A boxful of books arrives. What could it be?

It’s always exciting when a new box of books arrives on our doorstep. I’m proud to say I’ve been working on so many projects that I sometimes don’t know which book will be in the box during my unboxing.

That was the case this week when a new box arrived and I expected it to be Sally Ride: Breaking Barriers and Defying Gravity, written by Jackie Perez, an alum of our Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting program. That’s because I edited her book as part of the ‘Women Making History’ series by Bloomsbury which I co-edit with my friend and colleague Dr. Peg Lamphier.

So far, we’ve edited and published new biographies of everyone from

Eleanor Roosevelt (by our good friend Keri Dearborn)

AND

Dolores Huerta (by our Mt. San Antonio College colleague April Tellez)

WITH the next in line to publish in April 2026 being:

Sandra Day O’Connor: How an Arizona Cowgirl Became the First Woman Supreme Court Justice By Nancy Hendricks (who we met when she wrote entries in our first encyclopedia Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection

All the biographies come out in hardback first for a higher fee and in 18 months will be released in paperback for lower fees.

So what’s the new book that did arrive? It was Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds which I edited with my friend and Screenwriting Research Network colleague Rose Ferrell. 

Box o books. 

What’s it about? I think the back of the book says it all:

Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds is a powerful testament to the undeniable impact of an international collection of female screenwriters. Spanning film, television, virtual reality, games, and digital media, these case studies showcase instances when women have used screenwriting to challenge injustice and give voice to communities across the globe. Acknowledging global disparities in wealth and power, the book exposes screenwriting as activism, which shifts attitudes and alters lived experiences. Whether about gender and race or war and colonization, or other serious issues, each chapter reveals the deep connections between storytelling and social change. More than just a study of the craft, this is a celebration of the women writers who use their artistic lens to educate and empower others.

It’s a collection of chapters on how female screenwriters have used writing as activism. We read ‘screenwriting’ as any writing that creates something on a screen so that includes an chapter on a Samoan performance artist who has a Malu tatau/tatoo (we had many discussions about using indigenous language without italicizing it to make it not the norm) and did a video called “Walking the Wall” where she showcased her tatua – and I had the chance to write (and therefore learn about) a lawyer in the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change who created a music video urging the advocating for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to create a Resolution asking for an advisory opinion on Climate Change as it’s destroying their Pasifika island homes. Something I knew NOTHING about before. But there are also chapters on Miranda July’s Kajillionaire and queer utopias and Bluey (for children’s TV courses). Anyway, it will be expensive so we can’t use it as a text but I’m hoping enough college libraries buy copies that it’s available to professors and students – and Intellect sells individual chapters suited to particular courses.

If you’re connected to a university or local library, ask them to carry a copy so you – and all others with an interest – can read about everything from myself and my co-writers/co-editors.

Here’s me wishing you a creative weekend!

RMW Rosanne Signature for Web 300x143.

From Paris to Columbus to California: Screenwriter Grace Cunard Was the Ultimate Hyphen as an Actress-Writer-Director (And Sometimes Editor) – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, August 2025

Scriptmag 202508.

Read From Paris to Columbus to California: Screenwriter Grace Cunard Was the Ultimate Hyphen as an Actress-Writer-Director (And Sometimes Editor)


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Dr. Rosanne Welch To Judge This Year’s Moonshot Initiative Film Challenge

Dr. Welch To Judge 2025 Moonshot Initiative Film Challenge

Dr. Welch To Judge This Year’s Moonshot Initiative Film Challenge

I’m proud to have been asked to serve as a judge for this year’s Moonshot Initiative Film Challenge, designed to help students “Make a short film in one weekend and meet women and gender-expansive people in every role of production”. It takes place in October 2025, in New York. 

Moonshot provides cinema-quality equipment courtesy of their sponsors, production insurance, stipends to submit to film fests and more! 

You do have to be a member to apply and membership costs $112 a year. If accepted, it is FREE to participate in the challenge. Applications will be open from August 1-31.

