Background of the Author

My name is Anne Marie Murphy. A Bachelor’s degree in English Literature (Bowdoin College) and a Master’s degree in Critical Studies of Film/Television (University of California at Los Angeles) both appealed to my love of reading and writing (and watching) as ways to learn more about the world and challenge my skill sets.

For over thirty years I have been a professional researcher in the film and television industry. In 1993, I opened Eastern Script (www.easternscript.com) which serves media productions across North America and elsewhere.  It grew from a one-person shop to what is now seven colleagues working from offices across New England and Ontario.  The job, which combines equal parts writing and research, also offers the challenge of constant a.s.a.p. deadlines.  We are asked to answer many bizarre questions in a very short time span (yesterday!), questions such as:  What was the standard configuration of a New York taxicab license plate in 1942?  Are there now or have there ever been any Toronto area schools with the word “Ivy” their names?  How many currently licensed female architects are there in Des Moines?    

Business ownership presented many challenges over the years as I navigated expansion into a second country, an early (2004) company-wide transition to work-from-home, ups and downs of revenue, ins and outs of staff.  My decades of experience as a small business owner fueled my interest in the stories of the many self-employed women of Worcester’s corset industry.  They had challenges of their own, many of which had been removed in order for me to progress as a business woman decades later.