Speaking – Page 48 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

05 Mary Shelley and The Evil Novel from The Sisterhood of Science Fiction – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1 minute)

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The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know And Love

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:

So Frankenstein is fascinating but tell me, what you notice about these two copies of this book? What’s different? The covers are different in what way? {Audience: The font is a little more sinister.) True. True. The font is a little more sinister. There’s also a big difference. (Audience: Her name isn’t on it) In 1818 they’re not gonna publish a book written by a woman because not only were women not supposed to write novels — they weren’t supposed to read novels because they’ll rot your brain and damage your interior organs such that you can’t have children. Yes. Which is kind of what we say about video games these days. So every new piece of media is going to rot your brain and destroy you. Now we say destroys the boys as well as the girls but still there was this idea that women should not dabble in that business of novels. They were very bad for you, which is kind of hilarious cuz now I’m telling you to read a novel over the summer. It will be good for you.

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Audience at “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Panel, Denver Pop Culture Con

Audience at “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Panel

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

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07 Women You May Know from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (55 seconds)

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

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Transcript:

So let’s talk about some women you know and some women you don’t know and hopefully, you will — as I said. These are ladies, hopefully, you’ll recognize. Anybody? (Audience: Shonda Rhimes) Shonda Rhimes! Thank goodness. We must all know Shonda Rhimes. (Audience: Is that Diablo Cody?) That’s Diablo Cody. Exactly, from Juno. This lady — you have probably seen more movies than any of theirs combined. (Audience: Is that Jane Fonda?) No, looks a lot like her though. doesn’t she? Nora Ephron. Nora Ephron, right? Incredible. So these are people that I think you recognize. There’s Nora Ephron. Nora Ephron is probably the queen of screenwriting. She passed away a few years ago, but you’ve seen probably all these films or you’ve heard about them mentioned in popular culture places. You’ve seen parodied on The Simpsons. That’s how embedded in popular culture they are, right? I mean, “When Harry Met Sally” is a classic. it is something that everyone references when they think of rom-coms.

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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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

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04 Mary Shelley and The Monster from The Sisterhood of Science Fiction – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (38 seconds)

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The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know And Love

Transcript:

…and she came up with Frankenstein which is pretty crazy because we all think of Frankenstein. It’s like the bedrock of… it’s been around forever because it has, but she just made it up. Which i think is fascinating and there’s a lot of themes to it that if you take a class — some classes discuss Frankenstein — very interesting what’s going on in her world there. She had had a miscarriage and she had a lot of thoughts about loss and about parenthood and in many ways when you think about Frankenstein it’s crazy because it’s the story of a bad father right? Who creates a child and then lets it go running loose and doesn’t teach or care for it. She’s really thinking about the obligations and all of that.

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Presenting on “Why The Monkees Matter” at Denver Pop Culture Con via Instagram

Presenting on “Why The Monkees Matter” at Denver Pop Culture Con

Such a nice, engaged audience for my talk on Why the Monkees Matter at the Denver Popular Culture Con – and afterward they bought books, too!

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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

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06 Forgotten Women from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1 minute)

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

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Transcript:

In fact, John Steinbeck who was writing about how his movie was adapted, wrote that not only Johnson the man who did it did better than his own novel. So the man who wrote Grapes of Wrath was crediting the man who adapted it and yet our own way of doing news and writing about films always privileges the director. Which makes me crazy I don’t believe in that. It’s also sad and easy for men to dismiss women in their memoirs. We all know the picture of this guy. He is very famous for being a director. People think about his films. He admits in his memoirs that he learned everything he knows from some middle-aged American woman whose name was Eve Unsell she was a producer for Universal Studios the first woman to have her own production company they sent her to England to fix their production company in England and she trained him. Could he at least mention her name in the memoir? Right? And people researching her might find her mentioned and be able to do more work on her. So it’s very easy to dismiss people.

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

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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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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?

Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

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03 Mary (Godwin) Wollstonecraft Shelley from The Sisterhood of Science Fiction – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1 minute)

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The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know And Love

Transcript:

First off I’m gonna start with the officially the grandmother of science fiction. Somebody knows who she is. Shelley. Thank You. Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft Shelley. The lady had a lot of names right? Yes, Mary Shelley is most famous. She literally invented the genre and its funny because when we think of science fiction we often do think of the names of famous male writers. They kind of took it over when, you know, men you got to do more of the cool stuff, but Mary invented it and she invented it with what character? Frankenstein! Exactly. She’s the lady — then I mean she was having a party. We’re not sure how drunk everybody was and exactly what substances they might have been imbibing at that time but her and Lord Byron, her boy or her boyfriend slash soon-to-be husband Percy Bysse Shelley. They all were hanging out with this really cool sort of villa in Italy and they were having a contest — which is also very fun. Instead of watching other people’s art, they were making their own and the contest was can you write a ghost story over the weekend and we’ll see who writes the best one.

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

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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

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

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

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