Melissa Rosenberg Highest Grossing Female Screenwriter

The Hollywood Reporter announced that Melissa Rosenberg has passed a movie industry milestone:

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg got an extra gift this holiday season. With The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 continuing its blockbuster run in theaters around the world — $647.3 million in grosses and counting — Rosenberg has become the highest-grossing female screenwriter in Hollywood, with more than $2.56 billion in worldwide revenue.

In the last two weeks, the total grosses for movies Rosenberg has written surpassed those of Linda Woolverton, whose 20-year career had its biggest hit in 2010 with the Tim Burton-directed Alice in Wonderland adaptation.

Despite the successes of Rosenberg and Linda Woolverton, article goes on to talk about the disparity between male and female writers in Hollywood, and that at best baby strides are being made. See the rest on THR.

Breaking Dawn 2 Spoilers: Melissa Rosenberg and French Coven Spill

Melissa Rosenberg, Janelle Frolich, and Amadou Ly try to keep details on the French Coven under wraps, but Lori manages to catch all three of them off guard and gets them to slip up. Find out the French Coven connection (spoilers: do not click if you do not want to know!) in the video below.

Melissa Rosenberg and Bill Condon Detail Breaking Dawn 1 & 2 to MTV

In a unique and rare combo of director and writer perspective, Melissa Rosenberg and Bill Condon cover the behind the scenes decisions of the two movies. Yes we know there is a lot of video here, but it’s really not to be missed stuff! Nice details on the current and upcoming movie!

FEARnet Talks With Stephenie Meyer, Bill Condon, and Cast

FEARnet released a string of fascinating interview from the big names involved with the Twilight Saga.

First up is an chat with Bill Condon about working with the actors and the melodrama of Breaking Dawn.

Can you think of some examples where the cast gave you some insight into their characters?

All the time. Right from the beginning. The first people who arrived were Kristen, Rob and Taylor. We spent two weeks together in a room, just talking through the script – every page of the script. I learned a tremendous amount. At a certain point, when an actor takes on a role, they know it better than you ever could. Certainly, that was true here. I met with Rob a couple months before we started. We were just having a general talk about Twilight and he mentioned something that I hadn’t known before, which was that in the first three movies, he was sort of playing a man filled with more than regret – almost self-loathing – because of an episode where he had broken away from the Cullen family when he was very young. It was the early 1930s in Chicago, and he decided to explore what it would be like to kill human beings. It was a guilt that weighed on him. He had been playing that through three movies but it was barely mentioned in those movies. It is mentioned briefly in the novels, but there is an unpublished novel called Midnight Sun, which tells the story from Edward’s point-of-view, where it is really explored. So after that conversation, I went back and worked with Melissa [Rosenberg, the screenwriter] and we put that in at the beginning of the movie so you sort of understood where Edward was coming from, and you can see him shed that because the person he cares about most sees that, understands that, and accepts him anyway, so he is able to accept himself. So much stuff comes out of working with the actors. Stephanie [Meyer, author of the novel] was around which was incredible. Before she was there during prep, we would frantically be checking Twilight fan sites because they had better timelines than anyone else. But Stephanie really… any question you had about behavior or backstory – which any actor relies on – she was there to help us out.

They talked with Wyck Godfrey, Melissa Rosengerg, and Stephenie Meyer about adapting a book into a movie.

What do you say to critics who suggest that the sexual and gender politics in Twilight are, at best, retrograde?

Stephenie: The politics are something I never think about when writing. It’s about a story that’s interesting to me. I’m not gonna say Breaking Dawn doesn’t get weird – cause it does. But these are things that, as I was exploring what it means and what it meant to be a woman – particularly being a mother – with Bella, these are things that had to, out of necessity, happen to her very young. I have always been really fascinated with the idea that, 100 years ago, if you were going to have a baby, you would literally say, “I could die. I am taking my life into my hands to do this.” There is a courage to that that we don’t have to develop. I was fascinated with that kind of woman, the woman who makes that choice to risk her life. It’s like being a soldier. It was never about the politics; it was about how, as a person, you would deal with these different things.

They spoke to Taylor Lautner about growing up in the saga and his memorable moments.

What about the imprint scene, where Jacob imprints on Bella’s newborn baby?

You had to go there. That was tough. What is imprinting? What do you look like when you imprint? Luckily, we had Stephanie [Meyers, author of the book series] on set the whole time. Trust me, I asked her a million times, “Okay, tell me again what imprinting is exactly” and “How did you envision Jacob doing that?” It was very confusing. It didn’t help that when we filmed it, they put an X on the wall and said, “This is Renesmee. You are going to walk into the room, you are going to look at the X, and you are going to imprint.” It was tough. But after seeing the final version, I am happy with it. It’s emotional and they did a really good job bringing in cool flashbacks and voiceovers. It really is a special moment but on the day, it was a leap of faith.

Robert discusses the growth of Edward’s character and filming the birth scene.

Director Bill Condon mentioned that there was this self-loathing that you told him you had been playing with for the first three movies, that had never really been presented as a plot element.

