Melissa Rosenberg
Born	Melissa Anne Rosenberg (1962-08-28) August 28, 1962 (age 49) Marin County, California
Occupation	Screenwriter, television producer
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Bennington College University of Southern California
Period	1993–present
Notable work(s)	Step Up (2006) Dexter (2006–2009) Twilight (2008) New Moon (2009) Eclipse (2010)
Spouse(s)	Lev L. Spiro

Melissa Anne Rosenberg (born August 28, 1962)^[1] is an American screenwriter. She has worked in both film and television and has been nominated for two Emmy Awards, and two Writers Guild of America Awards. She won a Peabody Award. Since joining the Writers Guild of America, she has been involved in its Board of Directors and was a strike captain during the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. She supports female screenwriters through the WGA Diversity Committee and co-founded the League of Hollywood Women Writers.

She majored in Dance and Theatre at Bennington College in Vermont, but she later graduated from the University of Southern California with a Master's Degree in Film and Television Producing.

She worked on several television series between 1993 and 2003 before joining The O.C.'s writing staff, eventually leaving the show to write the 2006 film Step Up. From 2006 to 2009, she served as the head writer of the Showtime series Dexter, rising to executive producer by the time that she departed at the end of the fourth season. She wrote her second produced screenplay, a film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's novel Twilight in 2007 and has since adapted the novel's two sequels, New Moon and Eclipse. Rosenberg will also be adapting Breaking Dawn.

She is married to television director Lev L. Spiro, and they live in Los Angeles.

Early life[link]

Rosenberg was born in Marin County, California.^[2] Her father is Jack Lee Rosenberg, a psychotherapist and the founder of integrative body psychotherapy. Her mother was Patricia Rosenberg, a lawyer. She was the second of four children by her father's first marriage and another by his second.^[3] Rosenberg's father was Jewish, and her mother was of Irish Catholic background.^[4]

As a child, Rosenberg enjoyed presenting plays and recruiting other neighborhood children to perform in them.^[3] She attended a "massive public high school with a crowd of people bunched in a classroom and expected to learn" in Southern California. She later moved to New York City to join a small theatre company before moving again to Bennington, Vermont to attend Bennington College.^[5] She originally aspired to work in Dance and Choreography. She says she began too late, however, so she moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in the film industry instead. She graduated from the University of Southern California's (USC) Peter Stark Producing Program with a Master of Fine Arts degree in film and television producing.^[2][5]

Career[link]

Rosenberg's first project was a dance film commissioned by Paramount Pictures that was ultimately never made.^[2] She then shifted to television writing. She first wrote for Class of '96 in 1993, and went on to work on shows including Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1995–1996), Dark Skies (1996), The Magnificent Seven (1998), Ally McBeal (2001) and Birds of Prey (2002) before she came to join the writing staff of The O.C. in 2003. Leaving The O.C. at the conclusion of its first season, she was hired to write her second screenplay, the 2006 dance film Step Up.^[6] (Later, she was also offered the job of writing the sequel, Step Up 2 the Streets, but turned the offer down as she was busy with other projects.)^[7]

Rosenberg went on to write for the television series Love Monkey (2006) and Dexter (2006–present). Her job on Dexter, which is broadcast on Showtime, was her first on a show written for cable—she stated in 2007, "Cable is the place to be ... it's just wonderful."^[8] Rosenberg initially worked as a consulting producer and writer on the first season. She and the other members of the Dexter writing staff were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for best Dramatic Series at the February 2008 ceremony for their work on the first season.^[9][10] She gained a staff position as co-executive producer and writer for the second season in 2007 and continued in this role for the third season in 2008. The writing staff was again nominated for the WGA award at the February 2009 ceremony for their work on the third season.^[11] As part of the senior production team she was also co-nominated for the Outstanding Drama Series award at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards.^[12] She was promoted to executive producer for the fourth season in 2009 and continued to write episodes. She was nominated for the WGA award a third consecutive time at the February 2010 ceremony for her work on the fourth season of Dexter.^[13]

