Speaking – Page 55 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Press: The Mentoris Project: The Lives of Filippo Mazzei and Louis Palma di Cesnola: Learning about two key Italian-Americans in American History

All kudos to the library staff at Chapman University for posting this lovely article about the presentations my colleague and fellow writer Peg and I made on our individual books for the Mentoris Project. Publisher Robert Barbera sponsored the event – and donated the set of books to the university library – and we enjoyed speaking to the Italian Studies students who gathered that evening about Filippo Mazzei and Louis Palma de Cesnola. — Rosanne

The Mentoris Project: The Lives of Filippo Mazzei and Louis Palma di Cesnola: Learning about two key Italian-Americans in American History
December 4, 2018

When Robert J. Barbera founded The Mentoris Project as a part of The Barbera Foundation, his goal was to add to the canon of names most U.S. students learn over and over again from fifth grade through high school. He remembered hearing the names of people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln repeated from year to year, but realized that two very important populations were missing from the standard U.S. history books and narratives: Italians and Italian-Americans. With that in mind, he started The Mentoris Project, which publishes biographies and novels based on the lives of prominent Italians and Italian-Americans, specifically those who can be considered as mentors. In the words of The Mentoris Project, these books are intended “to inspire the reader in a very tangible way: To finish the book saying, ‘I can do something great, too.’” The books published by The Mentoris Project are written by a variety of scholars and authors, and cover subjects from Christopher Columbus to Enrico Fermi.

Read the entire article – The Mentoris Project: The Lives of Filippo Mazzei and Louis Palma di Cesnola: Learning about two key Italian-Americans in American History

Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father

Print Edition | Kindle Edition | Apple iBooks Edition | Nook Edition

Also from the Mentoris Project

Want to use these books in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!`

27 Popular Culture and The Monkees from How the Monkees Changed Television [Video] (1:02)

What this entire presentation — How The Monkees Changed Television with Rosanne Welch, PhD (Complete Presentation and Q&A) [Video] (45:06)

Rosanne Welch, PhD, Author of Why The Monkees Matter, presents “How The Monkees Changed Television” at a Cal State Fullerton Lunch Lecture on May 8, 2018.

In this talk, she shows how The Monkees, and specifically their presence on television, set the stage for large changes to come in the late 1960s.

Transcript

Identity construction was a mess for these guys and it really I think was sad cuz now we’re a little better. We understand Jim Parsons is not just Sheldon. He’s now on Broadway in the Boys in the Band. He did act of God which toured here in California. We understand he’s an actor he can play other parts right? Now because there was this idea that they weren’t very important and they disappeared I like to show how culturally connected they were. It is proven in a memo from Gene Roddenberry that when Star Trek went for the second season and they’re gonna have Walter Koenig play Chekov he wrote I need him to have a haircut that matches that guy on the Monkees because that’s what girls want right now and they literally planned that his character should be connecting with the girls who like the Monkees and Star Trek obviously culturally kind of important a little bit. Of course back in the day they were part of commercials because everybody is part of commercials. you go to YouTube you’ll see their their Nerf ball commercial and then they have a Schick razor commercial. They did everything but this was at the end of the show often.

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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02 Say “Arrivaderci” to the Auteur Theory from Why I Created a History of Screenwriting Course [Video] (0:47)

A clip from my presentation at the 11th Annual Screenwriting Research Network conference. Held on the campus of the beautiful Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.

Watch the entire presentation

In the presentation, I covered the reasons writers have been marginalized – and the reasons they oughtn’t to be so disrespected. Then I talked about how my course works, what books I assign, what guest speakers I invite, what research the students do – and ended on a high note by introducing ‘When Women Wrote Hollywood’ – the book of essays from our inaugural class which has now been published by McFarland.

Transcript:

…And I speak fast so I apologize but I want to get through it and I’m sort of Italian not really in this country but in America I qualify as Italian. We should teach during writing because writer precedes director when describing a filmmaker skills and we allow people to forget that in class and I don’t like that. When you remember a film to your friends you do not speak of camera angles. You speak of dialogue you speak of the lines that you repeat with your friends so the writer is the person that we should credit I believe with most of the work and if you’re studying to be a screenwriter how can you forget the names of the people who write your films? I want to say or even don’t you to the auteur theory because I think it’s nonsense because it is not the director it is the writer who comes up with it and I want to get rid of disrespect to writers which has existed forever

Watch the entire presentation

Subscribe to Rosanne Welch, Ph.D on YouTube

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

A Happy Birthday, Dinner And A Show! Just an average day!

Thanks to all who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. It was a fun day that started with Stephens MFA alumni Julie Berkobienn, who brought me a celebratory cupcake while picking up books for a book signing event.

Then Doug and I had dinner with my Mom and my friend Peg Ann Lamphier before she and I spent the evening at the Chapman University Library making presentations on our historical novels.

There we met Italian Studies professor Dr. Federico Pacchioni, and Essraa Nawar, the Leatherby Libraries Development Librarian. In this photo we’re also joined by Karen Richardson, editor of the Mentoris Project Book Series and the Series’ founder, Robert Barbera. Great night all around!

America’s Forgotten Founding Father — Get Your Copy Today!

Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father

Print Edition | Kindle Edition | Apple iBooks Edition | Nook Edition

Also from the Mentoris Project

Want to use these books in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!`

Frank and Funny: Female Screenwriters Who Should Be More Famous from Citizen Jane Film Festival 2018 [Video] (1:15:00)

For the third year in a row several current and alumni students of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting shared their research on female screenwriters at the Citizen Jane Film Festival.

