Writing, Film, Television and More!
Sao Paolo Coffee Makes The Screenwriting Conference Go ‘Round
Nothing like an amazing coffee when you wake up in another country.
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I’m so honored to be a part of this international group of screenwriting academics – who plan by far the best conference I’ve ever attended each year. — Rosanne
First meeting of new Executive Council yesterday – spanning 18 time zones!!! Got the ball rolling for the new academic year and picked up suggestions from last month’s AGM. Minutes to follow soon on the SRN website.
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Mackenzie Institute In Sao Paolo.
My host for the 10th Screenwriters´(hi)Stories Seminar Keynote.
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Highlighting the articles in the latest edition of the Journal of Screenwriting, of which I am the Book Reviews Editor. Hopefully these abstracts will entice you to did a little deeper into the history and future of screenwriting. — Rosanne
Influences on story development in transnational pan-Arab dramas: A case study of the series 04
Fadi G. Haddad
Despite the growing research interest in the transnational nature of the Arab World’s television industry, screenwriting in the Arab World has received little academic attention. Moreover, while the media plays a major role in shaping the ‘narratives of identity’, the reality of television drama production is as much about cultural, economic and political influences as it is about aesthetics. Set within a unique interpretation of the theoretical context of the ‘Hierarchy of Influences Model’, this article aims to explore to what extent the routine practices in screenwriting govern the artistic decisions taken at the level of the screenplay development of transnational pan-Arab dramas (Arabic: al-drāma al ‘arabiya al-mushtaraka). Taking ‘04’ (Zero Four) as a case study, a pan-Arab drama produced by the Saudi-owned UAE-based MBC television that tells the story of four young expatriates from four different Arab nationalities living in modern-day Dubai, and through in-depth interviews with the show creators, the article attempts to present an example of novel screenwriting practices in the Arab World between single authors and writers’ room.
The Journal of Screenwriting is an international double-blind peer-reviewed journal that is published three times a year. The journal highlights current academic and professional thinking about the screenplay and intends to promote, stimulate and bring together current research and contemporary debates around the screenplay whilst encouraging groundbreaking research in an international arena. The journal is discursive, critical, rigorous and engages with issues in a dynamic and developing field, linking academic theory to screenwriting practice.
Get your copy and subscription to the Journal of Screenwriting Today!
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The latest podcast is about Leonardo Da Vinci and is now available on the Mentoris Web Site. Give it a listen and Subscribe for More! — Rosanne
Read Leonardo’s Secret: A Novel Based on the Life of Leonardo Da Vinci
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More than a painter…
Renowned artist Leonardo da Vinci was the greatest genius to ever conquer the worlds of art, science, and philosophy. Writing backwards to protect his knowledge, da Vinci epitomized creativity and eccentricity.
Despite being plagued with frustrations and failures, da Vinci was spurred to create, invent, research, and write no matter the cost. By exploring his sorrows and joys, da Vinci’s world is uncovered. And with it a five-hundred-year-old secret is released: the hidden truth of Leonardo da Vinci.
About the Author
Myers has sold, written for hire, or optioned ten theatrical feature scripts and has done a number of rewrites for indie film and TV producers. Two short films, a stage play, and numerous TV public service announcements have been produced from his scripts.
His produced projects include nine Chapters in Black American History, the drama/comedy The Pickup, his half-hour suspense drama, Double Cross, as well as Speak To The World, a pilot for an interview show.
One of Myers’ comedy feature scripts won an Honorable Mention at the Thunderbird International Film Festival Script Competition.
He has judged scripts for UCLA’s Master of Fine Arts Screenwriting Showcase and has been a regular panelist at the West Coast Writers Conference. His advice to screenwriters is part of Tarcher/Penguin’s anthology, NOW WRITE! Screenwriting: Exercises by Today’s Best Screenwriters, Teachers and Consultants.
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Also from the Mentoris Project
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Part of the California State University, Fullerton Faculty Noon Time Talks at the Pollak Library.
Watch this entire presentation
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Transcript:
Of course, most people know her. Mae West. Again, she made herself a brand, long before Madonna and long before Lady Gaga this lady knew that sex sells and I’m going to make myself as sexy as I can and I’m going to tell innuendos and I am going to do all of that so that she actually got arrested a few times. People remember Mae West as an actress and forget that she wrote almost everything she performed in. Broadway plays. Movies. Stage shows. She was her own writer. She would talk about how easy it was to write but people who did her autobiography discovered that she had journals and journals and journals of every joke she could ever write — that she could ever find. She wrote all day long waiting to get that one or two really good pieces to use in her next production. She was consummately a writer before she was a performer. All she had to do to perform was throw on the fancy clothes and smile, right, but the writing was the hard work that she engaged in. She was pretty cool. These are all her movies. She did sex before Madonna released a book called “Sex.” This is way back in the day when it was actually against the law. So she’s pretty amazing.
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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This is definitely driving me crazy!
After reading the attached article I had to write this letter to the Los Angeles Times:
Did Tracy Brown really write a whole article (“How Angelina Jolie’s daughter inspired the secret backstory of ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’”) about the story process for the new Maleficent sequel WITHOUT ONCE mentioning the name of the credited screenwriters – Linda Woolverton (who also wrote the original film) and Noah Harpster?
The article even begins with naming the director in the first sentence. This is a ludicrous example of the unexplained contempt journalists (who are writers themselves) seem to have against screenwriters – or solid evidence that the now disproved-in-academia-but-still-mistakenly-believed-by-others auteur theory still holds sway. But directors do not write their films unless you call them ‘writer-directors’.
Read the entire article – “How Angelina Jolie’s daughter inspired the secret backstory of ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’”
Enjoy This Clip? Watch this entire presentation and Buy Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
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?
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Transcript
This is a particular moment in the show that shocks me that got on to network television at that time. They’re playing dominoes as you can see and at one point when all the dominoes fall down Davy says to Peter “What do you call this game?” and Peter says “Southeast Asia.” which if you know about Domino Theory of Communism is it — I mean — and the censors didn’t cut that and a lot of times it’s because Trevor Silverman said that Network people didn’t understand the joke. They didn’t get it because they were an older generation of men — all men — and they didn’t see what was going on. So that to me is an amazing thing who got away with what they did. Television mattered to The Monkees — both the writers and, of course, the performers. They understood that it was this giant place — this giant podium from which to send out a message to everybody and they they knew that was important.
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.
McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition
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Livraria Cultura, Sao Paolo, Brazil
On my first day in São Paulo I was taken on a lovely walk through the downtown area near the college and here we can go fun this beautiful bookstore full of art and books and I was pleased to see many titles I recognized, though they were of course in Portuguese so I could not purchase them to read. But it was a beautiful site and a lovely way to understand the city is full of readers.
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Do you know about these women screenwriters? Many don’t. Learn more about them today!
Buy “When Women Wrote Hollywood” Today!
During [the 1930’s], women gained a unique opportunity to participate both as stronger characters within these stories and, perhaps more importantly, behind the scenes. “Hollywood’s ‘red meat’ hard-boiled crime cycle during the war, seemingly targeted a masculine gendered audience. Yet, these films included surprisingly strong female femme fatale ‘love interest’ characters who redefined ‘femininity’.
Joan Harrison: Redefining Femininity in Film Noir and Hollywood
by Chelsea Andes
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† Available from the LA Public Library
