Category: Screenwriting

05 Who Tells Your Story? from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute)

Part of the California State University, Fullerton Faculty Noon Time Talks at the Pollak Library.

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05 Who Tells Your Story? from

 

Transcript:

It’s important to recognize what Lin-Manuel Miranda did so well in his show — who tells your story, tells people whether or not you will be remembered and we’re gonna find that sadly in a lot of film history, the women are who got left behind by the men writing the history right? I don’t want to rag on men. I like men. I’m married to one. I have a son. They’re very cool people but sometimes they forget to mention the ladies right? So we’re gonna think about that. Some examples, quickly, on how easily writers and this isn’t a female writer it’s a male writer. This is the obituary for Doris Bowden. She was an actress who was in The Grapes of Wrath. It says in her obituary “she married the film’s screenwriter”. We name the movie John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath. The man who she married isn’t mentioned in her own obituary because he’s just the writer. How ridiculous is that? I don’t care about John Ford. He never knew her after she’s finished the film, but he gets a name out – a name call on that right?

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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Related posts:

  1. 01 Introduction from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute, 6 secs)
  2. 02 My Writing and Books from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute, 7 secs)
  3. 04 Women Writers Matter from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute)
  4. “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State University, Fullerton [Video] (53 minutes, 30 seconds)
  5. 03 Women Writers Get Lost In History from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton

Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con bias Instagram

Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con 

Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con bias Instagram

Editor/Writer Dr. Rosanne Welch and a few of her fellow writers ((l-r) Sydney Haven, Mikayla Daniels, Kelley Zinge and Amy Banks) 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.

Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

 

* 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

Related posts:

  1. Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con via Instagram
  2. Dr. Rosanne Welch Appears Twice at Denver Pop Culture Con, May 31, 2019 – June 2, 2019
  3. Rosanne and Writers waiting to speak “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Book Reading and Signing via Instagram
  4. Writers waiting to speak “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Book Reading and Signing via Instagram
  5. Scenes from When Women Wrote Hollywood Book Launch Event via My Instagram

Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con via Instagram

Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con 

Dr. Rosanne Welch and writers from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” at the Denver Pop Culture Con via Instagram

Editor/Writer Dr. Rosanne Welch and a few of her fellow writers ((l-r) Sydney Haven, Mikayla Daniels, Kelley Zinge and Amy Banks) 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.

Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

 

* 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

Related posts:

  1. Dr. Rosanne Welch Appears Twice at Denver Pop Culture Con, May 31, 2019 – June 2, 2019
  2. Rosanne and front window display of “When Women Wrote Hollywood” before reading and Signing event at Skylark Bookshop
  3. Rosanne and Writers waiting to speak “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Book Reading and Signing via Instagram
  4. Writers waiting to speak “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Book Reading and Signing via Instagram
  5. Scenes from When Women Wrote Hollywood Book Launch Event via My Instagram

04 Women Writers Matter from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute)

Part of the California State University, Fullerton Faculty Noon Time Talks at the Pollak Library.

Watch this entire presentation

04 Women Writers Matter from

 

 

Transcript:

This is my philosophy. Writers matter, Women matter and women writers matter. That should be kind of obvious and these are all women you may or may not recognize but by the time I’m done today you will recognize them and hopefully be interested in going to see some of their work — much of which is available online or in Netflix somewhere. I think it’s really important to think about the messages of women writers put out in the world. I love this Twitter that came across just after Rey became the famous new Jedi. But it’s quite true, right? It makes a difference. There was a great story once where the last Shuttle pilot had been a female and the next one was going to be a female and it’s always the last pilot who speaks on Comm to the person taking off and it was two women talking to each other for the first time in NASA history and a woman who worked at NASA had asked her son who was about seven , ” Do you want to be an astronaut you grow up?” and he said, Oh no Mom. That’s a girl’s job.” Because that’s what he saw right? So it’s important what we see. Representation matters. So I think that’s really cool.

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.

Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

 

* 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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Related posts:

  1. 01 Introduction from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute, 6 secs)
  2. 02 My Writing and Books from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton [Video] (1 minute, 7 secs)
  3. 03 Women Writers Get Lost In History from “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State Fullerton
  4. “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State University, Fullerton [Video] (53 minutes, 30 seconds)
  5. “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State University, Fullerton

“When Women Wrote Hollywood” In The News! – Righting history: Book by Stephens students elevates women screenwriters via Columbia Daily Tribune

When I learned that our humble little book about female screenwriters from Hollywood’s golden era, When Women Wrote Hollywood,  had been named runner-up for the Susan Koppelman Award (an honor bestowed upon the “best anthology, multi-authored, or edited book in feminist studies in popular and American culture” by the Popular Culture Association of America) I immediately “Alerted the Media!” 

Happily, Aarik Danielsen, Arts and Music Editor for the Columbia Tribune responded, interviewed a couple of our contributors and produced a great article that you can now read. Then, as they say, you can “Buy That Book!” by clicking here and learn more about the many female screenwriters of Hollywood’s golden era!

Thanks Aarik – and thanks to all the contributors scattered across America.

Righting history: Book by Stephens students elevates women screenwriters

On a smash hit from 2011, pop luminary Beyonce engages in a subversive act of call-and-response.

“Who run the world?” she asks. The chant comes back, time and again: “Girls!”

