Writing – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Rosanne has a chapter in New Screenwriting Collection: About Dorothy Parker and A Star is Born

Rosanne has a chapter in a New Screenwriting Collection: About Dorothy Parker and A Star is Born

Available in Hardback and eBook at Bloomsbury | Bookshop.org | Amazon

It was lovely to fly home from a week of visiting cousins in Cleveland to find our mail deliverer had dropped off a copy of the latest book containing a chapter I wrote. Once again, it’s the Screenwriting Research Network for the win, since it was a meeting with the 2 editors – Andrew Kenneth Gay and Ann Igelstrom – at one of our wonderful conferences several years ago that made it possible. We ended up talking over the tea break or lunch, who remembers, about our research, and I ended up talking about one of my favorite early female screenwriters – Dorothy Parker – and Voila! They invited me to turn that conversation into a chapter. And if you look at the other chapters and the international array of authors writing them, you’ll see how honored I am to be among them.

My chapter is called “Dorothy Parker: The Creative Genius Behind the Film Franchise “A Star is Born”. I’ve been researching, reading and writing about Parker’s foray into Hollywood since writing my dissertation on “Married with Screenplay: A Study Of Married Screenwriting Teams And The Films They Wrote” which covered the careers and filmography of Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, and Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin.

I hope you enjoy reading about the genius of Dorothy Parker – sometimes students don’t know that the most recent version of Star is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, is the 3^rd remake of the 1937 original – and that the original did not include music at all.

As always, such academic texts are pricey – meant for libraries mostly – so if you’d like to read it, ask your college or local library to buy a copy, and then you’ll be providing it to all the other patrons of those libraries.

The Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Screenplay Theory offers a comprehensive introduction and overview of screenplay theory as applied in the analysis of numerous screenplays from an international, multi-author perspective, including both leading and emerging scholars in the field. Each section includes 6-8 case studies of theory applied in the analysis of a landmark screenplay.

The sections are divided thematically, with sections addressing the Screenplay as Narration and Focalisation, the Screenplay as Narrative Structure, the Screenplay as Cinematic Language and the Screenplay as Creative Practice. With both theorists and practitioners contributing to this volume, the focus is on the actual screenplay as opposed to analysis of the final film. The essays contribute to a new era in screenplay theory, providing valuable insights not only into the particular screenplays under analysis but also into the range of ways in which such analysis can be approached, representing a wide range of theoretical perspectives. – Bloomsbury.com

Rosanne and Rose’s New Book on the Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Image Book Awards List

I’m proud to announce that my latest book – co-edited by my Australian colleague Rose Ferrell – Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds – has been longlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz Photography and Moving Image Book Awards. This award “recognises individuals or groups of individuals who, in the opinion of the Judges, have made an outstanding original or lasting contribution to the art and practice of photography or the moving image through the medium of the book.“

Two winning titles are selected: one in the field of photography and one in the field of the moving image (including film, television, and digital media).

You can see the Kraszna-Krausz longlist announcement here to check out our competition. Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting is also being presented at Photo London this week as part of the longlist.

Exciting!

Dr. Welch Interviewed for New Documentary on Gene Stratton Porter

On Tuesday, April 14th, our backyard became a studio with lights, a camera, and the action being me being interviewed about what work was like for women in early Hollywood.

Emmy award-winning documentarian Todd Gould, whose other PBS documentaries involve Indiana-based stories of people and events that influenced the world, including Ernie Pyle and Gennett Records,

is working on a new documentary covering the life of environmentalist, novelist, and filmmaker Gene Stratton Porter. Gould is hoping to shed light on this early female film pioneer, who was also an extremely successful author of fiction and nonfiction works, nature photographer, environmental activist and feminist who worked with the suffrage movement.

By Gspmemorial – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link

When he contacted me, it was maddening to learn there was yet another woman from the early 1900s whose name I had never seen in history books, yet she had the prescience to recognize that making movies of her books would increase their value so she built a film studio in Hollywood to do exactly that. At the same time, she was calling for caring for our environment long before Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962. Gene was out photographing birds and nature, and drawing attention to our effect on the planet 50 years earlier.

