Writing – Page 128 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

28: Coslough Johnson and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:52)

Rosanne Welch talks about “Why The Monkees Matter” with Jean Hopkins Power

Watch this entire presentation (45 mins)

Jean Powergirl takes the host reigns and welcomes her guest Rosanne Welch, PhD to the show! They’ll be discussing Roseanne’s book, “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture.”

Transcript:

Rosanne: And then Coslough Johnson is the nicest man. He is the brother of Artie Johnson from Laugh-In and he, in fact, went on to work on Laugh-In and won 2 Emmys for being part of that.

Jean: It’s a great show. My parents love that show.

Rosanne: Everybody got started on that show. And so Coslough was great. He was a freelancer and he wasn’t on staff but he did several episodes. He wrote the episode some people will remember where Liberace guest starred and he bashed a piano to pieces with a sledgehammer. Very silly. Unexpectedly adorable and I asked him did someone recommend that and he said “No. I was just thinking one day about funny things to have happen and what musicians could do and he came to mind.” And they took that Idea to Liberace and he agreed to do it.

Jean: I’m glad he was game to do that.

Rosanne: Partially he knew it was smart to appear on a show that appealed to teenagers because he wanted that audience. So Coslough is quite marvelous and wonderful.

Get your copy today!

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement 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 Rider and Five Easy Pieces.

Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.

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Screenplay: Building Story Through Character | Gifts for the Screenwriter #5

Screenwriter Jule Selbo created Building Story Through Character after years of writing on successful television shows and films and then creating the MFA in Screenwriting at California State University, Fullerton where she teaches those skills to up and coming writers. Her focus on character and her 11 Steps of Story Structure streamlines ideas from other screenwriting gurus whose lists are longer and (to my mind) more contrived. You can take Selbo’s 11 Steps and apply them to stories as old as Gilgamesh and as modern as Wonder Woman – as she does in the book so that the reader can see the pattern repeat itself over and over again.- Rosanne

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale by Russell T. Davies | Gifts for the Screenwriter #4

Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale by Russell T. Davies | Gifts for the Screenwriter #4 It is nearly impossible to ‘teach’ a student how to become an executive producer/head writer but this collection of emails between Russell T. Davies and reporter, Benjamin Cook encapsulates a year in the life of Davies as he wrapped out the Doctor Who tenure of David Tennant . One watches a story idea go from a simple sentence about ‘water being dangerous’ to a full-fledged script called “Waters of Mars” in a matter of weeks while also reading the difficulty in planning characters for guest stars who end up changing their schedules and dropping out of a project. Those kinds of real moments make this book a must-read for aspiring television writers on either side of the pond. – Rosanne

Women in Early Filmmaking from Giving Voice to Silent Films and the Far From Silent Women Who Wrote Them with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Watch this entire presentation

Women in Early Filmmaking from Giving Voice to Silent Films and the Far From Silent Women Who Wrote Them with Dr. Rosanne Welch

A recording of my presentation at this year’s University Film and Video Association (UFVA) 2017 conference.

Transcript:

So I teach history and I start in the silent film world, so I disagree with Warren. I go chronologically. This is a period they have never heard of and all the movies are free on YouTube. Nothing like telling them they can watch whatever they have to watch for free. That works, right? And so here they meet Anita Loos, Gene Gauntier — the first women — the first person to do filming on location. She went to Jerusalem to film the story of Jesus Christ — the first time it was put on film and it’s a really beautiful film you can see, for free, on YouTube. Then Jeanie MacPherson who wrote all of Cecil B. DeMille’s early movies that were successes. When she stopped working for him all his stuff failed. Nobody knows her name and she’s quite brilliant. So I thinks it’s important for women students today to know that women once ran Hollywood so all this discussion about “I don’t know if women should direct a movie” is not worth having, because they did and they were. They were the highest paid people in this town, so I think that’s important an important think for them to remember.

Books Mentioned In This Presentation

Follow Dr. Rosanne Welch

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosannewelch
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drrosannewelch/

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Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay and Diaries | Gifts for the Screenwriter #3

For me this on set diary by a writer who also starred in the film and had to make script changes in the evenings after a full day of filming is a wonderful look at the real life of working writer/performer. The bonus fact iis that it is written by Emma Thompson about her work on Sense and Sensibility – a most marvelous movie to view and study.