Yeah. I thought that would be the key ingredient to Edward’s character. He’s 108 years old, but he’s never achieved anything he wanted to achieve. He’s been stuck in adolescence. When you are in adolescence, you think nothing is fair – he’s been living with that for 100 years. You’d eventually get to the point of desperation. It is very difficult to portray that and a love story at the same time, unless you want to make a very different movie. So I was trying to push for that angle. Breaking Dawn is probably the happiest Edward has ever been in the whole series.

Read the full interviews here:

Bill Condon Interview

Wyck, Melissa, and Stephenie Interview

Taylor Lautner Interview

Rob Pattinson Interview

 

 

 

 

Melissa Rosenberg on Bella Growing Up and Conflicts

From Movies.web

Melissa Rosenberg Live Blog Breaking Dawn Convention

Eaisest book to adapt to screen. She says none were easy but Eclispe was easiest and Breaking Dawn was the hardest

Cameo in wedding scenes was so much fun. She decided she was Renee’s college friend.

If she would change anything. Way back in Twilight there is this big Q&A on what it means to be a vamp in book and it got cut in movie script due to budget

She prefers adaptation rather than original writing

First three movies she was juggling Dexter and Twilight last film it was other projects wished she had no conflicts but it’s a luxury writers never get

Melissa Rosenberg had a lot of fun writing wedding toasts especially comedy moments for Anna Kendrick and Billy Burke

The most important thing in writing is to build emotion and then add in the text that gets you there. The emotional moments are the most important

On how much script changes after it goes to screen. LOts of revison with Stephenie before it goes to director. Then it’s set, but director hones emotion, sequence of shots, may make changes or things that are non verbal

What she is most proud of. She belives that she is the only woman to have written a franchise and hopes that it opens doors for others

Favorite upcoming work is some episodes of Dexter season 4 in particular the finale. she says Dexter would be a great Volturi member. And Edward and Dexter both fight inner demons

Loves writing for Billy Burke and Taylor Lautner. Loves their ability to express dry humor and passion

How do you make imprinting not creepy. Make it more spiritual not romantic. Also show it early on in moive with Wolfpack several ways. bill Condon really made it all work and asked for revison and she was like OMG you’re right. They simplified and it’s now a simple, pure, uncreepy version

Who has final say in script is studio, but actors and directors have input. On Twilight specifically it’s been collaborative especially with Stephenie. In most films it doesn’t work that way and she’s happy that Twilight was collaborative

It’s hard to realize that in a strong fandom that people will yell at her about Edward’s wardrobe or other things she has no control on she just reminds herself that if Stephenie is happy she has to be happy.

Her favorite author Alice Hoffman. Likes reading stories by other female authors

How many times has she read too many to count. Each time she rereads the book she is working on then does outline then goes back and rereads certain scenes

She works in her home office with her dog and green tea and sweats. She sets a schedule

She won’t write a novel. It’s a different skill set and craft she has respect for it but isn’t ready to do that now

She was there last day filming of wedding scene.

Video: Press Junket- Stephenie Meyer, Melissa Rosenberg, Wyck Godfrey

From Today’s Press Junket Collider has video of Stephenie Meyer, Melissa Rosenberg and Wyck Godfrey.

VIDEO: Screen Slam Interviews Peter, Elizabeth, Jackson, Wyck Godfrey, and Melissa Rosenberg

More from the cast and crew.

Melissa Rosenberg Wants Your Questions!

Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg has asked fans to submit questions via her facebook page for her to answer during the press junket this weekend.  Here is what she had to say:

Submit your questions! Tomorrow, I’ll be at the press junket for Breaking Dawn, and while I’ll talk to a number of journalists who’ve seen the film, I really want to answer YOUR questions. Submit your questions below, and I’ll post video responses starting next week and leading up to the release of the film. Ask anything you want! I want to hear from you. xoxo Mel

This is a fantastic opportunity to have contact with the screenwriter, something fans rarely get to do!  Thanks go to Melissa for being so open and willing to communicate with the fans.

Bill Condon and Melissa Rosenberg Officially Added to Twilight Convention

This just in from Creation Entertainment:

The convention this year will be even more extraordinary than last.  We have some very cool surprises in store for our fellow fans and we remain grateful to our friends at Summit for allowing us the opportunity to bring this highly unprecedented event for all to enjoy.   We are VERY happy to welcome director of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2 Bill Condon and the very talented screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg who has written all the screenplays for the Saga.   Both of these new stars will appear on Saturday bringing our Twilight celebrity attendance up to a record breaking 18 stars including the highly anticipated appearance of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner as well as The Cullen Family!

Gary Berman, co-CEO of Creation Entertainment, producing this weekend’s event with Summit Entertainment, stated that the response to the convention has been nothing short of extraordinary.  “We are so pleased to join with our friends at Summit to deliver what we think will be an amazingly fun weekend for all Twilight fans that have been so very supportive of the productions from the very start.  We can’t wait until the Northern American movie release date of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1November 18 but the convention will help keep us going until then and we have some very cool surprises at the event to share too!”

Berman also stated that it was important to the production team for the convention to bring the weekend’s festivities to one of Hollywood’s legendary hotels and meeting spaces.  The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza is absolutely the correct historic meeting place and the Twilight Saga has made film and fan history deserving of such a prestigious location.

Tickets are going fast! Don’t get caught missing out! Buy them here!