Writing – Page 75 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

Screenwriting Research Network Conference 2019, Porto, Portugal, All Sessions

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Here’s a look at the program for the Screenwriting Research Network (SRN) conference that just concluded last Saturday in Porto, Portugal.

I deeply enjoyed making my presentation on Writers Rooms in the U.S. but even more I enjoyed the presentations I attended.

This program is chock a block full of new international films to learn about (did you know there’s a Portuguese film with the name “Django” in it that has nothing to do with the one by Tarantino?) and new ways to teach writing students how to take in all the (often negative) notes they receive and decide which constructive ones to use to make their scripts stronger?

Just skimming the schedule shows the breadth of new ideas that are running around in my head right now. — Rosanne

12th SCREENWRITING RESEARCH NETWORK CONFERENCE
Porto, September 11-14, 2019 · School of Arts, Universidade Católica Portuguesa

PROGRAMME

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Theme: Foundation and Crisis of Europe in Screenwriting

Chair: Paolo Russo

Pablo Echart
Savage continent, united continent: the writing of a feature film screenplay about the “founding fathers” of the European Union

María Noguera / Miguel Muñoz-Garnica
Narrative detours in the cinematic representation of Europe in crisis: Ulysses’ Gaze, A Talking Picture and Our Music

Daniel Sierra / Marta Frago
Young Winston and Darkest Hour’s films: Winston Churchill as British Hero in a Changing Europe

Theme: Modes I

Chair: Nelson Zagalo

Ruth Gutiérrez Delgado
Causality is not casual in a film despite it seems to be: A Perfect Day

Paolo Braga
The line between fate and chaos in Collateral

Armando Fumagalli
Order and chaos in the ending of a film

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Video games following path of films in their marketing and “Death Stranding” Game Trailer

What’s interesting about this video game trailer (is first of all that they have trailers for video games!) but that at the 5:36 mark they begin giving the credits for all the relatively big name actors in this – including Guillermo del Toro and (for me) Lindsay Wagner (the original Bionic Woman) which shows how this new-ish art form is following the path of films – which originally did not name their actors until they realized actors bring in audience.

Also, that the branding of the creator “Kojima Productions”. The parallels between these arts-turned-businesses are so interesting. — Rosanne

** Notes originally from discussion with Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting students

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On the beach in Foz, Porto, Portugal

Opening reception of the Screenwriting Research Network Conference

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Review of “America’s Forgotten Founding Father” by Dr. Rosanne Welch

I was honored to read this review of my novelization of the life of Filippo Mazzei, which posted on the same day that I am preparing to guest lecture about the book to Dennis Bullock’s AP Government class at Providence High School.

I’m particularly happy that the reviewer, from the Historical Novel Society recognized all the research work I did on not just Mazzei’s place in American History and the founding of the government – but that I strove to give a full picture of his life from childhood through his later years. I want readers to find him to be an interesting man who worked hard for the privileges we enjoy today – even though his name rarely appears in any celebrations of our 4th of July. Maybe now that can change. — Rosanne

“But the book has a larger focus than Mazzei’s place in the American Revolution. It covers his early years, travels in Turkey, and relationships with family as well as discussions of religion, the prerogatives of landed gentry versus the rights of ordinary people, even the proper pronunciation of Italian words.

This is an interesting and informative biographical sketch aimed at young readers.”

Read the complete review

Listen to Rosanne’s Interview about “America’s Forgotten Founding Father.”

America’s Forgotten Founding Father: A Novel Based on the Life of Filippo Mazzei with Author, Dr. Rosanne Welch

Guest Hosted by Dr. Peg Lamphier

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His loyalty lasted a lifetime…

Surgeon, merchant, vintner, and writer Filippo Mazzei influenced American business, politics, and philosophy. Befriending Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Mazzei was a strong liaison for others in Europe. Mazzei was Jefferson’s inspiration for the most famous line in the Declaration of Independence: “All men are created equal.”

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Screenplays of hit TV series, films and plays are outselling novels via The Guardian

Seeing the public show such an interest in reading the scripts of their favorite tv shows and films is right in line with the goal of the History of Screenwriting courses in our Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting program.

People are finally recognizing the work of writers and appreciating how their favorite stories took shape on the page long before they were cast, or filmed, or edited. Screenwriting Rocks! Join us to learn how to write the great American screenplay! — Rosanne

Loved the show, finished the boxset – now devour the script line by line
Screenplays of hit TV series, films and plays are outselling novels

For decades they were bought only by drama students, who would anxiously pore over well-thumbed copies trying to memorise audition monologues, and by aspiring screenwriters hoping to learn their craft.

Scripts and screenplays did not sell in huge numbers to the public – until now. Readers are increasingly keen to buy the texts of their favourite films and plays, and some cultural blockbusters are leaving bestselling novels in the dust.

Fleabag: The Scriptures, the collected screenplays of the two seasons of the hit television series spawned by Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s one-woman stage play, will be published in November. Sceptre bought the scripts in an eight-way auction, reportedly for £500,000.

Read this entire article – Loved the show, finished the boxset – now devour the script line by line

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04 More On The Writers of The Monkees from “Why The Monkees Matter: Even 50 Years Later [Video] (1 minute 4 seconds)

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From Denver Pop Culture Con 2019.

