Screenwriters have always been important.
During the Hollywood Blacklist 9 out of 10 of those jailed were screenwriters.
Their powerful ideas scared those in power.
Category: Screenwriting
From The Journal Of Screenwriting V2 Issue 2: Some attitudes and trajectories in screenwriting research by Steven Maras
Highlighting the articles in the past editions of the Journal of Screenwriting, of which I am the Book Reviews Editor. Hopefully these abstracts will entice you to did a little deeper into the history and future of screenwriting. — Rosanne
Some attitudes and trajectories in screenwriting research by Steven Maras
An edited extract from a keynote address at the third Screenwriting Research Network conference, ‘Screenwriting Research: History, Theory and Practice’, at the University of Copenhagen in 2010,1 this piece focuses on what I have termed the ‘object problem’ in screenwriting research. I pay specific attention to how we might address the object problem by thinking about different attitudes and trajectories in screenwriting research.
The Journal of Screenwriting is an international double-blind peer-reviewed journal that is published three times a year. The journal highlights current academic and professional thinking about the screenplay and intends to promote, stimulate and bring together current research and contemporary debates around the screenplay whilst encouraging groundbreaking research in an international arena. The journal is discursive, critical, rigorous and engages with issues in a dynamic and developing field, linking academic theory to screenwriting practice.
Get your copy and subscription to the Journal of Screenwriting Today!
* 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!
The Civil War On Film – 3 in a series – “…films doomed to be mediocre at best and ideologically horrifying at worst.”
“Add together the tendency for American war movies to be stereotypical and to celebrate a white man’s vision of martial glory, sprinkle in the fraught nature of Civil War memory and you get a sub-genre of films doomed to be mediocre at best and ideologically horrifying at worst.”
Movies profiled in this book:
Recent Excellent Review of “When Women Wrote Hollywood” in The Journal of American Culture
I’m happy to say our book just received a review in The Journal of American Culture.
The reviewer (from the University College of North Manitoba, Canada) singled out several chapters for being outstanding for various reasons. They found Amelia Phillips’s chapter on Jeanne Macpherson to demonstrate “exacting research”, Julie Berkobien’s chapter on Francis and Albert Hackett to be “beautifully crafted” and Chase Thompson’s chapter on Lois Weber to be “trailblazing”. They found that Pamela Scott gives “thorough and measured” coverage to the scripts of Sarah Y. Mason and Victor Heerman; Laura Kirk “comprehensively” examines Sam and Bella Spewak’s signature style; Kelly Zinge authored “carefully detailed discussion” of Lillian Hellman’s confrontation with the Blacklist, and that Elizabeth Dwyer’s work on Dorothy Parker is “riveting.”
Congratulations to all the contributors to our book!
Buy “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!
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Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition
Help Support Local Bookstores — Buy at Bookshop.org
* 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!
† Available from the LA Public Library
From The Journal Of Screenwriting V2 Issue 2: Re-writing Paul Laverty’s screenplay – The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) by Jill Nelmes
Highlighting the articles in the past editions of the Journal of Screenwriting, of which I am the Book Reviews Editor. Hopefully these abstracts will entice you to did a little deeper into the history and future of screenwriting. — Rosanne
Re-writing Paul Laverty’s screenplay – The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) by Jill Nelmes
This article analyses two drafts of Paul Laverty’s screenplay The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2004b, 2005), pointing out that the changes from the first draft to the second draft focus on a single protagonist and emphasize the narrative drive, prioritizing these over informational detail and scenes which do not have a clear narrative function. In this study, I argue, re-writing acts as a refining and filtering process, in which only the essential parts of the story are retained while the model of ‘cause’ then ‘effect’ is applied to ensure the linearity of the action.
The Journal of Screenwriting is an international double-blind peer-reviewed journal that is published three times a year. The journal highlights current academic and professional thinking about the screenplay and intends to promote, stimulate and bring together current research and contemporary debates around the screenplay whilst encouraging groundbreaking research in an international arena. The journal is discursive, critical, rigorous and engages with issues in a dynamic and developing field, linking academic theory to screenwriting practice.
Get your copy and subscription to the Journal of Screenwriting Today!
* 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!
The Civil War On Film – 2 in a series – “…movies not only wear history at best as a loose garment…”
As historian Thomas Cripps said, “movies not only wear history at best as a loose garment, but their makers care more for following well tested recipes for making good grosses than for the niceties of history” (Cripps 1995). There is no movie genre where this is this more true than Civil War movies.
Movies profiled in this book:
Write the emotions you know… via Instagram
Writers are often told to “write what you know.”
Instead, we should write the emotions we know.
These are universal.
Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival Script Breakdown Session with Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dawn Comer Jefferson – Sunday, October 25, 2020
As the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting is one of the sponsors of the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival I’ll be hosting (along with MFA mentor Dawn Comer Jefferson) a free script breakdown and Q & A with Nicole Ballivian (writer-director) for her 10 minute short Joe and the Shawl described as the story of “an adorable tow truck driver who really digs Kelli, a fellow North Carolinian, when he meets her as he changes her dead car battery. But Joe’s interest takes a sharp right turn when he learns that Kelli is a Muslim.”
If you’d like to virtually attend the event, register and join us
Sunday, October 25th
1pm-2:30pm (Pacific Time)
FREE
Register Here
For more information on the Joe and the Shawl, check out the film’s website
Joe & The Shawl: Bernie Sanders Teaser from Nicole Ballivian on Vimeo.
Joe & The Shawl – Official Trailer from Nicole Ballivian on Vimeo.
When Women Wrote Hollywood: The Movies – 11 in a series – The Beloved Blackmailer (1918), Wr: Clara Beranger
The spoiled, somewhat “mama’s boy” young son of a railroad magnate and the pretty young daughter of the magnate’s partner set out to stop their respective fathers from their constant quarreling. In the process they find themselves falling for each other. – IMDB
More about Lorna Moon
- Read more about this screenwriter in When Women Wrote Hollywood
- Like When Women Wrote Hollywood on Facebook
- The Beloved Blackmailer (1918) on IMDB
- Clara Barenger on the Women Film Pioneers Project
- Clara Beranger on IMDB
- Clara Beranger on Wikipedia
Buy “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!
† †
Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition
Help Support Local Bookstores — Buy at Bookshop.org
* 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!
† Available from the LA Public Library
“If we censor the storytellers…” via Instagram
If we censor the storytellers, we are censoring the stories.
If we censor the stories, we are censoring the culture.
If we censor the culture, we are censoring the people and their struggles.