Gould and his local crew set up in our plant-filled backyard as he wanted a natural setting for as many of his interviews as possible. Then we chatted about the many ways women helped found Hollywood, how tough that work was, and how the studio system mitigated women’s progress in the industry, which is one explanation for why so many people don’t know women like Gene Stratton Porter. Thanks to Todd’s documentary, soon they will, and I’m very proud to play a small part in bringing her work – and the work of many other early female screenwriters to greater audiences.

The documentary is slated to premiere in November 2026 (probably sometime around Thanksgiving time)

How Screenwriter Dudley Nichols Adapted Stagecoach – Dr. Rosanne Welch – Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting

I was pleased to be invited to make the Introductory Remarks before a screening of 1939’s Stagecoach, written by Dudley Nichols precisely for the opportunity to highlight the importance of screenwriting.

While director John Ford is often the focus of discussions about the film, it is the work Nichols did in adapting a terse short story by Ernest Haycox that makes the film stand out. Nichols expanded the backgrounds of and connections between all of the characters, thus creating a strong ensemble structure that many films have followed ever since.

Learn more in my short lecture.

Great Review of Rosanne’s Chapter in “Stories of the Holocaust: Art for Healing and Renewal, Volume II: On Screen and in the Gallery”

I was pleased to have been asked to contribute a chapter the Volume 2 of Stories of the Holocaust: Art for Healing and Renewal: On Screen and in the Gallery, edited by Karen Berman & Gail Humphries. It gave me a chance to celebrate the hard work and deep care taken by screenwriters Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (The Thin Man, It’s a Wonderful Life) when they were asked to adapt The Diary of Anne Frank first into the Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, and then the Academy Award-winning film.

Then I was invited to present on my chapter at a museum exhibition in Jacksonville, Florida, which introduced me to several other chapter authors. Then I was invited to the book’s debut at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., where I met some of the international authors.

This week, this review of the books came out last week. I felt quite honored that out of over 20+ chapters, the Kirkus Reviewer chose to mention mine:

“Dr. Rosanne Welch, executive director of the MFA program at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, offers a scholarly exploration of cinematic and theatrical representations of Anne Frank.”

Our MFA candidates and alums know that I have researched Goodrich and Hackett extensively, so this was a great example of how we can continue sharing the knowledge we have gained in our research. Being able to publish that research in this book series made me very proud and brought me many new colleagues, and that momentum continues!

Rosanne presents “Creative Play #8: Emotional Monologues Written By A Few Accomplished Female Television Writers” – Screenwriting Research Network [Video]

I was pleased to be asked to host a session of the Creative Play Working Group of the Screenwriting Research Network (SRN), chaired by Professor Chris Neilan of Edinburgh Napier University.

I had the chance to introduce the attendees to some wonderfully emotional monologues written by a few highly accomplished female television writers, from Susan Harris (on SOAP) to Linda Bloodworth Thomason (on Designing Women) to Maxine Alderton, who wrote a great monologue for the Jodie Whitaker Doctor in her episode “The Haunting of Villa Diadoti”. (Doing a bit of history by showing monologues from TV shows from the 1970s and 80s is one of my goals in our MFA – along with celebrating female screenwriters).

Then I introduced an exercise in writing monologues that involves Thornton Wilder’s Our Town as an inspiration. A few of the attendees shared what they wrote so we could all learn more about how the specificity we bring from our own lives makes our work more universal.

Thanks to Leslie Kreiner for inviting me to do a presentation on Monologues to a conference last year, which created the seed of this exercise. Thanks to Chris for the invitation to share it – and to all the attendees for… attending. Special thanks to those who shared what they wrote to help others see if this is an exercise they would like to incorporate into their teaching.

Rosanne Interviewed on “TV We Love” on the CW

This season the CW has been airing a new documentary style series called TV We Love which has covers a popular TV show from each decade from I Love Lucy for the 1960s to Happy Days for the 1970s and Dynasty for the 1980s. The last of 8 episodes covered Touched by an Angel (where I served as a Writer-Producer for 6 years). I show up a few times in the hour, discussing writing for the show and why we think it still resonates.

It felt odd to be on the other side of the camera, considering I had researched, written, and filmed a documentary in 1998 with my friend Dan Forer for ABC NEWS/Nightline called “Boys to Men: Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963,” so being the one answering questions was interesting. It helped me think deeply about my responses – trying to make sure they were in full sentences, that they used emotional verbs, that they were stories unique to me, so no other interviewee could be used for that point. And, of course, I tried not to fill empty spaces with “um” or “like”. A very fascinating experience – and then seeing the final product it was fun to put on my producer hat and recognize what director Megan Harding chose both of the quotes and of the B-roll.

