A Night with Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg

The Writers on Writing program coordinated by the Writers Guild Foundation recently spotlighted The Twilight Saga screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg at the Writers Guild of America in Hollywood.

Melissa Rosenberg started in TV before writing the Twilight movies.

Moderated by LA Times writer Gina Piccalo, the audience, which not surprisingly consisted mainly of women, learned that Melissa started out wanting to be a dancer and choreographer. Her love of performing inadvertently led her to working behind the scenes in television.

In speaking of her first experience in a writers’ room, Melissa stated, “There is nothing better than being in the writers’ room,” as she learned a great deal about the politics involved in being inside that room. And while she was never very good at the political side of the writers’ room, and freely admitted that she still isn’t, it was a valuable learning experience.

Obviously when she started out she was the only female writer in the room and she even joked about how writers’ rooms would state, “we already have one woman in the room, we don’t need another,” which brought laughter to the room. She freely admitted that while there are more female writers now than when she started, it is still an uphill battle for female within the industry.

Ironically enough, due to the writers’ strike, The League of Hollywood Women Writers was formed, giving women show-runners, executive producers and writers an avenue to convene with their peers. Melissa stated they, “have a sisterhood now.”

In talking about mistakes that she made in the beginning, she honestly remarked that she, “made so many mistakes,” but in the end it was about “picking battles.” She explained that at one point she had stood up for two young writers and was able to get them the attention she felt they deserved, but because of the less than diplomatic way she went about getting this attention for them creating a bad relationship between her and the show-runner.

As some may know, notes from the studio and/or networks, is a big part of any writer’s world; and while these notes can be seen as constricting to the creative process, they are a means to an end. Melissa explained she was terrible about getting notes in the beginning, but has grown more comfortable with them over the years.

When asked if she could talk about her big break, she stated there was never a big break, but rather a “series of opportunities.” She commented she, “worked her way up slowly over 18 years.” Some of her television writing included episodes of Ally McBeal, Party of Five, Boston Public, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Dexter and The O.C.

It was because of her work on The O.C. that Summit Entertainment – the movie company behind the Twilight films – approached her about their movie Step Up. At that point she had been working as a writer for television for 15 years, but her dance background and her “voice” on The O.C. was exactly what Summit was looking for this teen dance movie. It was eight months later that Summit approached her about Twilight.

The subject turned to her preference between TV and film with Melissa explaining that “there are pluses and minuses” in both. In television, you have to worry about others’ feelings, but it is great because you have others to bounce ideas off of. But in film, it is a very “solitary, but lovely, relaxed experience.” However, when you are stuck on a story point, there is no one to talk to about story ideas.

The success of Twilight is bringing Rosenberg new opportunities.

When asked about her rituals, she mentioned that it is important to her that she gets 8 hours of sleep, has time to work out and eat well. She also mentioned that she manages her time better when she is under pressure with specific deadlines. In fact, she was offered the first Twilight movie right before the Writers’ Strike and only had 5 weeks in which to complete the script.

She also mentioned that Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke was a great collaborator during the process of the first film and it turned out that author Stephenie Meyer was also great to work with. While Meyer had a clear vision of what she wanted the adaptation to be like, she and Melissa found common ground and were able to work well together.

The success of the Twilight franchise has been sometimes overwhelming to Melissa but she hopes it changes opportunities for her, allowing her to do things she hasn’t done before. She did freely admit that there is a lot more pressure now with the final book being made into two separate films.

Because of the higher profile the Twilight franchise has brought her as well as the other work she has accomplished in her years in television, she has hired a publicist and hopes to brand herself as a writer. Unlike directors who get high accolades and recognition from the viewing audience, recognition for writers is virtually non-existent and Melissa hopes to end that.

To that end, she has formed her own production company called Tall Girl Productions (Melissa is very tall, by the way), which she hopes will give more attention to women writers and producers, allowing not only even more opportunities for herself but also for women coming up behind her. It is also her hope that her production company can create television shows and films with strong roles for women – such as the female Iron Man or even the female Tony Soprano.

The evening was capped off with a lengthy question and answer session between Melissa and the audience as well as those streaming the panel live online. Many of the questions were directed at various aspects of her work on the Twilight films as well as her work on Dexter. The audience learned that Melissa is a fan of Jane Austen and John Cusack films, would love to adapt a comic book into film at some point, would love to be involved in a big event movie or a small cable TV series, she prefers collaborations and adaptation to making original stories (not to say she wouldn’t attempt her own original work, though) and that she would love to do a musical someday.

Melissa is, of course, currently working on the scripts for the two-part finale to the Twilight franchise – Breaking Dawn – and while she wouldn’t give any pertinent details away, she did share she is working solely on this project and is hard at work determining where to break the story in two and just how much of the specifics contained in the book to include in the movies. One point she did clearly state was that, “there will be feathers” (which is an important part of the final book). She ended the night, joking that perhaps that will be the title of her autobiography someday.