international stardom after the release of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Sheik in 1921, both of which were box office hits and solidified his image as “the Great Lover”.[5] By 1924, however, Valentino’s popularity had begun to wane after he appeared in two box office failures, Monsieur Beaucaire and A Sainted Devil, both of which featured him in roles that were a departure from his “Great Lover” image. He also squabbled over money with Famous Players-Lasky, the studio he was signed to, which eventually led to him walking out on his contract. Famous Players-Lasky eventually released Valentino from his contract and he signed with United Artists in 1925.[4] In an effort to capitalize on the success that Valentino had achieved with The Sheik, United Artists’ president Joseph M. Schenck bought the rights to Edith Maude Hull‘s novel Son of the Sheik and cast Valentino in the dual role of father and son.[2][6]

The novel was adapted for the screen by Frances Marion and Fred de Gresac.[2] The film was shot on location in California and in the Yuma Desert in Arizona.[7] — Wikipedia


* 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 – 38 in a series – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Frances Marion
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 39 in a series – The Poor Little Rich Girl – Frances Marion
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 27 in a series – The Mermaid , Georges Méliès (1904)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 37 in a series – Writers in Hollywood 1915-1951, Ian Hamilton
  5. Women’s History Month – 16 in a series – Frances Perkins

A History of Screenwriting – 39 in a series – The Poor Little Rich Girl – Frances Marion

A History of Screenwriting – 39 in a series – The Poor Little Rich Girl – Frances Marion

A History of Screenwriting - 39 in a series - The Poor Little Rich Girl - Frances Marion

 

The Poor Little Rich Girl is a 1917 American comedy-drama film directed by Maurice Tourneur. Adapted by Frances Marion from the 1913 play by Eleanor Gates.[1] The Broadway play actually starred future screen actress Viola Dana.[2] The film stars Mary Pickford, Madlaine Traverse, Charles Wellesley, Gladys Fairbanks (returning from the play) and Frank McGlynn, Sr.

The film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey when early film studios in America’s first motion picture industry were based there at the beginning of the 20th century.[3][4][5] In 1991, The Poor Little Rich Girl was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. — Wikipedia


* 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 – 38 in a series – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Frances Marion
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 25 in a series – Excelsior! Prince of the Magicians (George Méliès, France, 1901)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 28 in a series – The Black Imp (George Méliès, France, 1905)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 37 in a series – Writers in Hollywood 1915-1951, Ian Hamilton
  5. Women’s History Month – 16 in a series – Frances Perkins

A History of Screenwriting – 38 in a series – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Frances Marion

A History of Screenwriting – 38 in a series – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Frances Marion

A History of Screenwriting - 38 in a series - Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm - Frances Marion

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a 1917 American silent comedy-drama film directed by Marshall Neilan based upon the novel of the same name by Kate Douglas Wiggin. This version is notable for having been adapted by famed female screenwriter Frances Marion. The film was made by the “Mary Pickford Company” and was an acclaimed box office hit. When the play premiered on Broadway in the 1910 theater season the part of Rebecca was played by Edith Taliaferro.[1][2][3]

As described in a film magazine,[4] Rebecca Randall (Pickford) is taken into the home of her aunt Hannah (Eddy), a strict New England woman. Rebecca meets Adam Ladd (O’Brien), a young man of the village, and they become great friends. One day Rebecca promises to marry Adam when she becomes of age. Unable to withstand her pranks any longer, her aunt sends her away to a boarding school. She graduates a beautiful young lady. Shortly thereafter, Adam demands a fulfillment of her promise. — Wikipedia


* 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 – 27 in a series – The Mermaid , Georges Méliès (1904)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 28 in a series – The Black Imp (George Méliès, France, 1905)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 37 in a series – Writers in Hollywood 1915-1951, Ian Hamilton
  5. Women’s History Month – 16 in a series – Frances Perkins

The Latest Journal of Screenwriting is HERE!

Journal screenwriting v8i2 cover

Journal screenwriting v8i2 mastheadJournal screenwriting v8i2 toc

Click for larger images

It was quite satisfying to receive my copy of The Journal of Screenwriting yesterday (Issue 8.2) with my first efforts as the Book Reviews Editor.

