On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch
Writing, Film, Television and More!
After the DTLA Film Festival Panel
Moderating panels at local film festivals is a good way to highlight the great work of mentors like Maria Escobedo and to meet new possible mentors for MFA program like Peruvian filmmaker Donna Bonilla Wheeler. Here we are chatting after a panel on how Writers Can avoid implicit bias in their work at the DTLA film Festival in Los Angeles.
Presenting “When Women Wrote Horror” at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library as a Halloween event
Video of this talk is coming soon!
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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:
I think particularly this quote is an important one to think about — “what science fiction can do for us…”, right, “What we don’t see , we assume we can’t be.” So it’s very important to her to put African Americans into the future to see that they exist in the future. That meant something to her. Just like the other female writers were putting women in powerful positions in the future because they wanted girls to see role models like that. So that’s the quote I think that should stick with us because it’s an important thought and a lot of the media that we consume — what are we giving our money – what are we supporting what do we want to see more of right?
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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
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Part of the California State University, Fullerton Faculty Noon Time Talks at the Pollak Library.
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Transcript:
This lady I wish people knew more. They know her in literature and poetry classes but they don’t know her as a screenwriter. Guesses? Dorothy Parker. Dorothy Parker right who happily said , “You can lead a whore of culture but you can’t make her think.” Yeah Exactly. Dorothy was nominated for two Oscars. She was from New York. She was of that world the Algonquin Round Table. She came out here because there was lots of money to be made. She was married to an actor who was about 12 years her junior and everyone thought that was a crazy marriage. There were a few women doing that back in the day. He wanted to write in Hollywood because there was more money out here. So they came out here. They wrote several movies. These movies she did — they ended up divorcing — so she got the Oscars when she wasn’t working with him. She had the nominations. What she did with him is “A Star Is Born”, the original “A Star Is Born” which I must tell you, in my class one day I was having people name their favorite movies and of course some would name “A Star is Born” and I said “Which version?” and she said “There’s more than one?” Yeah that was really sad.
Dr. Rosanne Welch discusses the women in her new book “When Women Wrote Hollywood” which covers female screenwriters from the Silents through the early 1940s when women wrote over 50% of films and Frances Marion was the highest paid screenwriter (male or female) and the first to win 2 Oscars. Yet, she fails to appear in film history books, which continue to regurgitate the myth that male directors did it all – even though it’s been proven that the only profitable movies Cecil B. de Mille ever directed were all written by Jeannie Macpherson film ever won for Best Picture was written by Robert E. Sherwood (who people have heard of, mostly due to his connection to Dorothy Parker) and Joan Harrison.
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† Available from the LA Public Library
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Getting ready for my panel at DTLA Film Festival on Sunday
Chatting with Maria Staroselets of the DTLA Film Festival before our panel discussion, Privileged Characters: How to recognize and avoid implicit bias in your screenwriting.
Video of this panel coming soon
I had a great time joining fellow authors at the first reading for Paperback LA, the anthology series that published my article about the writers of The Monkees — so I’m super excited to appear at a second event celebrating the series. And it’s a chance to experience another bookstore in LA.
I hope you can join me, my fellow authors and our intrepid editor, Susan La Tempa, on Thursday November 7th at Stories Books and Cafe on Sunset Blvd in Echo Park.
The critics call Paperback L.A. “Genius!” and “incredibly fun” but they’re understating the pleasures of this new school “casual anthology.”
Join us to toast and hear from incredible L.A. writers with stories about all sorts of things–1920s books, 1960s street racing, 1960s TV writers, 1980s plumbing — all set in L.A. Featuring contributors from all three volumes: Victoria Dailey (L.A.’s Early Moderns), Jim Gavin (Middle Men), Lou Mathews (L.A. Breakdown), Rosanne Welch (Why the Monkees Matter), and series editor Susan LaTempa.
Amenities: eat and drink on the premises; beer & wine served 5 p.m. to close; parking lot behind store.
Reading at the Paperback LA Launch Party
This Sunday at 4pm join me at the DTLA (Downtown LA Film Festival)!
I’ll be moderating a panel on implicit bias in screenwriting. “Privileged Characters: How to recognize and avoid implicit bias in your screenwriting” will take place at the Regal Cinema at LA Live. Panelists will include Maria Escobeda, one of the Stephens MFA in TV and Screeenwriting’s favorite mentors, as well as representatives from the worlds of entertainment journalism, marketing and theme parks – all of whom need to understand this idea in order to reach – and succeed – with customers from all over the world. — Rosanne
Date/Time: Sun, October 27, 2019 @ 4:00 PM
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Location: Regal LA Live MEZZANINE
Panel Description
Privileged Characters: How to recognize and avoid implicit bias in your screenwriting
How do writers recognize and avoid implicit bias in their work? In this panel we review examples of how implicit bias infects popular shows and movies — even now in the wake of the Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and #TimesUp movement.