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

First Look at our next book – Technical Innovation in American History: An Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

My co-editor Peg Lamphier and I were happy to see the newly designed covers for our next 3 Volume encyclopedia – Technical Innovation in American History. Thanks to all the wonderful contributors who came over from our encylcopedia on Women in American History

Look for it in 2019!

From ABC-CLIO…

Technical Innovation in American History: An Encyclopedia of Science and Technology surveys the history of technology, documenting the chronological and thematic connections between specific inventions, technological systems, individuals, and events that have contributed to the history of science and technology in the United States. Covering eras from colonial times to the present day in three chronological volumes, the entries include innovations in fields such as architecture, civil engineering, transportation, energy, mining and oil industries, chemical industries, electronics, computer and information technology, communications (television, radio, and print), agriculture and food technology, and military technology.

The A–Z entries address key individuals, events, organizations, and legislation related to themes such as industry, consumer and medical technology, military technology, computer technology, and space science, among others, enabling readers to understand how specific inventions, technological systems, individuals, and events influenced the history, cultural development, and even self-identity of the United States and its people. The information also spotlights how American culture, the U.S. government, and American society have specifically influenced technological development.

Final Draft 10 Software | Gifts for the Screenwriter #2

Whether your are a screenwriter, or know an aspiring one, Final Draft is one of the standard pieces of software for planning, writing and formatting your script properly. Make the best impression possible.

Know a screenwriting student? You might be able to save a significant amount using the Educational version.

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Without Lying Down by Cari Beauchamp | Gifts for the Screenwriter #1

One of the best biographies of a writer – and a female writer at that – Without Lying Down tells the story of Frances Marion, the highest paid screenwriter and a double Oscar winner whose career spanned the Silent Era and transformed into Talkies quite well (judging by the Oscars). Since she surrounded herself with a cadre of other female screenwriters at the time, the book is a marvelous introduction to a time when women ran Hollywood. — Rosanne

* 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!

A History of Screenwriting – 46 in a series – The Gold Rush – Charlie Chaplin (1925)

By Unknown – Here, Public Domain, Link

The Gold Rush is a 1925 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film also stars Chaplin in his Little Tramp persona, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman, and Malcolm Waite.

The Gold Rush received Academy Award nominations for Best Music and Best Sound Recording upon its re-release in 1942. It is today one of Chaplin’s most celebrated works, and he himself declared several times that it was the film for which he most wanted to be remembered.[3]

The idea for this film came from Chaplin looking at the pictures of the Gold Rush in Klondike in 1896. At the same time, he accidentally read a book about immigrants who trapped the snow in Sierra Nevada, had to eat their own boots or the corpses of their friends. Chaplin, who believed tragedies and comics were not far from each other, decided to combine these stories of deprivation and horror in comedy. He decided that his famous rogue figure should become a gold-digger who joins a brave optimist determined to face all the pitfalls associated with the search for gold, such as sickness, hunger, loneliness, or the possibility that he may at any time be attacked by a grizzly. In the movie, we see scenes like Chaplin cooking and dreaming of his shoe, or how his starving friend Big Jim sees him as a chicken. — Wikipedia

Learn More About Charlie Chaplin with these books

††

* 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 at the LA Public Library

27: Peter Meyerson and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:40)

Rosanne Welch talks about “Why The Monkees Matter” with Jean Hopkins Power

Watch this entire presentation (45 mins)

Transcript:

Rosanne: Another gentleman I got to meet — and sadly who passed away 6 months after I met him — was Peter Meyerson, He ended up later in life he co-created Welcome Back, Kotter which interestingly enough it’s a show about 4 boys.

Jean: I love the show.

Rosanne: Four boys who were in school — in high school. So, Peter Meyerson, he was marvelous. he came in also because of a very hippie attitude. In fact, he went to the Monterey Pop Festival. He was the kind of guy who hung out at all those events. He wore the paisley clothing and the necklaces. He just really bought into that whole Ideology and so you see that represented then in some of his episodes. And he was great and he told me some very funny stories about hanging out with the actors at parties and whatnot.

Get your copy today!

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 Rider and Five Easy Pieces.

Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.

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