Where’s Her Movie? Aviator, Jackie Cochran

“Where’s HER Movie” posts will highlight interesting and accomplished women from a variety of professional backgrounds who deserve to have movies written about them as much as all the male scientists, authors, performers, and geniuses have had written about them across the over 100 years of film.  This is our attempt to help write these women back into mainstream history.  — Rosanne

Where's Her Movie?  Aviator, Jackie Cochran

As one of the most prominent racing pilots of her generation Jackie Cochran pioneered women’s aviation. The head of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) during WWII she oversaw over 1000 civilian female pilots who ferried planes from factories to port cities and later became the first woman to break the sound barrier on 18 May 1953. She originally learned to fly in order to expand her sales area.

Read more about Jackie Cochran

from Wikipedia…

Mercury 13

In the 1960s, Cochran was a sponsor of the Mercury 13 program, an early effort to test the ability of women to be astronauts. Thirteen women pilots passed the same preliminary tests as the male astronauts of the Mercury program before the program was cancelled.[40][41][42][N 2] It was never a NASA initiative, though it was spearheaded by two members of the NASA Life Sciences Committee, one of whom, William Randolph Lovelace II, was a close friend of Cochran and her husband. Though Cochran initially supported the program, she was later responsible for delaying further phases of testing, and letters from her to members of the Navy and NASA expressing concern over whether the program was to be run properly and in accordance with NASA goals may have significantly contributed to the eventual cancellation of the program. It is generally accepted that Cochran turned against the program out of concern that she would no longer be the most prominent female aviator.[43]

On 17 and 18 July 1962, Representative Victor Anfuso (D-NY) convened public hearings before a special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics[44] to determine whether or not the exclusion of women from the astronaut program was discriminatory, during which John Glenn and Scott Carpenter testified against admitting women to the astronaut program. Cochran herself argued against bringing women into the space program, saying that time was of the essence, and moving forward as planned was the only way to beat the Soviets in the Space Race. (None of the women who had passed the tests were military jet test pilots, nor did they have engineering degrees, which were the two basic experiential qualifications for potential astronauts. Women were not allowed to be military jet test pilots at that time. On average, however, they all had more flight experience than the male astronauts.) “NASA required all astronauts to be graduates of military jet test piloting programs and have engineering degrees. In 1962, no women could meet these requirements.” This ended the Mercury 13 program.[45] However, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, who were part of the Mercury 7, also did not have engineering degrees when they were selected. Both of them were granted a degree after their flights for NASA. [46] [47]

Significantly, the hearings investigated the possibility of gender discrimination a two full years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 made that illegal, making these hearings a marker of how ideas about women’s rights permeated political discourse even before they were enshrined in law.[45]

Event: Stephens MFA in TV and Screenwriting Online Open House – Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – 4pm PST

Event: Stephens MFA in TV and Screenwriting Online Open House – Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – 4pm PSTEvent: Stephens MFA in TV and Screenwriting Online Open House - Wednesday, November 18, 2020 - 4pm PSTEvent: Stephens MFA in TV and Screenwriting Online Open House - Wednesday, November 18, 2020 - 4pm PST

Click To Register For The Event

Join our program director, Dr. Rosanne Welch, for a virtual open house to learn more about our Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting. As we prepare to welcome the 2021 cohort in fall 2021, we invite you to learn about the program, hear how the admissions process works, and an open Q&A to get all your questions answered.

Write
Reach
Represent

Online Open House with
Program Executive Director Dr. Rosanne Welch
and Director of Admissions Alexandra Miller

Stephens College Low Residency MFA in TV and Screenwriting

Check for your local time zone:

New York, USA Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 7:00 pm EST
Columbia, USA Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 6:00 pm CST
Denver, USA Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 5:00 pm MST
Los Angeles, USA Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 4:00 pm PST

A Woman Wrote That – 2 in a series – Lady Sings The Blues, Screenplay by Suzanne De Passe, Chris Clark, and Terence McCloy

This new “A Woman Wrote That” post is an echo of the Writers Guild campaign of a few years ago (“A Writer Wrote That”) where they noted famous movie quotes and credited the screenwriter rather than the director.  The difference here being that we will be posting lines from films written by female screenwriters.  Feel free to share! — Rosanne

A Woman Wrote That - 2 in a series - Lady Sings The Blues, Screenplay by Suzanne De Passe, Chris Clark, and Terence McCloy

“Lady Sings The Blues” on IMDB

A Woman Wrote That: “It’s A Wonderful Life”, Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett – 1 in a series

This new “A Woman Wrote That” post is an echo of the Writers Guild campaign of a few years ago (“A Writer Wrote That”) where they noted famous movie quotes and credited the screenwriter rather than the director.  The difference here being that we will be posting lines from films written by female screenwriters.  Feel free to share! — Rosanne

A Woman Wrote That:

Read more about “It’s A Wonderful Life” on IMDB

Where’s Her Movie? Entertainer and Nurse, Martha Raye

“Where’s HER Movie” posts will highlight interesting and accomplished women from a variety of professional backgrounds who deserve to have movies written about them as much as all the male scientists, authors, performers, and geniuses have had written about them across the over 100 years of film.  This is our attempt to help write these women back into mainstream history.  — Rosanne

Where's Her Movie? Entertainer and Nurse, Martha Raye

Read more about Martha Raye

from Mike Zimmerle via Facebook…

“It was well recognized that Martha Raye endured less comfort and more danger than any other Vietnam entertainer. Don’t let the sun go down without reading this about Martha Raye.