Wherever you go, you find Monkees fans and the Denver Popular Culture Con was no different. Amid rooms full of caped crusaders and cosplay creations, I was initially not sure how many folks would attend a talk on a TV show from the 1960s – but happily I was met by a nice, engaged audience for my talk on Why the Monkees Matter – and afterward they bought books! What more could an author ask for?

Transcript

Down in the right corner is Peter Meyerson. Clearly from his photograph truly on the hippie train back in the day — had a very interesting life and ended up married to one of Michael Nesmith’s early girlfriends later in life — like his third wife was Nesmith’s first girlfriend or some silly thing like that. Gentlemen the middle is Bernie Ornstein. He was a writer of more mainstream work and had a lot to say about what The Monkees were about, Dave Evans, the gentleman who’s smiling. He’s so adorable He’s the nicest man you would ever want to meet and he had written for Bullwinkle before he came to The Monkees and then Treva Silverman is the woman I was speaking of. The first woman to write on television write comedy without a male partner and so she went on to earn two Emmys in her career writing on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. So all these writers had very good histories coming into and then moving out of The Monkees and again people dismissed the show but it really deserves much more attention. She wrote the particular episode of Mary Tyler Moore where Lou Grant’s wife asked for a divorce which was huge in the early 70s and that’s what she got the Emmy for.

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

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

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16 Madeleine L’Engle from The Sisterhood of Science Fiction – Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (43 seconds)

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The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know And Love

This one allowed me to riff on some of my favorite female science fiction writers across time, whether they be novelists or television writers. It also opened up a good conversation on what art we support and include in our lives – and what that art says to us and about us. — Rosanne

Transcript:

Now, most people know Madeleine L’Engle. So guess what? She gets the put her name on the book is definitely a chick name right? Madeleine L’Engle. Definitely a chick name. And “A Wrinkle In Time.” How many people saw the movie? Two people. Really good movie. Ava Duvernay directed it. Really interesting to think about the fact that the controversy here was switching out the race right and then it was a big deal. You’re gonna change who the child is in the book and thereby change some of who the other characters are that she’s connected with but one of the first movies starring an African-American who that scored over 100 million dollars in the box office right of way kind of thing, right? Then Black Panther is going to come in and score a bajillion, million dollars, but so it’s a trend that Ava Duvernay wanted to get started.

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Quotes from When Women Wrote Hollywood – 43 in a series – “…her name is conspicuously absent.”

Do you know about these women screenwriters? Many don’t. Learn more about them today!

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“Clara Beranger is one among many prominent female screenwriters during the Silent Era of film. Like the other amazing women who wrote at least half of the films produced during that time, very little is known about her, and what information there is, is hard to find. “It is lamentable that so little is known about Clara Beranger. From the piles of film books, even those devoted to the screenwriter, her name is conspicuously absent.”

Clara Beranger: The Unseen Laborer
by Amanda Stockwell

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† Available from the LA Public Library

“77% of TV shows have no women creators. Here’s how that ripples across the industry” says Los Angeles Times

This lack of female representation at the creative/gatekeeper levels is precisely what the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting aims to change! More prepared female writers = more prepared female showrunners = more believable female character and stories permeating our lives. — Rosanne

77% of TV shows have no women creators. Here’s how that ripples across the industry

By Yvonne Villarreal – Staff Writer
Sep. 4, 2019

For the 2018-19 season, 96% of TV programs had no women directors of photography; 79% had no women directors; 77% had no women editors; and 77% had no women creators.

As a number of female-fronted TV shows, including “Veep” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” vie for Emmys later this month, a study released Wednesday finds that “historic highs” for women in television still leave them vastly underrepresented in key behind-the-scenes roles.

Read this entire article – 77% of TV shows have no women creators. Here’s how that ripples across the industry via The Los Angeles Times

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18 Jennie Louise Toussaint Welcome from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (52 seconds)

Part of the California State University, Fullerton Faculty Noon Time Talks at the Pollak Library.

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Transcript:

Really more interesting, I want to know more about Jennie Louise Toussaint Welcome. That is actually her full name, which is beautiful. She as well, she wrote a movie that was meant to be the answer to “Birth of a Nation”, right? She wrote a movie in defense of how badly African-Americans were treated in “Birth of a Nation”, that doesn’t exist anymore. Bits and pieces online you can find of “The Charge of the Colored Divisions”. She was covering the African-American men in World War I, right? So she did some work like that, both reality and fiction. I have to believe we’ll find some more work on her, because her brother was Booker T. Washington’s personal photographer during the Harlem Renaissance and her parents were the butler and maid to President Ulysses S. Grant, so there’s got to be somebody mentioning them somewhere. It’s just that nobody’s put all that together, but I really think we’re going to to get more about her pretty soon.

Dr. Rosanne Welch discusses the women in her new book “When Women Wrote Hollywood” which covers female screenwriters from the Silents through the early 1940s when women wrote over 50% of films and Frances Marion was the highest paid screenwriter (male or female) and the first to win 2 Oscars. Yet, she fails to appear in film history books, which continue to regurgitate the myth that male directors did it all – even though it’s been proven that the only profitable movies Cecil B. de Mille ever directed were all written by Jeannie Macpherson film ever won for Best Picture was written by Robert E. Sherwood (who people have heard of, mostly due to his connection to Dorothy Parker) and Joan Harrison.

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* 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

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