The issue also contains the conference report I co-wrote on the 9th Annual Conference, held in Leeds last year. I really enjoyed participating in the writing of that report because it gave me a chance to mention the many wonderful paper presentations that I saw. It also happens to include a wonderful article by my friend Rose Ferrell from Australia (who just completed her Phd thesis which you can access here) about the concept of National voice and how much of our national voice filters into our writers voice

Of course my mind is already rolling with ideas about how to write about this most recent conference at a Otago University. Right now I will enjoy this copy of the Journal looking at the book reviews and the articles with a new kind of focus. The new goal is to find reasons to bring students to read these types of academic journals and discuss them in class — and to find more college libraries that will subscribe so they can have the Journal on hand for their screenwriting students!

If you work for a university – give The Journal of Screenwriting a read!

Related posts:

  1. “Honey, You Know I Can’t Hear You When You Aren’t in the Room: Now free online from Gender and the Screenplay Journal
  2. Dr. Rosanne Welch’s Latest Essay Appears in “OUTSIDE IN MAKES IT SO: 174 New Perspectives on 174 Star Trek TNG Stories by 174 Writers”
  3. Two Screenwriting MFA programs I’m Involved with are in Written By Magazine this Month!
  4. A Woman’s Voice in the Writers’ Room – An In-Depth Interview with Dr. Rosanne Welch in Creative Screenwriting Magazine
  5. Announcing my new post as Reviews Editor for the Journal of Screenwriting

A History of Screenwriting – 37 in a series – Writers in Hollywood 1915-1951, Ian Hamilton

A History of Screenwriting – 37 in a series – Writers in Hollywood 1915-1951, Ian Hamilton

The story of Hollywood has often been told from the point of view of the stars, the directors, the tycoons, but not until now from the point of view of the gallery of writers who helped shape it, including Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Chandler, and many others. – Amazon

* 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 – 28 in a series – The Black Imp (George Méliès, France, 1905)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 27 in a series – The Mermaid , Georges Méliès (1904)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 26 in a series – Tchin Chao the Chinese Conjurer – George Méliès, France, 1904
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 24 in a series – What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting by Marc Norman
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 1 in a series – The Cabbage Fairy (La Fée aux Choux)

Giving Voice to Silent Films and the Far From Silent Women Who Wrote Them with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (17:44)

Giving Voice to Silent Films and the Far From Silent Women Who Wrote Them with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Giving Voice to Silent Films and the Far From Silent Women Who Wrote Them with Dr. Rosanne Welch

 

A recording of my presentation at this year’s University Film and Video Association (UFVA) 2017 conference.

I was pleased to be asked to participate in a panel designed by former student (and current kick-ass professor) Warren Lewis. The panel included two other former students from the MFA in Screenwriting program at CSUF: David Morgassen and Lucas Cuny. For the panel’s theme — “What Else Do We Teach When We Teach Screenwriting: Context And Controversy: Strategies For Teaching Film And Television History And Current Events To Screenwriters” — I chose to present on: “Giving Voice to Silent Films and the Far From Silent Women Who Wrote Them”.

It involves the fact that when teaching screenwriting history, I begin chronologically. In essence I force students to watch the classic films of the silent era (happily accessible for free on YouTube) first because that is when women ran the town as evidenced in Cari Beachamp’s Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood”.) Beauchamp’s book is on my reading list so that they can encounter the careers of Frances Marion, Anita Loos, Lois Weber, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Eve Unsell and a host of other women who ran their own production companies for many years.

Secondly, knowing women once ran Hollywood makes it harder for today’s executives to wonder if today’s women can do the same.
Third, I have learned that teaching silent films reminds modern students that in screenwriting the visual is as important as the verbal.

Fourth, recognizing the birth of major iconic archetypes helps them recognize those archetypes in modern films and develop their own characters more three-dimensionally.
Fifth, I had to embarrassingly realize that in my zest to focus on forgotten females, I forgot to cover the careers of forgotten men and women of color and so expanded my viewing list to include the work of Oscar Mischeaux and other artists of color from the era.

Finally, I stretch back to the silents as a reminder that all artists stand of the shoulders of those who came before them – be they women or men.

Books Mentioned In This Presentation

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosannewelch
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About Dr. Rosanne Welch

Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.