For this year’s panel titled: “Frank and Funny Female Screenwriters Who Should Be More Famous” we were joined by:

Y’Dhanna Daniels (Class of 2018), who presented on Gina Prince- Bythewood;
Jennifer Anne Martin (Class of 2018), who presented on Julie Plec (co-creator of The Vampire Diaries).
Yasser Shahin ((Class of 2017), who presented on Gene Gauntier;
Alexandra Fernandez (Class of 2019 ) who presented on Ruth Ann Baldwin;
Adam Parker (Class of 2019 ), who presented on June Mathis;
Erika Campany (Class of 2018), who presented on Madelyn Pugh;
Cynthia Macadam (Class of 2018), who presented on Amy Sherman Palladino;
Krista Dyson (Class of 2018), who presented on Elaine May

Thanks to all who came out to listen and learn, especially the undergraduate literature students from Kris Somerville’s classes!

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26 More On After The Monkees from How The Monkees Changed Television [Video] (0:45)

What this entire presentation — How The Monkees Changed Television with Rosanne Welch, PhD (Complete Presentation and Q&A) [Video] (45:06)

Rosanne Welch, PhD, Author of Why The Monkees Matter, presents “How The Monkees Changed Television” at a Cal State Fullerton Lunch Lecture on May 8, 2018.

In this talk, she shows how The Monkees, and specifically their presence on television, set the stage for large changes to come in the late 1960s.

Transcript

My non-Monkee example of that is Cher because when Cher was doing rock music she wanted to act everybody said well you can’t do that you’re a singer. Then she got an Oscar for Moonstruck and she got Best Supporting for Silkwood and then she wanted to go on tour again. Like well you can’t be a singer in a concert you’re an actress. How about both? Maybe we can actually do more than one thing. So America is not good at that and it really harmed them when the show was over. For a little moment Micky Dolenz was considered to play the Fonz on Happy Days but they were afraid his fame coming into the show would be too hard to make you understand and believe the rest of the characters. So as we know Henry Winkler got that job right but that might have been his next TV show?

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Alexandra Fernandez presents on Ruth Ann Baldwin via Instagram

Alexandra Fernandez presents on Ruth Ann Baldwin

Watching several current and alumni students of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting who shared their research on female screenwriters with professional presentations at the Citizen Jane Film Festival in a panel titled: Frank and Funny Female Screenwriters Who Should Be More Famous”. @citizenjanefilmfestival

and Follow

01 Introduction from Why (and How) I Created a History of Screenwriting Course [Video] (1:11)

A clip from my presentation at the 11th Annual Screenwriting Research Network conference. Held on the campus of the beautiful Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.

Watch the entire presentation

Transcript:

So we’re here today to talk about why I created a history of screenwriting class not a history of film class and that’s my problem. This is quickly Who I am. I’ve been a screenwriter in Los Angeles. I’ve written on Touched By An Angel Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences and for ABC news…oh… too fast. I’ve also just come up with a book and I’ll tell you about that came out of my class so that’s part of why I love this class. It’s another set of books that I’ve done. I’m also the book review editor for Journal of Screenwriting which I mentioned the other day. So please offer to review books and I’m on the editorial board for Written By which I always recommend as part of a screenwriting class because it’s free online digitally. You can look it up as Written By magazine and you’ll have the digital copy every month we interview either a movie writer or a television writer and it’s quite good, Of course, it’s in English. My apologies and I work for Stephens College which is located in Columbia Missouri but we do a low residency program where the students come to Los Angeles and work at the Jim Henson studios…hence Kermit … and this is Charlie Chaplin’s original studio so it’s still designed the way it was when he set it up in 1917.

Watch the entire presentation

Subscribe to Rosanne Welch, Ph.D on YouTube

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

“When Women Wrote Hollywood” Book Signing

How Women Wrote Hollywood Book Reading and Signing, Skylark Bookshop @skylarkbookshop , Columbia, Missouri during the Citizen Jane Film Festival

When Women Wrote Hollywood Book Reading and Signing, Skylark Bookshop, Columbia, Missouri

On Saturday, November 3rd, 2018 several of the contributors to When Women Wrote Hollywood gathered at the Skylark Bookshop in Columbia, Missouri for a signing and launch party that functioned like a mini-reunion of the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting Class of 2017.

Many thanks to all who came to hear them each speak with passion about the research subjects who became whole chapters in this book of essays on female screenwriters from the Silent Era into the 1940s.

Check it out!

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

25 After The Monkees from How The Monkees Changed Television [Video] (0:58)

What this entire presentation — How The Monkees Changed Television with Rosanne Welch, PhD (Complete Presentation and Q&A) [Video] (45:06)

Rosanne Welch, PhD, Author of Why The Monkees Matter, presents “How The Monkees Changed Television” at a Cal State Fullerton Lunch Lecture on May 8, 2018.

In this talk, she shows how The Monkees, and specifically their presence on television, set the stage for large changes to come in the late 1960s.

Transcript

Micky Dolenz is gonna leave the country and go to England and become a director for 15 years and he directs children’s television programs that are classics in England right? So he was going the Ron Howard I’m not gonna be Opie anymore thing and then he got drawn back to the states for their 20th anniversary tour and has been touring ever since but had he not given up being a director who knows where he might have gone with his directing right but he couldn’t get taken seriously as an actor here in the States even though he’d had his own TV show when he was 10 and he had his own TV show when he’s 18 and they were both hits. So but his acting career nobody believed right because he was just the goofy guy. Mike Nesmith wanted to be more of a songwriter and a country songwriter. Nobody took him seriously. He started the First National Band. It didn’t work. He ended up going off and you know running his own video company and he’s now a millionaire so he’s happy and Davy Jones probably had it the worst because being a boy teen idol — look look how hard it was for Justin Timberlake to grow up right — I mean that is the hard position for a man to grow out of. So we’re not good with Renaissance people. The fact that you can have more than one talent.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS