Writing – Page 111 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Quote from “America’s Forgotten Founding Father” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 21 in a series – Preparing for America

The Grand Duke gave Filippo one final warning that he was making the move during a particularly tumultuous time in the colonies.

Correspondence between Royals all over Europe crackled with worry about how King George handled the colonies and what other colonies belonging to other empires might learn from the protests then going on in America.

Due to his friendships with Franklin and Adams, and the correspondence he himself had begun with Thomas Jefferson over questions of farming in Virginia, Filippo knew much about the thoughts of the colonists.

From 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!`

When Women Wrote Hollywood – 14 in a series – Eve Unsell

To highlight the wonderful yet largely forgotten work of a collection of female screenwriters from the early years of Hollywood (and as a companion to the book, When Women Wrote Hollywood) we will be posting quick bits about the many films they wrote along with links to further information and clips from their works which are still accessible online. Take a few moments once or twice a week to become familiar with their names and their stories. I think you’ll be surprised at how much bold material these writers tackled at the birth of this new medium. — Rosanne Welch

When Women Wrote Hollywood – 14 in a series – Eve Unsell

Eve Unsell (December 6, 1879[1] – July 6, 1937) was an American screenwriter. She wrote for 96 films between 1914 and 1933.[2] She was born in Chicago, Illinois, and died in Hollywood, California. Eve was an American scenarist who was known to also use the pseudonym Oliver W. Geoffreys as well as E.M. Unsell. Eve was married to a man named Lester Blankfield, but the year is disputed. Records list their marriage year as 1911, but it does not match up with other documentation. Eve Unsell was a professional in her career as a scenarist, overcoming many challenges along the way. Eve wrote for over 96 films in her lifetime, and edited over ten. Some of her most famous screen writes turned into productions include Shadows (1922), The Ancient Mariner (1925), The Plastic Age (1925), and The Spirit of Youth (1929). Although she was most famous for her work in scenario writing she can also be given credit as an adapter, company director, editor, play reader, screenwriter, theatre actress, and writer. She helped in the writing of many novels as long as editing many different pieces from literature to theatrical writing. — Wikipedia

More about Eve Unsell

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood

* 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

My Next WGA Foundation Panel Discussion: It’s a Funny Story: A Conversation with Women TV Comedy Writers, August 10, 2018

I am very excited to be moderating another panel at the Writers Guild Foundation on…

“It’s a Funny Story: A Conversation with Women TV Comedy Writers” on Friday, August 10, 2018

with these fascinating female writer-creator-artists:

Njeri Brown from black-ish and Dear White People
Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome from Another Period
Christine Zander from Loosely Exactly Nicole, Kevin From Work, 3rd Rock from the Sun,and Saturday Night Live
Gail Parent from The Golden Girls, and The Carol Burnett Show AND author of one of those books I was forbidden from reading when I was in middle school, but read anyway: Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York.
Moderated by Dr. Rosanne Welch (Touched By An Angel, Picket Fences, Beverly Hills, 90210)

This is going to be FUN! Hope you can join us!

Get Tickets

From the Writers Guild Foundation

“We could all use a good laugh. Fortunately, we can all unwind with an abundance of outstanding television comedy shows that are available at the click of a button. But comedy isn’t just for the jokes anymore: an increasing number of shows tackle universal problems and surprisingly navigate us through our challenging world. And as writers rooms continue investing in diverse talent, the voices you hear from your television take on fresh perspectives.

Join The Writers Guild Foundation in partnership with Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting for a discussion surrounding how women television comedy writers got their start, how they use their experiences to inform their work, and the challenges they face in the writers room.”

21 Strong Female Companions In The Past from Gender Diversity in the Who-niverse [Video] (0:51)

Watch this entire presentation: Gender Diversity in the Who-niverse: Paving the Way for a Lady Doctor with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (36:58)

For her 5th Doctor Who lecture to the CPP community, Dr. Rosanne Welch discusses how society – and the show’s writing staff – prepared the audience for a major change in this 50-year franchise – the creation of the first Lady Doctor!

Transcript:

She really wants people, of course not, to be upset or worried about it. Which is important. Now, as far as I’m concerned when you think about gender, females have always been strong characters on Doctor Who. Going back to the early days and all these women have had really important jobs. From the very beginning, Susan, who was the first companion, his granddaughter, left because she wanted to rebuild the planet that she had seen destroyed. So she wanted to put her efforts into helping other people and using her talents for that. Right? She could have continued adventuring and having a party with her grandpa and all that meeting The Mayans, The Aztecs and what have you, but she wanted to do something more important and that’s a strength, right? I think that’s a woman who has active strength being shown. Then, as I mentioned, Agent Sara Kingdom. She switched sides. So she chose the good. So she’s a little bit like Darth Vader flipping at the end finally.

Follow Dr. Welch on Twitter and Instagram
https://twitter.com/rosannewelch – http://instagram.com/drrosannewelch

Rosanne Welch, PhD

Rosanne Welch PhD teaches the History of Screenwriting and One-Hour Drama for the Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting.

Writing/producing credits include Beverly Hills 90210, Picket Fences, ABCNEWS: Nightline and Touched by an Angel. In 2016 she published the book Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop; co-edited Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia; and placed “Transmitting Culture Transnationally Via the Characterization of Parents in Police Procedurals” in the New Review of Film and Television Studies. Essays appear in Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television and Doctor Who and Race: An Anthology. Welch serves as Book Reviews editor for Journal of Screenwriting and on the Editorial Advisory Board for Written By magazine, the magazine of the Writers Guild.

Watch Dr. Welch’s talk “The Importance of Having a Female Voice in the Room” at the 2016 TEDxCPP.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

More on Mazzei: Clips from the stage play, Zealous Whig by Paul Manganello (2011)

This series will focus on material I found while researching my book, America’s Forgotten Founding Father: A Novel Based on the Life of Filippo Mazzei.

While I only used a portion of my total research, there are a host of little tidbits of information on this amazing man which I wanted to share here. — Rosanne.

I came across his video was I was first doing my research for the book. It only makes sense that someone found Filippo as interesting as I had. Take a look! — Rosanne

More on Mazzei: Ciips from the stage play, Zealous Whig by Paul Manganello (2011)

From the floor of Congress, Mazzei discusses fraternity, the pursuit of happiness, and the year 2011.

From “Zealous Whig”
Written and performed by Paul Manganello
Sound design, lighting design, videography and graphic design: Colin Fulton
Original music: Marc LeMay
Dramatic consultant: Neal Kelley

“Zealous Whig” unearths the true story of America’s Italian founding father. Filippo Mazzei came to America in 1773 after meeting Benjamin Franklin in London. He became a close friend, collaborator, and next-door neighbor to Thomas Jefferson, and contributed to the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei returned to Europe in 1783 expecting a US consular post, but was disappointed. He died in obscurity in Pisa in 1816.

Order an autographed copy of America’s Forgotten Founding Father

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

Want to use this book in your classroom? Contact the Mentoris Project!

Thrills, Tears and the Real Gone Girls of Cinema via The New York Times

This is a great article supporting everything I have been trying to teach in my female-centric MFA History of Screenwriting course, including the idea that these female screenwriters and directors of Early Hollywood were left out of the history books as most of those were written by male historians.

I attempt to correct this in every class and with every research paper I assign – and with our new book of essays When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry. The article even opens with a quote by Ida May Park taken from the Careers for Women book which essayist Jackie Perez quotes in her full piece on Ida May in our book.

The article concerns “Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers,” a wonderful series that opens Friday in New York City at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) which is being presented with Kino Lorber and the Library of Congress.

“There are tear-splashed melodramas like Alice Guy Blaché’s “The Ocean Waif” (1916), but also slapstick comedies like Mabel Normand’s “Caught in a Cabaret,” starring Charlie Chaplin (1914), and Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley’s thriller “Suspense” (1913). The stories take on love and war as well as poverty (Ida May Park’s 1918 “Bread”); birth control (Weber’s 1916 “Where Are My Children?”); and prostitution (Dorothy Davenport and Walter Lang’s 1925 “The Red Kimona”). One must-see is Marion E. Wong’s “Curse of Quon Gwon: When the Far East Mingles With the West” (1916), thought to be the first feature by a Chinese-American filmmaker. (A chunk is missing but it’s still worth watching.)”

Even if you don’t live in New York to attend the series, you can read all about it – and these marvelous women and their movie-making careers – here:

Thrills, Tears and the Real Gone Girls of Cinema via The New York Times

In the Wild West days of early filmmaking—before Hollywood hardened into an assembly-line behemoth and boys’ club—talented women worked regularly as writers, producers, and directors, instrumental in shaping the very language of cinema as we know it. Nevertheless, figures like Alice Guy Blaché and Lois Weber are known today primarily by aficionados, and artists like Nell Shipman, Grace Cunard, and Marion E. Wong remain woefully obscure. Bringing together dozens of essential new restorations, this series spotlights the daring, innovative, and trailblazing work of the first female filmmakers and restores their centrality to the creation of cinema itself.

Read the entire article – Thrills, Tears and the Real Gone Girls of Cinema via The New York Times

And then order our book here…

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood

From The Research Vault: Hey, hey we’re the Wrinklies (The Monkees are back 45 years on… with a £1m motive) via Daily Mail

Given their advancing years, you’d be forgiven for doubting whether there’ll be much monkeying around.

Yesterday The Monkees announced they would be reforming for a 45th anniversary tour of the UK.

The band, who broke up in 1971, were put together by music executives in 1966 to star in a TV comedy and to be the U.S. answer to The Beatles.

Receive on-going info about “Why The Monkees Matter” book and more!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

Buy Your Copy Now!

* 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 – 13 in a series – The Lying Truth & The Lost World, Wr: Marion Fairfax

When Women Wrote Hollywood – 13 in a series – The Lying Truth & The Lost World, Wr: Marion Fairfax

Marion Fairfax (October 24, 1875 – October 2, 1970) was an American screenwriter and playwright. Born as Marion Neiswanger in Richmond, Virginia, After she graduated from Chicago’s South Division High School, she enrolled in Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She was married to actor Tully Marshallfor forty-three years. Fairfax worked as a company director, director, editor, editorial director, playwright, producer, screenwriter and theatre actress.

Fairfax first started her career as a stage actress, just like many other women did in that era. By 1901 she was appearing on Broadway and soon after that her own plays started appearing on Broadway. Before she went into pictures she was known for being one of the most distinguished stage authors in the United States, writing Broadway hits such as The Builders (1907), The Chaperon (1908), The Talker (1912), A Modern Girl (1914), In 1915 The Lasky Feature Play Company entered into a contract with Fairfax. This opportunity gave Fairfax the chance to work under William C. DeMille who is known as the author for many successful plays such as “The Warrens of Virginia” and “The Woman.” The success of Fairfax comes through wide knowledge of dramatic values, not only from an author’s perspective but also from that of the artist.[1] — Wikipedia

More about Marion Fairfax

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood

* 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

Show Boat and the History of Screenwriting

Among the many films I have my History of Screenwriting students watch as we march through the chronological eras of that history from Silents to (what I call) Superhero Saturation, I include a couple of musicals to illustrate that genre. Among those musicals I include Show Boat for many reasons.

First, because they ought to know about Edna Ferber, who wrote the novel on which the show is based, had an interesting history with Hollywood in that she did not approve of selling off her IP (intellectual property) completely – so she leased novels to Hollywood (including the Pulitzer Prize-winning So Big, and the popular Giant (starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean and adapted by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat).

Second, because they ought to know Paul Robeson who starred in the 1936 film adaptation after having played “Joe” in the London production and became synonymous with the song “Ol’ Man River”.

Third, because it was one of the earliest musicals to take a social justice stance and even handle the subject of miscegenation.

Fourth, because it’s a classic.

But, I recognize even being socially conscious for their times that there are moments in the portrayals of the African American characters that aren’t always comfortable for my students of color so I’m always on the lookout for ways to teach this. That’s why I was happy to come across this 2013 book by Todd Decker Show Boat: Performing Race in an American Musical where he focuses on how the story is really the story of how a white girl singer becomes famous on the riverboat by using a ‘black’ voice, making the story more a study of cultural appropriation. I’ve only begun reading it out of order (movie section first, stage play section second) but have found what I’ve read fascinating.

Check it out at your local library or find it here

†

Also of interest is the various changes to the original lyrics of “Ol’ Man River” made by artists over the years.

* 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 – 12 in a series – Marion Fairfax

When Women Wrote Hollywood – 12 in a series – Marion Fairfax

Marion Fairfax (October 24, 1875 – October 2, 1970) was an American screenwriter and playwright. Born as Marion Neiswanger in Richmond, Virginia, After she graduated from Chicago’s South Division High School, she enrolled in Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She was married to actor Tully Marshallfor forty-three years. Fairfax worked as a company director, director, editor, editorial director, playwright, producer, screenwriter and theatre actress.

Fairfax first started her career as a stage actress, just like many other women did in that era. By 1901 she was appearing on Broadway and soon after that her own plays started appearing on Broadway. Before she went into pictures she was known for being one of the most distinguished stage authors in the United States, writing Broadway hits such as The Builders (1907), The Chaperon (1908), The Talker (1912), A Modern Girl (1914), In 1915 The Lasky Feature Play Company entered into a contract with Fairfax. This opportunity gave Fairfax the chance to work under William C. DeMille who is known as the author for many successful plays such as “The Warrens of Virginia” and “The Woman.” The success of Fairfax comes through wide knowledge of dramatic values, not only from an author’s perspective but also from that of the artist.[1] — Wikipedia

Lying truth

Lost world

More about Marion Fairfax

Buy a signed copy of when Women Write Hollywood

* 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