She interviewed me for a couple of hours and distilled that into several appearances. My favorite part was being able to tell the story of how star Roma Downey let my 2-year-old son Joseph join her 4-year-old daughter (and her nanny) to play in her trailer for a while since the kids were both so bored on set. Heck, I was often bored on set, but I was at work, I couldn’t run off to a trailer with coloring books and have goldfish crackers for a snack. But he could – and thanks to Roma’s generosity, we have that memory.

What I’m most proud of is the chance to say things that reflect on my professional goals of creating more female-focused stories about women who make a difference in people’s lives. I used to say the show was Cagney and Lacey without guns, and I was proud of that. For the interview, I kept my focus on how amazing it was to be able to write for two powerful female characters portrayed by two high-quality actresses (heck, Della Reese was already a legend). I’m happy they used this quote: “It was getting to write for female characters who had something important to say. That was a dream job.” That broadens my mission with the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting. Near the end, they used a quote that I hope defines the themes of most all the episodes I’ve written for this show and others: “All of us need to believe in ourselves and in our community and to understand that all of us have the ability to make change.”

If you don’t have the CW you can see this episode (and any of the others that interest you) on their website at TV We Love.

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.

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

WGA Panel on Writing Bold and Complex Young Women Now Streaming

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).

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.

A boxful of books arrives. What could it be?

It’s always exciting when a new box of books arrives on our doorstep. I’m proud to say I’ve been working on so many projects that I sometimes don’t know which book will be in the box during my unboxing.

That was the case this week when a new box arrived and I expected it to be Sally Ride: Breaking Barriers and Defying Gravity, written by Jackie Perez, an alum of our Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting program. That’s because I edited her book as part of the ‘Women Making History’ series by Bloomsbury which I co-edit with my friend and colleague Dr. Peg Lamphier.

So far, we’ve edited and published new biographies of everyone from

Eleanor Roosevelt (by our good friend Keri Dearborn)

AND

Dolores Huerta (by our Mt. San Antonio College colleague April Tellez)

WITH the next in line to publish in April 2026 being:

Sandra Day O’Connor: How an Arizona Cowgirl Became the First Woman Supreme Court Justice By Nancy Hendricks (who we met when she wrote entries in our first encyclopedia Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection

All the biographies come out in hardback first for a higher fee and in 18 months will be released in paperback for lower fees.

So what’s the new book that did arrive? It was Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds which I edited with my friend and Screenwriting Research Network colleague Rose Ferrell.

What’s it about? I think the back of the book says it all:

Shaping Global Cultures through Screenwriting: Women Who Write Our Worlds is a powerful testament to the undeniable impact of an international collection of female screenwriters. Spanning film, television, virtual reality, games, and digital media, these case studies showcase instances when women have used screenwriting to challenge injustice and give voice to communities across the globe. Acknowledging global disparities in wealth and power, the book exposes screenwriting as activism, which shifts attitudes and alters lived experiences. Whether about gender and race or war and colonization, or other serious issues, each chapter reveals the deep connections between storytelling and social change. More than just a study of the craft, this is a celebration of the women writers who use their artistic lens to educate and empower others.

It’s a collection of chapters on how female screenwriters have used writing as activism. We read ‘screenwriting’ as any writing that creates something on a screen so that includes an chapter on a Samoan performance artist who has a Malu tatau/tatoo (we had many discussions about using indigenous language without italicizing it to make it not the norm) and did a video called “Walking the Wall” where she showcased her tatua – and I had the chance to write (and therefore learn about) a lawyer in the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change who created a music video urging the advocating for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to create a Resolution asking for an advisory opinion on Climate Change as it’s destroying their Pasifika island homes. Something I knew NOTHING about before. But there are also chapters on Miranda July’s Kajillionaire and queer utopias and Bluey (for children’s TV courses). Anyway, it will be expensive so we can’t use it as a text but I’m hoping enough college libraries buy copies that it’s available to professors and students – and Intellect sells individual chapters suited to particular courses.

If you’re connected to a university or local library, ask them to carry a copy so you – and all others with an interest – can read about everything from myself and my co-writers/co-editors.

Here’s me wishing you a creative weekend!