26 Dorothy Parker and A Star Is Born from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (55 seconds)

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

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26 Dorothy Parker and A Star Is Born from

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Transcript:

Dorothy and her husband Alan Campbell wrote A Star Is Born which if you know obviously the story is about a marriage where the woman is far more famous than the man. His career is going while hers is rising. That’s Dorothy Parker and her husband’s story. That’s exactly the emotion she was experiencing. She just put it on an actor and actress. It became such a classic it was remade in the 50s with Julia my brain just went dead. Thank you. Judy Garland. I was saying Julianne and that was wrong. Judy Garland. Thank you and it was written this was adapted by Moss Hart who’s a famous name from Broadway. He wrote it himself however he credited several scenes from the original movie he’d just cut and pasted them out of the first script and put them in his and admitted that when he was doing it. So whenever he got notes from the studio that they wanted to change something he would say “No no no. That’s how Parker had it the first time. It’s good enough. We’re not fixing it.” So essentially it’s Moss Hart and Dorothy Parker together right?

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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My New Screenwriting Friends In Sao Paolo via Instagram

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My New Screenwriting Friends In Sao Paolo

My New Screenwriting Friends In Sao Paolo via Instagram

My New Screenwriting Friends In Sao Paolo via Instagram

Many, many thanks to Glaucia Davino for inviting me to Mackenzie Presbyterian Institute in Sao Paolo to speak to her conference, but especially for arranging for me to meet many of her dedicated doctoral students, including Livia, who gave me a wonderful walking tour of the campus before my talk yesterday. There is a deep and genuine interest in analyzing screenwriting among these students and of building the film and television industry here. In the years to come I believe the energy these students bring to their research will achieve that dream.



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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!

17 Tressie Souders from “When Women Wrote Hollywood” with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (49 seconds)

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

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17 Tressie Souders from

 

Transcript:

The hardest thing to do now — we’re having trouble reviving some of these female names but it is far more worse reviving African-American female names because these folks have had no paperwork left about them and even the men they worked with haven’t been cataloged in a way that we can look to them for information. Tressi Souders, we only have through newspaper accounts of films of hers that were opening in African-American neighborhoods. So we can see advertisements that she had product but the product doesn’t exist. You can’t find it even on — most of the women I’m gonna mention, the Caucasian women — the European women — and you could find some of their movies on YouTube because stuff has been kept in the Library of Congress. Sadly some has been saved because of men it’s connected to but at least it’s been saved. These women, none of their work exists anymore and that’s one of the most depressing things.

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.


Buy a signed copy of when Women Wrote Hollywood

…or via Amazon…

Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition | Google Play Edition

* 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

At the ‘She Called Action’ 35 Pilot Table Read Contest

At the ‘She Called Action’ 35 Pilot Table Read Contest

At the 'She Called Action' 35 Pilot Table Read Contest

My Second-year MFA candidate Randi Barros and I spent the morning on set at the Manhattan Beach Studios watching a filmed table read of Barros’ script “Springtime in September.” A winner of this year’s ‘She Called Action’ 35 Pilot Table Read Contest, the script concerns a suddenly single mother dealing with dating in the new era.

This “She Called Action” event was created by Cheryl Rodes of the women-owned production company Rodes Unpaved, dedicated to putting women as the heroes of the story.

That’s something the Stephens College MFA in TV and Screenwriting can certainly support!

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Stephens College at Denver Pop Culture Con via Instagram

Stephens College at Denver Pop Culture Con via Instagram

Stephens College at Denver Pop Culture Con

One of the fun-nest things about many fun things at the Denver PopCon was the chance to see Stephens College film professor (and MFA alum) Chase Thompson debut his film Tampsen Air. He shared fascinating stories about the concept and the production work in the film with the audience- and the various other Screenwriting MFA alums who came out to show their support.

Learn more about the Stephens College Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting 

Learn more about the Stephens College Master of Fine Arts in TV and Screenwriting 

Sculpture of Vittorio Emanuelle II during battle for Italian Reunification via Instagram

What are your favorite period of Italian History? Share in the comments!

 Sculpture of Vittorio Emanuelle II during battle for Italian Reunification

Sculpture of Vittorio Emanuelle II during battle for Italian Reunification via Instagram

On our trip to Milan for the 2019 SRN Conference we had the time to visit the Museum of the Risorgimento so I could do some research on the Italian perspective of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the topic of my second Mentoris novel. It really helped me see him from several sides – and artwork like this highlighted the place he holds in world civilization. 

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

Semester In LA Writers Round Table Class – Columbia College of Chicago

Semester In LA Writers Round Table Class - Columbia College of Chicago

Semester In LA Writers Round Table Class

Here’s a great photo of my current (and nearly graduated) Columbia College Writers Round Table class together with the marvelous actors who joined us for the last 3 weeks. The did table reads of all 9 student scripts. The actors are: Erron Jay (on the right in the back row), Khanisha Foster (2nd row #6 from the left/standing next to me), Juan Villa (last one on the right in the 2nd row) and Christina Nieves (in the middle in the front row). Kudos to Khanisha for gathering them all for us because they went above and beyond the call of duty by giving great notes for the (inevitable with all writing) rewrites to come. All in all, a fun and productive 3-week collaboration!

Presenting My Talk – The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know and Love via Instagram

What are your favorite Science Fiction Books? Add them to the comments below!

Presenting My Talk – The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know and Love

Cal Poly Pomona University Library

Thanks to another invite from Kris Zoleta and the wonderful staff at the CPP Library I presented another lunchtime lecture yesterday.

This talk was on famous female writers of science fiction both in books (from Mary Shelley to Octavia Butler) and on television with a side tangent on important and influential female characters of science fiction (from Lt. Nyota Uhura to Dana Scully).

The audience responded well, many asking me for recommendations for summer reading)  and the nicest compliment I received came from an engineering student who came up to me afterward to say she was either going to do homework or come to my talk during her lunch break and she was ever so happy she had chosen to come to the talk. 

Video Coming Soon! – Subscribe and Revisit!

Presenting My Talk - The Sisterhood of Science Fiction: A Walk Through Some Writers and Characters You (Should) Know and Love via Instagram

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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

The Shard, the Walkie-Talkie and more London skyline via Instagram

What are your favorite sights in London? Add them to the comments below!

The Shard, the Walkie-Talkie and more London skyline

Off to London today with my Oxford Brookes University students for a film research trip. Gathering resources for my own paper and book, too!The Shard, the Walkie-Talkie and more LONDON skyline via Instagram

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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

A cloudy day in London Town… via Instagram

What are your favorite sights in London? Add them to the comments below!

A cloudy day in London Town... via Instagram

A cloudy day in London Town…

Off to London today with my Oxford Brookes University students for a film research trip. Gathering resources for my own paper and book, too!

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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