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Related posts:

  1. Panel: Increasing the Power of Women’s Voices in Hollywood from the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting Program [Video]
  2. Monkees Writers from 1960’s TV Censorship and The Monkees with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1:15)
  3. A Female Voice in the Room | Dr. Rosanne Welch | TEDxCPP [Video] (12:56)
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A History of Screenwriting – 36 in a series – Intolerance (1916) – D.W. Griffith

A History of Screenwriting – 36 in a series – Intolerance (1916) – D.W. Griffith

A History of Screenwriting - 36 in a series - Intolerance (1916) - D.W. Griffith

Intolerance is a 1916 epic silent film directed by D. W. Griffith. Subtitles include Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages and A Sun-Play of the Ages.[2][3]

Widely regarded as one of the great masterpieces of the silent era, as well as one of the first art films,[3] the three-and-a-half-hour epic intercuts four parallel storylines, each separated by several centuries: (1) a contemporary melodrama of crime and redemption, (2) a Judean story: Christ‘s mission and death, (3) a French story: the events surrounding the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of 1572, and (4) a Babylonian story: the fall of the Babylonian Empire to Persia in 539 BC. Each story had its own distinctive color tint in the original print.[3] The scenes are linked by shots of a figure representing Eternal Motherhood, rocking a cradle.[3]

Intolerance was made partly in response to criticism of Griffith’s previous film, The Birth of a Nation (1915),[4] which was criticized by the NAACP and other groups as perpetuating racial stereotypes and glorifying the Ku Klux Klan.[5] It was not—as is commonly implied—an apology for the racism of his earlier film;[6]in numerous interviews, Griffith made clear that the film’s title and overriding themes were meant as a response to those who he felt had been intolerant of him in condemning The Birth of a Nation.[7] In the years following its release, Intolerance would strongly influence European film movements despite its lack of commercial success domestically. —Wikipedia


* 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 – 27 in a series – The Mermaid , Georges Méliès (1904)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 28 in a series – The Black Imp (George Méliès, France, 1905)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 32 in a series – Long Distance Wireless Photography (George Méliès, France, 1908)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 23 in a series – The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 21 in a series – Ramona (1910) – MARY PICKFORD – D. W. Griffith | G.W. Bitzer

A History of Screenwriting – 35 in a series – Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

A History of Screenwriting – 35 in a series – Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

A History of Screenwriting - 35 in a series - Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 animated short film by American cartoonist and animator Winsor McCay. It is the earliest animated film to feature a dinosaur. McCay first used the film before live audiences as an interactive part of his vaudeville act; the frisky, childlike Gertie did tricks at the command of her master. McCay’s employer William Randolph Hearst later curtailed McCay’s vaudeville activities, so McCay added a live-action introductory sequence to the film for its theatrical release. McCay abandoned a sequel, Gertie on Tour (c. 1921), after producing about a minute of footage.

Although Gertie is popularly thought to be the earliest animated film, McCay had earlier made Little Nemo (1911) and How a Mosquito Operates (1912). The American J. Stuart Blacktonand the French Émile Cohl had experimented with animation even earlier; Gertie being a character with an appealing personality distinguished McCay’s film from these earlier “trick films”. Gertie was the first film to use animation techniques such as keyframes, registration marks, tracing paper, the Mutoscope action viewer, and animation loops. It influenced the next generation of animators such as the Fleischer brothers, Otto Messmer, Paul Terry, and Walt Disney. John Randolph Bray unsuccessfully tried to patent many of McCay’s animation techniques and is said to have been behind a plagiarized version of Gertie that appeared a year or two after the original. Gertie is the best preserved of McCay’s films—some of which have been lost or survive only in fragments—and has been preserved in the U.S. Library of Congress‘ National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. — Wikipedia


* 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 – 28 in a series – The Black Imp (George Méliès, France, 1905)
  2. A History of Screenwriting – 27 in a series – The Mermaid , Georges Méliès (1904)
  3. A History of Screenwriting – 31 in a series – Hilarious Posters (George Méliès, France, 1907)
  4. A History of Screenwriting – 23 in a series – The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916)
  5. A History of Screenwriting – 34 in a series – The Squaw Man (1914)

Dr. Rosanne Welch with her WGA Panel Participants from “Crafting Strong Female Characters”

One attendee comment made my evening, “This panel was both inspirational and aspirational!”

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  3. Star Wars and It’s Impact on Modern Media Panel Discussion from The Redlands Film and Beer Festival [Video]
  4. Dr. Rosanne Welch Speaks on “How Star Wars In Influenced Movie Themes, Female Characters, Fandom & Fan Fiction” – Tuesday, April 12 – Noon – Cal Poly Pomona
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