Rosenberg at the 2008 Screenwriting Expo

Summit Entertainment, the production company which had produced Step Up,^[14] offered Rosenberg the chance to adapt Stephenie Meyer's bestselling novel Twilight into a film of the same name, which she accepted.^[6] Her primary inspiration for the adaptation was Brokeback Mountain, which she described as a "great model" of forbidden love alongside Romeo and Juliet, and thought its adaptation from short story to film was "beautiful".^[15][16] She was given a "manifesto" written by Meyer outlining everything that had to be included or could not be changed in the adaptation.^[14] She wrote a detailed 25-page outline in August 2007, expecting to have another two months to write the actual screenplay, but had only five weeks to finish the script before the commencement of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.^[17] After the release of Twilight, she was hired by Summit to adapt the sequels New Moon and Eclipse, the second and third books in the series, respectively, and she had already begun drafting the New Moon screenplay by November 2008.^[18][19]

In July 2010, Rosenberg left her role of writer and executive producer on Dexter, explaining that "For the past four years I've been writing Dexter and one Twilight or another." She had been hired to adapt the final novel in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, which would be split into two films, but she said, "I can do one Twilight and Dexter, but I couldn't do two." She was regretful about leaving the series and called it her favorite television experience to date.^[20] She has recently signed on to write the script for a relaunch of the Highlander film franchise, with Justin Lin(Fast Five) directing.^[21]

Rosenberg was on the Writers Guild of America's Board of Directors for five years before stepping back because "you can get really, really wrapped up in it". She was very active, however, in the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, standing on the line as a strike captain.^[17] She is currently involved in the WGA Diversity Committee supporting female screenwriters, but is more active in the League of Hollywood Women Writers, which she and several other women set up while on strike, aiming to fight the "boys' club mentality" in television writing rooms.^[17]

Personal life[link]

Rosenberg's mother died when Rosenberg was a teenager, after her father had remarried to Lynn MacCuish; he later married again to fellow therapist Beverly Kitaen-Morse. She has an older sister, Andrea (born 1960), younger brother and sister Erik and K. C. (twins, born 1963), and a younger half-sister, Mariya (born 1981), by her father's second wife.^[3]

Rosenberg lives in Los Angeles with her husband Lev L. Spiro, a television director, and their dog Zuma.^[22] She joked that "At our wedding, half the attendees were shrinks, the other half, their clients," after explaining that "My sister is a dance therapist; my other sister is in graduate school to become a therapist. My husband's parents are both shrinks. His uncle, two aunts and sister are shrinks."^[23]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Melissa Rosenberg

• Melissa Rosenberg at the Internet Movie Database

Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer in April 2009
Born	Stephenie Morgan (1973-12-24) December 24, 1973 (age 38) Hartford, Connecticut
Occupation	Novelist, producer
Nationality	American
Genres	Vampire romance, young-adult fiction, science fiction
Notable work(s)	The Twilight series
Influences Orson Scott Card, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Maeve Binchy, Brontë sisters, Daphne du Maurier, L. M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Eva Ibbotson, William Goldman, Janet Evanovich
Influenced Aprilynne Pike
Signature
www.stepheniemeyer.com

Stephenie Meyer (née Morgan;  /ˈmaɪ.ər/ MY-ər; born December 24, 1973) is an American children's author and producer, best known for her vampire romance series Twilight.^[1][2][3] The Twilight novels have gained worldwide recognition and sold over 100 million copies globally,^[1][4] with translations into 37 different languages.^[2][3] Meyer was the bestselling author of 2008 and 2009 in America, having sold over 29 million books in 2008,^[5][6] and 26.5 million books in 2009.^[7] Twilight was the best-selling book of the year.^[8]

Meyer was ranked #49 on Time magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People in 2008",^[9] and was included in the Forbes Celebrity 100 list of the world's most powerful celebrities in 2009, entering at #26. Her annual earnings exceeded $50 million.^[10] In 2010, Forbes ranked her as the #59 most powerful celebrity with annual earnings of $40 million.^[11]