Apply Now

It’s my first time being invited to judge the writing in this challenge, and I’m looking forward to reading some innovative scripts that move me emotionally and have something to say about the world.

“Unapologetically Herself: Writing Bold and Complex Young Women” Panel at the Writers Guild Foundation – Friday, August 8, 2025, 7pm

"Unapologetically Herself: Writing Bold and Complex Young Women" Panel at the Writers Guild Foundation – Friday, August 8, 2025, 7pm

Unapologetically Herself: Writing Bold and Complex Young Women

During every MFA Residency Workshop I moderate a panel of writers – often proudly including one of our MFA alums – and this August we’re doing it again. Join us on Friday, August 8, 2025 from 7:00 PM 8:30 PM at the Writers Guild Foundation (7000 West 3rd Street Los Angeles, CA, 90048) for: 

Unapologetically Herself: Writing Bold and Complex Young Women

We’ll explore how writers develop these strong characters, how to approach sensitive scenes intentionally, and how they navigate nuances of character personalities, behaviors, and motivations.

Panelists include:

 Get tickts for this WGA Panel Discussion

And if you’d like to see some of our previous WGA panels you can find them on our MFA Website

Daughter, Wife, Widow, Screenwriter: The Heroines’ Journey of Dorothy Davenport – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, June 2025

Daughter, Wife, Widow, Screenwriter: The Heroines’ Journey of Dorothy Davenport – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, June 2025

Read Daughter, Wife, Widow, Screenwriter: The Heroines’ Journey of Dorothy Davenport


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Lois Weber: More than a Writer-Director She’s the Auteur Activist of Early Cinema – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, April 2025

 

Lois Weber: More than a Writer-Director She’s the Auteur Activist of Early Cinema

Read Lois Weber: More than a Writer-Director She’s the Auteur Activist of Early Cinema 


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Her Career Outlasted the Hays Code: Kathryn Scola – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, March 2025

Her Career Outlasted the Hays Code: Kathryn Scola – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, March 2025

Read Her Career Outlasted the Hays Code: Kathryn Scola


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Friend and editor Anna Weinstein’s book on Shonda Rhimes make Bloomsbury’s Essential New Books list for film students

Congratulations to my friend and editor Anna Weinstein!

The first book in her “Screen Storytellers” series, which is on The Works of Shonda Rhimes is on Bloomsbury’s Essential New Books list for film students.

I’m proud to have a chapter in the book discussing the idea that while most people think Rhimes is ‘only’ a feminist, her writings have always expressed an even wider humanist philosophy.   

I can only hope that my upcoming The Works of Susan Harris will make the same list. Look for it in late 2026.

Shonda rhimes cover.

Dr. Rosanne Welch Interview, Screenwriting Research Network Conversations [Video]

I sat down for an interview about my time as Chair of the Screenwriting Research Network during our last conference in Olumouc, Czech Republic, last September.

I had the chance to discuss the conference we held at Stephens College the year before, how we chose the theme, and the benefit of being a smaller group where real connections have been made. This is part of a series of oral histories on past created by the Executive Council which have morphed into these “Conversations”recorded by EC member Lucian Georgescu (with Camera and editing by Marius Donici).

You can see several other members interviewed on the SRN YouTube Channel as well.

Dr. Rosanne Welch Interview, Screenwriting Research Network Conversations [Video]

Julia Crawford Ivers: From Rich Widow to Writer-Director – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, February 2025

Julia Crawford Ivers: From Rich Widow to Writer-Director – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, February 2025

 

 

Born just 4 years after the end of the Civil War in Boonville, Missouri, the scripts Julia Crawford Ivers wrote (and sometimes directed) often tackled issues of prejudice. After the war, her family emigrated to Los Angeles. As with many female creatives in this era, Ivers used her screenplays to highlight women’s issues from forced marriage to domestic abuse to prejudice.

 

 

Read Julia Crawford Ivers: From Rich Widow to Writer-Director


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood