History – Page 177 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

More on Adapting Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (0:44)

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.

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Transcript:

In the movie, we keep talking about how depressed he is because his friend committed suicide. In the play, we’re told the friend committed suicide because Paul Newman turned him down. They’re gay. He’s only married to Maggie, his wife, for the look of things. so again we’re going to hide a homosexual storyline yet this is such a really, really, sexualized movie. It’s quite fascinating. You know, speaking of that, I mean it is Paul Newman. You can’t go wrong with a little quick slide of Paul Newman looking good. And just for all you little people in here, you do know he’s the voice of Doc Hudson. I always think that’s important to understand where these people come from. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Both victims of the Hays Code. which is going to stay in place for a long time.

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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Why The Monkees Matter Book Signing – Book Soup, Hollywood, CA – September 19, 2016 [Video]

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.

Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

About Dr. Rosanne Welch

Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog

Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter

Dr. Rosanne Welch on YouTube

Book Reading: Why The Monkees Matter with Dr. Rosanne Welch – Book Soup, Hollywood, Mon, Sept 19, 2016, 7pm

Join me for a reading from my latest book, “Why The Monkees Matter” at Book Soup on the beautiful Sunset Strip in Hollywood.

Date:

Monday, September 19, 2016 – 7pm

Location:

Book Soup
818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Who Were/Are The Monkees? from 1960’s TV Censorship and The Monkees with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1:13)

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“1960s TV Censorship and The Monkees” gives a brief overview of where censorship standards were in the era – and how The Monkees pushed the envelope with its mentions of the Vietnam War – and Sunset Strip riots – and even with the outrageous storytelling behind “Frodis Caper”, the episode that celebrated the saving of an alien plant that very closely resembled a marijuana plant…

Writer Treva Silverman said the staff got away with such jokes because the network executives were just old enough not to understand any of the references.
Presented at Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting classes on Friday, August 5, 2016

Transcript:

How many people have never heard of The Monkees? Few bodies, Ok. 1960s from ’66 when they did the pilot till 1968 they were on the air. Some people call them the original boy band. They are 4 men — actors and musicians — who were hired for a sitcom about rock and rollers in the 60’s and they also all could actually play their own instruments although there were rumors they could not and the first album other people played the instruments and they sang, but later they did everything on all their other albums. They became this huge sensation. In 1967 their albums outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined. They were that huge. They played in Japan and Australia — all over the world. It was huge. And in like 2 years, it disappeared. Which happens a lot. But in 1986, which was the 20th Anniversary of the show, MTV ran a marathon of all the episodes ever and it hooked a whole new generation of people. They started a reunion concert tour that was the highest grossing tour of 1986. Above any other rock and roll band and they were 20 years older than they had been when the shows was on the air. and from that point on, every 5-6 years, they run another reunion tour, which they’re running right now since it’s the 50th Anniversary of their show.

Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

About Dr. Rosanne Welch

Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog

Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter

Dr. Rosanne Welch on YouTube

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Quotes from “Why The Monkees Matter” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 26 in a series

** Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today **

How did such blatant (counter-culture) references make it on air? Most of the writers felt that the studio and network executives had no idea what they meant. According to writer Treva Silverman the executives didn’t get the jokes, even though, “They were all wearing love beads. While they could accessorize the accessories they never got the point.”

from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Buy your Copy today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

The Monkee’s 50th Anniversary – Selected Stories from Around the World

Leave it to the English (the BBC World Service to be precise) to host an interview with one of The Monkees (Micky) that takes things seriously and asks interesting questions – beginning with “What was the music played in your childhood home?” I’m particularly pleased that Cerys Matthews mentions the show right up front as a ‘true cultural phenomenon’ – because it was!

Cerys Matthews with Micky Dolenz (BBC World Service)

Born in Los Angeles in 1945, George Michael Dolenz, Jr. became famous at the age of 10 with his own TV show. He has since established himself as an actor on television, film, and musical theatre, and directed a number of movies and music videos. He will always be best known, though, as the drummer and lead singer of the pop-rock band The Monkees.

Dolenz described the Monkees as initially being “a TV show about an imaginary band…that wanted to be the Beatles, that was never successful”. The four actor-musicians, however, soon became a real band, going on to sell more than 75 million records worldwide. At their peak in 1967 they outsold The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined.

Dolenz reflects in his outrageously successful career with Cerys, and spins some of the tunes that have defined his life.

Ann Moses played a huge part in establishing the public persona of each of the actors on The Monkees – I discuss the difference between their many personas in the chapter on Identity Construction (named whimsically for the song A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You). The Monkees was a rare show in which the characters used the names of the actual actors – which begged the question “Where did the actors end and the characters begin in the audience’s mind?”