Early life[link]

Stephenie Meyer was born in Hartford, Connecticut, to Stephen and Candy Morgan. She grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, with five siblings: Seth, Emily, Jacob, Paul, and Heidi. She attended Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. She then attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she received a B.A. in English in 1997.^[12] Meyer met her husband Christiaan when she was 4 years old in Arizona, and married him in 1994 when they were both 21. Together they have three sons: Gabe, Seth, and Eli. Christiaan Meyer, formerly an auditor, has now retired to take care of the children.^[13]

Meyer is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; she has stated that she is strait-laced about her beliefs and does not drink alcohol or smoke.^[14] Meyer had never written even a short story before Twilight and had considered going to law school because she felt she had no chance of becoming a writer; she later noted that the birth of her oldest son Gabe changed her mind, saying, "Once I had Gabe, I just wanted to be his mom."^[14] Before becoming an author, Meyer's only professional work was as a receptionist in a property company.^[13] Meyer lives in Cave Creek, Arizona,^[15] and also owns a home on Marrowstone Island, Washington.^[16]

[edit] The Twilight series

[edit] Twilight

Meyer says that the idea for Twilight came to her in a dream on June 2, 2003.^[17] The dream was about a human girl and a vampire who was in love with her but thirsted for her blood.^[17] Based on this dream, Meyer wrote the draft of what is now Chapter 13 of the book.^[18] In a matter of three months she had transformed her dream into a complete novel,^[1] though she claims that she never intended to publish Twilight and was writing for her own enjoyment.^[19] Her sister's response to the book was enthusiastic and she persuaded Meyer to send the manuscript to literary agencies.^[13]

Of the 15 letters she wrote, five went unanswered, nine brought rejections, and the last was a positive response from Jodi Reamer of Writers House.^[20] Eight publishers competed for the rights to publish Twilight in a 2003 auction.^[20] By November, Meyer had signed a $750,000 three-book deal with Little, Brown and Company.^[21] Twilight was published in 2005 with a print run of 75,000 copies.^[20] It reached #5 on the New York Times Best Seller list for Children's Chapter Books within a month of its release,^[22] and later rose to #1.^[23] Foreign rights to the novel were sold to over 26 countries.^[24] The novel was named the Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and a New York Times Editor's Choice.^[25]

Subsequent novels[link]

Following the success of Twilight (2005), Meyer expanded the story into a series with three more books: New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking Dawn (2008). In its first week after publication, New Moon reached #5 on the New York Times Best Seller List for Children's Chapter Books, and in its second week rose to the #1 position, where it remained for the next 11 weeks. In total, it spent over 50 weeks on the list.^[26] After the release of Eclipse, the first three "Twilight" books spent a combined 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list.^[1] The fourth installment of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, was released with an initial print run of 3.7 million copies.^[27] Over 1.3 million copies were sold on the first day.^[28] The novel won Meyer her first British Book Award, despite competition with J. K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard.^[29] The series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide^[4] in 37 languages.^[30] In 2008, the four books of the series claimed the top four spots on USA Today's year-end bestseller list, making Meyer the first author to ever achieve this feat as well as being the bestselling author of the year.^[5] The Twilight novels held the top four spots on USA Today's year-end list again in 2009.^[31]

Meyer, November 2008

In August 2009, USA Today revealed that Meyer broke J.K. Rowling's record on their bestseller list; the four Twilight books had spent 52 straight weeks in the top 10.^[32] The books have spent more than 143 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller List. Upon the completion of the fourth entry in the series, Meyer indicated that Breaking Dawn would be the final novel to be told from Bella Swan's perspective.^[33] Midnight Sun was to be a companion novel to the series. It would be a retelling of the events of the novel Twilight, but from the perspective of Edward Cullen (as opposed to Bella Swan).^[34] Meyer had hoped to have Midnight Sun published some time shortly after the release of Breaking Dawn, but after an online leak of a rough draft of its first 12 chapters, Meyer chose to delay the project indefinitely.^[34][35] Meyer has decided to pursue non-Twilight related books as a result of the leak, she made the rough chapters of "Midnight Sun" available on her website.^[34]