The most unforgivable oversight of TV is that her shows were not taped. I was unaware of her credentials or where she is buried. Somehow I just can’t see Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, or Jessica Simpson doing what this woman (and the other USO women, including Ann Margaret & Joey Heatherton) did for our troops in past wars. Most of the old time entertainers were made of a lot sterner stuff than today’s crop of activists bland whiners.

The following is from an Army Aviator who takes a trip down memory lane:

“It was just before Thanksgiving ’67 and we were ferrying dead and wounded from a large GRF west of Pleiku. We had run out of body bags by noon, so the Hook (CH-47 CHINOOK) was pretty rough in the back. All of a sudden, we heard a ‘take-charge’ woman’s voice in the rear. There was the singer and actress, Martha Raye, with a SF (Special Forces) beret and jungle fatigues, with subdued markings, helping the wounded into the Chinook, and carrying the dead aboard. ‘Maggie’ had been visiting her SF ‘heroes’ out ‘west’. We took off, short of fuel, and headed to the USAF hospital pad at Pleiku. As we all started unloading our sad pax’s, a ‘Smart Mouth’ USAF Captain said to Martha…. “Ms Ray, with all these dead and wounded to process, there would not be time for your show!” To all of our surprise, she pulled on her right collar and said ……”Captain, see this eagle? I am a full ‘Bird’ in the US Army Reserve, and on this is a ‘Caduceus’ which means I am a Nurse, with a surgical specialty….now, take me to your wounded!” He said, “Yes ma’am…. follow me.” Several times at the Army Field Hospital in Pleiku, she would ‘cover’ a surgical shift, giving a nurse a well-deserved break. Martha is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces) cemetery at Ft Bragg. Hand Salute! A great lady.. I did not know this about Martha Ray…. thought you might like it.”

Show Business: How to Pitch to Netflix, According to Christopher Mack, Streamer’s Creative Talent Director via Variety

How to Pitch to Netflix, According to Christopher Mack, Streamer’s Creative Talent Director via Variety

At Netflix, character is often more important than plot, said the company’s creative talent director Christopher Mack at CineGouna Bridge, the industry section of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, on Monday during his “Pitch Realization Masterclass by Netflix.” But it’s not about making him or her likeable, as their transformation is key to the storytelling experience.

“This change is driving people to watch our content. Your job is to make it interesting and engaging. Think about Walter White,” said Mack, explaining how to successfully pitch new concepts to Netflix. “Viewers develop a relationship with the characters, their engagement depends on whether they relate to them or not. Otherwise they won’t care.”

Read How to Pitch to Netflix, According to Christopher Mack, Streamer’s Creative Talent Director via Variety

Reel Sisters Virtual Film Festival and Lecture Series 2020 – Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dawn Comer Jefferson Analyze The Script, Joe & The Shawl [Video] (1 hour 42 minutes)

As one of the sponsors of the Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting was pleased to host a live panel at their 2020 virtual film festival discussing the 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” the film raised questions of identity, representation and religious freedom.

For the panel, Executive Director Rosanne Welch and mentor/instructor Dawn Comer Jefferson provided a breakdown of the script followed by moderating questions from the audience. Guests included Nicole Ballivian (writer-director), Deonna Kelli Sayed, from whose blog post the script was adapted, and actors Jill Galbraith and Travis Lincoln Cox. — Rosanne

Reel Sisters & Stephens College Host Script Analysis for Joe & The Shawl from African Voices/Reel Sisters on Vimeo.



Reel Sisters Virtual Film Festival and Lecture Series 2020 - Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dawn Comer Jefferson Analyze The Script, Joe & The Shawl [Video] (1 hour 42 minutes)

Recent Excellent Review of “When Women Wrote Hollywood” in The Journal of American Culture

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!


When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry

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

When Women Wrote Hollywood: The Movies – 12 in a series – Alas and Alack (partial) (1915), Wr: Ida May Park

Alas and alack

Ida May Park 1916

A fishwife tells her young daughter a fairy story about a princess imprisoned by a hunchback in a seashell, a story that parallels her own life. – IMDB

More about Ida May Park


Buy “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!


When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry

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

Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival Script Breakdown Session with Dr. Rosanne Welch and Dawn Comer Jefferson – Sunday, October 25, 2020

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.