50 years less one day ago, I met the Monkees for the first time. I was on the “Last Train to Clarksville” – a promotional trip the day before their show aired in 1966. I met all four boys – and while I knew they would be a huge hit, I had no idea of the rousing years ahead, going on tour with them, trips every week to their indoor and outdoor sets as they filmed their magical show. It’s been a great experience and I can’t wait for my reunion with Peter and Micky this Thursday. 50 years later I’ll be doing video interviews with them – no tape recorders, no transcribing, no waiting 1-2 months before the story is in print. It’s definitely has been a wild ride!

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In today’s radio interview on Mornings with Nicole Dyer from Brisbane, Australia we can hear the wonderful happiness in her voice as she introduces her interview with Micky. It was great to hear that their radio station has been playing several tracks from Good Times – unlike American radio stations which seem so stuck in pre-planned song lists that we’re lucky to hear “Last Train to Clarksville”. Granted, she speaks more about the new album than the show (my focus in the book) but I appreciated that she clearly knew – and loved – the Monkees.

Micky Dolenz on 50 years of ‘The Monkees’

On September 8, 1965, an ad appeared in the entertainment trade magazine ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ seeking ‘Folk & Rock musicians, singers, for acting roles in new TV series, running parts for 4 insane boys, Age 17-21″. Over 400 young men applied – but for the four who were chosen, it would change their life.This week marks 50 years since we first heard the Monkees theme song, and this year, the Monkees released an album of new material. And 2 of the Monkees, Peter Tork and Mickey Dolenz, are heading to Australia as a part of their 50th anniversary tour, and they’re playing on the Gold Coast in December. Nicole Dyer spoke to Micky Dolenz…

Adapting Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (0:56)

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

Transcript:

Going back to how the Hays Code affected things, the same thing is going to happen to this Tennessee Williams play, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” When this play is on Broadway, it’s about a rich southern family and the father is going to die and he’s going to let one of his two sons inherit all his wealth and he prefers his older son, who’s played by Paul Newman in the movie, but this son has something wrong with him. he used to play football and his football buddy just committed suicide. So, he’s really, really depressed and we never really get around to saying in the movie why he’s so depressed and his wife keeps trying to have sex with him, but he doesn’t want to and they know that if they have a baby the father will prefer giving them the money, because he wants the money to stay in the family. Right? So, she’s desperate to have sex with Paul Newman, because who isn’t really in the long run and he’s not having anything to do with it.

About this talk

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm

About Dr. Rosanne Welch

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

Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog

Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter

Dr. Rosanne Welch on YouTube

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

New Book: OUTSIDE IN BOLDLY GOES: 117 New Perspectives on 117 Classic Star Trek Stories by 117 Writers with essay by Dr. Rosanne Welch

So excited to see the publication of my latest essay in this fun collection on the original Star Trek series – the Outside In book series invited 117 writers to contribute essays to the book.

They assigned each of us an original episode of the show on which to write a 1500 word essay. My episode is This Side of Paradise where the crew lands on a planet and Spock falls in love with a woman who spouts Walden and Thoreau – written by the brilliant D.C. Fontana, who I note inspired many more women to write television.

OUTSIDE IN BOLDLY GOES will be 352 pages, paperback, $19.95, available in late October 2016.

Pre-Order Directly from the Publisher Today

See the sidebar for more books and essays from Dr. Rosanne Welch

Who Wrote The Monkees? from1960’s TV Censorship and The Monkees with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (0:48)

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Transcript:

…And I wanted to meet Micky Dolenz because, when I was a kid, I had a crush on him. So, I, (laughter), but Written By is not a celebrity magazine. It’s a magazine of writers. So, I pitched, what if I interview all the writers of The Monkees? All the people who are in their 80’s who once wrote for The Monkees who are still alive. And their like “Oooo, what a cool idea.” So I met wth the writers of the show and it was fascinating. They had also written for many other things — Get Smart, Laugh-In. They’d won Emys for The Mary Tyler Moore Show later in their career. They were all very accomplished people and then I wrote this article and I used the article as the proposal for the book and, obviously, that’s how it all happened. So, I think it is really interesting, the process, but to create something for this conference, the conference theme is censorship. So, I thought “Ok, let me adjust to this.”

Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

About Dr. Rosanne Welch

Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog

Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter

Dr. Rosanne Welch on YouTube

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

More Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from A History of the Art of Adaptation [Video] (0:52)

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

Transcript:

It takes Time Burton to come back and finally use the real story in the book and make a film that is much more honest and loyally covering the story. The problem is, it’s not as popular because we fell in love with the softer, milder, gentler version of it and the people who liked that film didn’t find themselves liking the film that is actually much more based on the real book. So that’s a trap. If you allow your book to be adapted, it’s going to grow and change and you might not appreciate where it goes, if you’re Truman Capote or Roald Dahl. I always think that’s very interesting. I didn’t like this version. I like Johnny Depp. I saw it. My kid saw it. I have a copy of the Gene Wilder DVD and we keep playing that one. That works for me. So, this is — a piece becomes a new thing when it becomes a film and writers have to be able to let it go.

About this talk

Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2015 Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm

About Dr. Rosanne Welch

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