Who wrote the films that entrenched Hollywood as a cultural force? A book written by Stephens College students creates its own antiphony, calling back with a confident answer: women.

W3h columbia

“When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry” elevates an important moment in cinema history. Despite the complicated, often exasperating, treatment of women in Hollywood, the collection reminds us that prior to World War II, women were a prominent creative force, penning some of the era’s most memorable films.

Released last summer, “When Women Wrote Hollywood” recently was named runner-up for the Susan Koppelman Award, an honor bestowed upon the “best anthology, multi-authored, or edited book in feminist studies in popular and American culture.”

Read the entire article

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There And Back Again: Writing and Developing for American Television: From Freelancing to Writers Rooms – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (52 Minutes)

There And Back Again: Writing and Developing for American Television: From Freelancing to Writers Rooms – Dr. Rosanne Welch

There And Back Again: Writing and Developing for American Television: From Freelancing to Writers Rooms - Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (52 Minutes)

There And Back Again: Writing and Developing for American Television: From Freelancing to Writers Rooms - Dr. Rosanne Welch

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Thanks to meeting my friend and colleague Dr. Paolo Russo at our annual Screenwriting Research Network conferences, I was invited to spend a week at his university – Oxford Brookes – lecturing on the History of American Writers Rooms and giving notes on screenplay treatments written by his MFA candidates.

It was a wonderful experience to share ideas cross-culturally since I’ve studied and watched programming from the UK for years and their students have watched lots of American television programs.

We had the chance to compare development strategies from both countries and I met the other folks in Paolo’s film department who came from as far away as Canada and as near as Italy. And having been a lifelong viewer of Morse and Lewis, I enjoyed finally having time to walk through Oxford and see everything from the pubs where the Harry Potter actors hung out during filming and the quaint churchyard where C.S. Lewis is buried. I can’t wait to go back again for the 2020 SRN conference!

More on Oxford Brookes University


* 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!

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Related posts:

  1. Video: How to study television writers from Doctor Who Regenerated with Dr. Rosanne Welch
  2. 01 Introduction from How The Monkees Changed Television with Rosanne Welch, PhD [Video] (0:50)
  3. The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know And Love [Video] (36 Minutes)
  4. 02 The Writers of The Monkees from How The Monkees Changed Television with Rosanne Welch, PhD [Video] (1:06)
  5. “When Women Wrote Hollywood”, Dr. Rosanne Welch, Cal State University, Fullerton [Video] (53 minutes, 30 seconds)

Remembering Screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson on her birthday – When Women Wrote Hollywood

“The resounding mythology around the start of Macpherson’s film career is that she, with immeasurable pluck, simply walked into D.W. Griffith’s office and waited for him for days on end. Finally, the assistant asked about her. “I told him my stage experience. He ignored it, scorned it. ‘We want to know what you can do before a camera,’ he said.”

Jeanie Macpherson: A Life Unknown by Amelia Phillips

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood or Buy the Book on Amazon

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  1. Amelia Phillips, Author of “Jeanie MacPherson: A Life Unknown” from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” [Video] (3:51)
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Quotes from When Women Wrote Hollywood – 29 – in a series – Frances Marion

Do you know about these women screenwriters? Many don’t. Learn more about them today! 

Quotes from When Women Wrote Hollywood - 28 - in a series - Frances Marion

Get “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!

For over twenty years, no writer was more sought after than Frances Marion. With her versatile pen and a caustic wit, she was a leading participant in one of the most creative eras for women in American history. She is credited with writing more than 300 scripts covering every conceivable genre and she also directed and produced half a dozen films.

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood or Buy the Book on Amazon

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

* 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

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  5. When Women Wrote Hollywood – 13 in a series – The Lying Truth & The Lost World, Wr: Marion Fairfax

Quote: “I was a fan from the beginning at the age of six when the show debuted on NBC” from “Why The Monkees Matter” Book Signing – 9 in a series

Quote:

“I was a fan from the beginning at the age of six when the show debuted on NBC and caused what I often teased was the first great choice of a childhood lived without benefit of DVR. Should I watch The Monkees or Gilligan’s Island? Both aired at the same non Bat-Time on the same non Bat-Channel. I used that question as the thesis to an essa when, many years later I applied to film school and I’m amazed at how it still resonates with others of my generation.

from How It All Began from Why The Monkees Matter Book Signing, Book Soup, Hollywood

Watch this clip

Watch this entire presentation – “Why The Monkees Matter” Book Signing

 

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

 †

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Acheivement in Comedy.

Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined, and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.

This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers.

Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Riderand Five Easy Pieces.

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

Want to use “Why The Monkees Matter” in your classroom?

Order Examination Copies, Library and Campus Bookstore orders directly from McFarland

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* 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

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Latest Project from Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier – “The Civil War On Film” — Coming in 2020

Latest Project from Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier -

Latest Project from Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dr. Peg Lamphier -

Here’s the project for my summer — finishing my chapters in Peg and my next effort for ABC-Clio:  The Civil War on Film — part of their Hollywood History series. 

I’ll be covering Gone With the Wind, Friendly Persuasion, Gettysburg, and Gangs of New York.

Look for it in 2020!

RMW PHD signature 2015

Additional Books I Have Written and Edited for ABC-CLIO

†

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
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