Inspiration[link]

Meyer cites many novels as inspiration for the Twilight series, including Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.^[36] Each book in the series was also inspired specifically by a different literary classic: Twilight by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice; New Moon by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; Eclipse by Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights; and Breaking Dawn's theme by Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice^[37] and A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[38] Meyer said, "I've been reading books for adults my entire life. Growing up I was an avid reader—the thicker the book, the better."^[39] She also said she is a huge fan of Orson Scott Card, and "can't go through a year without re-reading" Jane Austen's books.^[39]

She also says that her writing is strongly influenced by music, and she posts playlists on her website of songs which specifically inspired her books. Bands included most often in her playlists are Muse, Blue October, My Chemical Romance, Coldplay and Linkin Park.^{[40][41][42][43]} As a Mormon, Meyer acknowledges that her faith has influenced her work. In particular, she says that her characters "tend to think more about where they came from, and where they are going, than might be typical."^[44] Meyer also steers her work from subjects such as sex, despite the romantic nature of the novels. Meyer says that she does not consciously intend her novels to be Mormon-influenced, or to promote the virtues of sexual abstinence and spiritual purity, but admits that her writing is shaped by her values, saying,

"I don't think my books are going to be really graphic or dark, because of who I am. There's always going to be a lot of light in my stories."^[45]

Film adaptations[link]

Summit Entertainment optioned Twilight in April 2007. Catherine Hardwicke directed the film and the screenplay was written by Melissa Rosenberg.^[46] It stars Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan, Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black.^[47] The movie was released on November 21, 2008.^[48] Meyer makes a brief cameo appearance in a diner scene.^[49] Following the success of Twilight, Summit greenlit a film adaptation of the sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, in November 2008.^[50] Chris Weitz directed the film,^[51] which was released on November 20, 2009.^[52] Summit confirmed an adaptation of the third book in the series, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, in February 2009.^[53] David Slade directed the film, which was released on June 30, 2010. Summit also obtained the rights to Breaking Dawn in November 2008,^[54] and approved a two-part adaptation in June 2010 that was scheduled to start production in late 2010.^[55] The first part was released on November 18, 2011, and the second part is scheduled for November 16, 2012.^[56]

Analysis[link]

Reception[link]

Meyer on her book tour for Eclipse in 2007.

Entertainment Weekly has stated that Meyer is "the world's most popular vampire novelist since Anne Rice",^[57] while The Guardian described her as an "imaginative storyteller, a prolific author and a newly powerful figure in the publishing market."^[58] Wayne Janes of Toronto Sun agreed, saying "Meyer's success points up another trend — the virtual domination of the best-seller lists the last few years by what would normally be classified as young adult fiction," and noted,

"In the absence of a new Harry Potter adventure, teens, fantasy enthusiasts and women (sales are mostly to females) who swoon at the idea of a virginal James Dean-ish vampire made Meyer the go-to gal for chaste love."^[59] Tymon Smith of The Times has described her as the "superstar of young adult fiction".^[60]

Meyer was named USA Today's "Author of the Year" in 2008,^[61] and one of MSN Lifestyle's "Most Influential Women of 2008" where she was described as a "literary luminary".^[62] She was also ranked #49 on Time magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People in 2008",^[9] and was included in their list of "People Who Mattered", with Lev Grossman noting, "Maybe Americans aren't ready for a Mormon presidential nominee yet. But they're more than ready to anoint a Mormon as the best-selling novelist of the year."^[63] Meyer was included in The Arizona Republic's "Valley's Most Fascinating People" in December 2008.^[64]

