When Women Write What They Say, They Say So Much More: Powerful Actress-writer-producers Past, Present & Future with Dr. Rosanne Welch, SRN 2025, Adelaide, Australia [Video]

In another example of my love for a good, long, alliterative title, I name this year’s Screenwriting Research Network (SRN) presentation:

“When Women Write What They Say, They Say So Much More: Powerful Actress-writer-producers Past, Present & Future”.

It covers writers like Emma Thompson, who adapted Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, in which she starred as Eleanor, and Gertrude Berg, creator, writer, and star of The Goldbergs, and then everyone from Tina Fey to Issa Rae, to Mindy Kaling to Lena Waithe. This presentation discusses the way women writing their own characters, dialogue, and worlds into existence impacts the audience, the industry, and the way women are seen in society.

SRN2025 Adelaide (1).

Eleanore Griffin’s Gentle Americana Style Earned the Oscar for ‘Boys Town’– Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, October 2025

 

Scriptmag 202510.

Read Eleanore Griffin’s Gentle Americana Style Earned the Oscar for ‘Boys Town’


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Focused on Sin and Redemption Before the Hays Code: The Screenwriting Career of Alice D.G. Miller – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, September 2025

Scriptmag 202509.

Read Focused on Sin and Redemption Before the Hays Code: The Screenwriting Career of Alice D.G. Miller


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

WGA Panel on “Writing Bold and Complex Young Women” Now Streaming [Video]

WGA Panel on Writing Bold and Complex Young Women Now Streaming
 
WGA Panel on "Writing Bold and Complex Young Women" Now Streaming [Video]
 
One of the fun-nest things I get to do during each MFA Workshop is moderate a panel of working writers at the Writers Guild of America, which is recorded and presented on the WGA Foundation YouTube channel.
 
Now available to stream is our latest panel, “Unapologetically Herself: Writing Bold and Complex Young Women”. I always try to include one of our MFA alums who have gained spots on TV shows so this one has  Alexandra Fernandez who has been on the writing staff of Station 19. Other panelists for this event were Karen Joseph Adcock (Yellowjackets), Beth Appel (The Sex Lives of College Girls), and Stephens alum!!, and Autumn Joy Jimerson (Forever).
 
Wgaf young woman.
 
Several past WGA panels have included such screenwriters as Marta Kauffman (Creator and Executive Producer of Grace and Frankie), Lucia Aniello (Co-Creator, Executive Producer, and Director of Hacks), Meg DeLoatch (Executive Producer of The Neighborhood and Family Reunion),Joan Rater (A Small Light); and Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding – and sequels). You can check those out here on our Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting website.

From Paris to Columbus to California: Screenwriter Grace Cunard Was the Ultimate Hyphen as an Actress-Writer-Director (And Sometimes Editor) – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, August 2025

Scriptmag 202508.

Read From Paris to Columbus to California: Screenwriter Grace Cunard Was the Ultimate Hyphen as an Actress-Writer-Director (And Sometimes Editor)


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Rosanne Talks “Why The Monkees Matter” on “Johnny D’s Rock n Roll PhD” Podcast [Video]

Monkees rock roll phd.

Rosanne Talks All Things Monkees  on “Johnny D's Rock n Roll PhD” Podcast

Watch the entire video – Johnny D’s Rock n Roll PhD – Author Rosanne Welch “Why The Monkees Matter”

Get the book, Why The Monkees Matter , from Amazon, Bookshop.org, or McFarland

I had a great conversation about Why The Monkees Matter with the two hosts of “Johnny D’s Rock n Roll PhD”. Often, I speak with people who know the music more than the show – or the show more than the music. Here, both hosts had strong knowledge about both, and then we found out he shared the same top 1 songs as our favs. 

Watch the video to learn about the many things the TV show taught us about friendship, going against authority and the patriarchy, and living a life full of passion for art above all things commerce – with lots of hidden nods toward the counter culture of the day (like rescuing a giant marijuana plant from misuse by supervillains who would corrupt its powerful fumes for evil). Yeah, they did a whole show about that!

A complete transcript is available here or on the YouTube Page

Daughter, Wife, Widow, Screenwriter: The Heroines’ Journey of Dorothy Davenport – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, June 2025

Daughter, Wife, Widow, Screenwriter: The Heroines’ Journey of Dorothy Davenport – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, June 2025

Read Daughter, Wife, Widow, Screenwriter: The Heroines’ Journey of Dorothy Davenport


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Lois Weber: More than a Writer-Director She’s the Auteur Activist of Early Cinema – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, April 2025

 

Lois Weber: More than a Writer-Director She’s the Auteur Activist of Early Cinema

Read Lois Weber: More than a Writer-Director She’s the Auteur Activist of Early Cinema 


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When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Her Career Outlasted the Hays Code: Kathryn Scola – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, March 2025

Her Career Outlasted the Hays Code: Kathryn Scola – Dr. Rosanne Welch, Script Magazine, March 2025

Read Her Career Outlasted the Hays Code: Kathryn Scola


Read about more women from early Hollywood

When Women Wrote Hollywood

 

Dr. Rosanne Welch Interview, Screenwriting Research Network Conversations [Video]

I sat down for an interview about my time as Chair of the Screenwriting Research Network during our last conference in Olumouc, Czech Republic, last September.

I had the chance to discuss the conference we held at Stephens College the year before, how we chose the theme, and the benefit of being a smaller group where real connections have been made. This is part of a series of oral histories on past created by the Executive Council which have morphed into these “Conversations”recorded by EC member Lucian Georgescu (with Camera and editing by Marius Donici).

You can see several other members interviewed on the SRN YouTube Channel as well.

Dr. Rosanne Welch Interview, Screenwriting Research Network Conversations [Video]