We’ll also learn about the tools and techniques available to combat implicit bias in the written word.
Finally, we’ll tackle the prickly question of writers who can authentically create characters and stories that are intrinsically about people who demographically different from them?
Panelists
Beverly Gray
Beverly Gray has spent her career fluctuating between the world of the intellect and show biz. As she was completing her doctorate in Contemporary American Fiction at UCLA, she surprised everyone (including herself) by taking a job with B-movie legend Roger Corman, for whom she helped develop 170 low-budget feature films. Following her Corman years, she covered the movie industry for The Hollywood Reporter. She has also published the best-selling Roger Corman: “Blood-Sucking Vampires, Flesh-Eating Cockroaches, and Driller Killers”, as well as “Ron Howard: From Mayberry to the Moon . . . and Beyond”. Currently, she teaches advanced online screenwriting workshops for UCLA Extension’s internationally-known Writers’ Program, and her popular twice-weekly blog, “Beverly in Movieland,” covers movies, moviemaking, and growing up Hollywood-adjacent. Her most recent book is “Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How The Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation.”
Maria Escobedo
Maria Escobedo is a film and television writer with credits including “Grey’s Anatomy”, Hulu’s “East Los High” and the indie film “Rum and Coke”, which she wrote and directed. She’s developed movies and pilots for Lifetime, Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon. She also has written for animated kids’ TV, including “Dora the Explorer”, “Go Diego Go”, “Elena of Avalor”, “Special Agent Oso” and “Nina’s World”, which earned her a Humanitas Award nomination. Escobedo is currently writing for Amazon’s “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”, Netflix’s “What-To-Doodles” and Nickelodeon’s “Santiago of the Seas”.
Hanala Sagal
Hanala Sagal, screenwriter-producer of “Elvis & Nixon” (Tribeca Film Festival 2016 Centerpiece), starred on “Shape Up L.A!” as Suzan Stadner (1985-2000.) Her brand is Comedy Wellness: Content for a Better Tomorrow and Funnier Today, trending on YouTube with 500M views and 400K subscribers. Hanala is in development on “Traumaland” (dark comedy, feature) based on her best-selling memoir “My Parents Went Through the Holocaust and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt” featured in “The Last Laugh” starring Mel Brooks.
Donna Bonilla Wheeler
Donna Bonilla Wheeler is a Peruvian-American film + theatre writer/director who began her film career writing and directing for Walt Disney Productions Theme Parks. Her original screenplays have been selected as Academy Nicholl Fellowship semi finalist/quarter finalists, IFP No Borders, Austin 2nd Rounders, and Slamdance Script Labs, among others. She sold her experimental short about the creative process, “Mind’s Eye” at the Cannes film market. She received the Grand Jury Prize, Narrative Short for her dramedy film, “The Girl Next Door” at Mystic Film Festival, and her family comedy/mystery she wrote and directed, “Death of a saleswoman” has received global recognition at multiple festivals. Donna is a fiscally-sponsored 501c3 filmmaker, working in the Latinx, LGBTQ+ diversity spaces.
Kala Guess
Kala Guess is a marketing professional at Final Draft. She acts as both Contest Director for the Big Break Screenwriting Contest and Content Producer for the Final Draft blog and “Write On” podcast. As part of her focus on the customer experience, she produces engaging and insightful content for screenwriters and operates as a champion for emerging talent. Additionally, Kala is a driving force in Final Draft’s efforts for diversity and inclusivity in the entertainment industry. Previously, she worked as the marketing and publicity coordinator for an independent film and television studio in Hollywood. Kala has a decade of experience in various capacities in the entertainment industry.
Evette Vargas
Evette Vargas is an award-winning writer, director, producer and immersive storyteller. Named by the New York Times as an “Artist to Watch,” Vargas’ has produced series for Amazon, MTV, Bravo, DirectTV; and interactive content for Fast And Furious, Lord Of The Rings trilogy and Madonna. Vargas executive produced, wrote and directed her digital series Dark Prophet, starring Henry Rollins, which was in contention for two Emmys. Vargas sold her drama series, Muses, to TNT Super Deluxe. Vargas is creating a drama series for MGMTV with Marc Guggenheim and Rosario Dawson serving as executive producers. Vargas wrote The Current War VR Experience, a companion piece for the film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. A proud member of the WGA, ATAS and PGA, Vargas was born in the Bronx and learned to tell stories at the dinner table where the imagination ruled. Vargas collects action figures, typewriters and shoes; has past lives as a DJ, a fashion designer and is a recovering New York City advertising Art Director.