Novelist Orson Scott Card said, "[Stephenie Meyer] writes with luminous clarity, never standing between the reader and the dream they share. She's the real thing".^[65] Scott described Meyer as an "amazing phenomenon".^[66] In an interview with Newsweek, author Jodi Picoult said, "Stephenie Meyer has gotten people hooked on books, and that's good for all of us."^[67] Meyer was ranked #5 on Forbes' list of "Hollywood's Top-Earning Women", the only author on the list, and it was noted that the "Twilight series of young-adult vampire books have taken the publishing and film worlds by storm."^[68]

She was ranked #82 on Vanity Fair's list of the "Top 100 Information Age Powers" of 2009.^[69] Meyer was featured in an issue of the biographical comic Female Force, a Bluewater Productions title which celebrates influential women in society and pop culture.^[52] The comic has previously published biographies of women such as Oprah Winfrey and Princess Diana.^[52] In 2011 CEOWORLD Magazine ranked her among CEOWORLD magazine's Top Accomplished Women Entertainers.^[70] Meyer was the second bestselling author of the decade, according to a list published by Amazon, beaten by JK Rowling.^[71]

Fan following[link]

Meyer has gained a following among young adult readers of her Twilight novels, which are set in the small town of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Forks has thus received attention from fans, and celebrates "Stephenie Meyer Day" on September 13, the date of character Bella Swan's birthday.^[72] Fans express themselves in other ways: "[They] dress up like her characters. They write their own stories about them and post their tales on the Internet. When she appears at a bookstore, 3,000 people go to meet her. There are Twilight-themed rock bands."^[73]

Criticism[link]

Comparing Meyer to J. K. Rowling, Stephen King stated, "the real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer, and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."^[74][75] King went on to say that

"people are attracted by the stories, by the pace and in the case of Stephenie Meyer, it's very clear that she's writing to a whole generation of girls and opening up kind of a safe joining of love and sex in those books. It's exciting and it's thrilling and it's not particularly threatening because it's not overtly sexual."

He further explains,

“A lot of the physical side of it is conveyed in things like, the vampire will touch her forearm or run a hand over skin, and she just flushes all hot and cold. And for girls, that’s a shorthand for all the feelings that they’re not ready to deal with yet.”^[75]

Meyer has been criticized by feminists^[who?] who consider Meyer an anti-feminist writer, saying that the series romanticizes a physically abusive relationship, pointing to red flags that include Bella's entire life revolving around Edward; never being in control of her own life; being absolutely dependent on Edward’s ability to protect her life, her virginity, and her humanity; and the physical injuries Bella suffers from finally consummating her relationship with Edward.^[76][77][78] Meyer has dismissed such criticisms, arguing both that the books center around Bella's choice, and that her damsel in distress persona is due only to her humanity.^[79]

Film producer[link]

Meyer is also a film producer. Meyer started her own production company in 2011 with producer Meghan Hibbett. The company is called Fickle Fish Films. Meyer spent much of 2011 producing both parts of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn as well as the film adaptation of Shannon Hale's novel Austenland. On February 12, 2012, Meyer announced on her personal website that filming for The Host, for which she is also a producer, would begin Monday, February 13, 2012. In April 2012, Meyer announced that she would be producing a film adaptation of Lois Duncan's Down a Dark Hall.^[80]

Other works[link]

One of Meyer's short stories was published in Prom Nights from Hell, a collection of stories about bad prom nights with supernatural effects. Meyer's story "Hell on Earth", was about a demon named Sheba and a half-angel named Gabe who fall in love with each other. Other authors who contributed to the collection are Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe and Lauren Myracle. Prom Nights from Hell was released in April 2007.

In May 2008, Meyer's adult sci-fi novel The Host, was released by the adult division of Little, Brown and Company. It follows the story of Melanie Stryder and Wanderer, a young woman and an invading alien "soul," who are forced to work as one. The Host debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list^[81] and remained on the list for 26 weeks.^[82] In March 2008, Meyer said she was "almost done" writing a possible sequel to The Host, entitled The Soul.^[83] If she were to continue the series, the third book would be called The Seeker.^[84]