Celebrating the Queen of Scream, Gale Weathers

As someone who was one of the hosts of the Cravin’ Craven podcast, to say that I am passionate about the Scream franchise would be something of an understatement. These films have been a part of my life for nearly 30 years now, and I’m old enough to have moved my college final for Psychology so I could get home a day sooner to see Scream during its Thursday night sneak preview. There are so many reasons why I love Scream movies as much as I do, but I think the biggest reason over time has become Gale Weathers.

Yes, Sidney Prescott is the ultimate final girl in modern horror, and Neve Campbell definitely rules so hard (I was also really into Party of Five when the first Scream movie came around and was addicted to The Craft throughout the summer of 1996). Still, I came to realize over the last few years that the biggest draw for me throughout the Scream movies — and more specifically, the first four movies in the series — was Gale Weathers because her character perfectly embodied all the highs and lows that come with pursuing a career as a writer and/or journalist.

So here’s my humble love letter to the character of Gale Weathers, who has not only helped foil multiple Ghostfaces through four decades now (‘90s, ‘00s, ‘10s, and ‘20s — WOW!) but has also remained highly devoted to her pursuit of sharing her voice with the world through it all, which is something I have always appreciated and will always admire.

Ever since I was a kid, I always gravitated towards writer/journalist characters in both film and books. This was certainly something that was a huge thing for me when I was growing up and dreaming about becoming a writer because it felt like such an impossibility in my life. In fact, I always loved how someone like Stephen King incorporated these types of characters into his work, making his stories feel that much more accessible to me as a young reader because I always wanted to write in some capacity and I just loved being lost in the worlds of different writers. So, because of that ongoing obsession, it makes perfect sense that I would be ride or die for a character like Gale Weathers.

But there’s so much more about Courteney Cox’s iconic character and her journey throughout the Scream series that has resonated with me deeply, even beyond her professional pursuits, where Gale has evolved into the primary reason I rewatch these films as often as I do.

In the original Scream, the version of Gale Weathers we’re introduced to is ruthlessly ambitious. She’s framed as an antagonist to Sidney Prescott as she’s been working on a book about her mom’s death and has also been in constant contact with Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), the man who has been convicted of raping and killing Maureen Prescott.

Her status as a tabloid-style journalist should make Gale something of a villain here, especially in the wake of everything that happened with O.J. Simpson or the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding situation earlier in the decade. Even though Cotton’s trial was the “hottest court case” that someone was bound to make their professional identity the way Gale has, we know the damage that happens from those who treat real-life trauma as entertainment fodder. So when we meet the character of Gale Weathers in Scream as the host of “Top Story,” she’s not someone we immediately trust to do anything that doesn’t serve her own best interest (I also really appreciate how this is something that comes up in a conversation between Gale and Sidney in Scream V, where Gale admits a lot of culpability behind how sensationalized things became after she released her first book).

But despite her extremely bold fashion choices and her relentless dedication to getting the scoop to further her career, there’s an undercurrent of apprehension and self-doubt rippling throughout Cox’s portrayal of Gale here. At times, Gale is great at posturing when she’s talking to others, especially Dewey, but you can sense that she desperately wants nothing more in this world than to be respected as a serious and capable journalist and craves that validation. Gale knows she’s great at getting the story if people would just take her seriously, and it’s everyone else who needs to catch up to her talents.

Of course, Gale comes around and steps up to try and save the day (even if she did forget about the safety), so I think it’s incredibly fitting that at the end of Scream, it’s Gale Weathers standing in front of a camera. Not only is Gale giving her own eyewitness account of everything that unfolded that night at Stu’s house, and doing it with perfect poise despite everything she had been through, but it’s screenwriter Kevin Williamson’s way of letting Cox’s character have the final word on the matter, which is the perfect way to celebrate just how powerful Gale’s voice truly is.

In Scream 2, Gale Weathers’ status has changed since we last saw her back in Woodsboro. In just one year, Gale’s career has taken off where she’s not only the host of “Up To Date” (a nationally broadcast news show) and has published her book The Woodsboro Murders, but that book was already been optioned to become a major motion picture called Stab, and that movie is about to hit theaters everywhere. Talk about a quick turnaround (seriously, how does that happen, and how can it happen for me?!?!).

When a new Ghostface killer emerges on the campus of Windsor College — the very same college that both Sidney and Randy (Jamie Kennedy) just happen to be attending, Gale shows up once the news hits about two murders at an early screen of Stab knowing that there’s a story brewing and she should be the one to tell it. What’s interesting though is that when Gale arrives, the rest of the reporters on the scene flock to her immediately, treating her as the resident expert and tossing questions her way so that they too can gain some insights into what is happening.

In Scream 2, the world is finally taking Gale Weathers seriously, and she’s achieved rockstar status in the realm of both writing and journalism. Not too shabby.

Her new status comes at a price, though. We learn that Gale and Dewey Riley’s (David Arquette) romance was short-lived after the events of the first film and that Dewey was none too impressed with how his special lady friend presented him in her tome. That’s not the only bad decision Gale makes either, as she decides to bring along the exonerated Cotton Weary to Windsor College to have him do an exclusive chat with Sidney (who has already turned down interviews with major media outlets). It does not go well, as expected.

But as this new Ghostface continues to amass a body count, including poor Randy, Gale snaps into action as she realizes that this situation is about more than just sharing the news. She wants to help stop the killer (or killers, as we eventually learn) before it’s too late. As Chief Hartley (Lewis Arquette) tries to determine this new Ghostface’s modus operandi, it’s Gale who connects the proverbial dots between the victims, recognizing that the names of the Winsdor victims are shared with the victims back in Woodsboro as well.

Gale decides to do her own investigating into these new murders with the help of Dewey, but they are both attacked when trying to review footage, and she helplessly watches in horror when the former deputy gets brutally stabbed in the back inside of a recording booth, unable to do anything to help poor Dewey in that moment. After all the chaos subsides and the Ghostfaces are defeated (with Ms. Weathers taking a gun shot to the gut for her troubles), Gale prepares to once again assume her role as a reporter in front of the camera at the end of Scream 2 to share the news of what has happened with the world.

But as she’s getting herself together, Gale sees that Dewey has somehow miraculously survived the attempt on his life. So, instead of getting her moment in the spotlight, Gale decides to go with Dewey to the hospital to be with him. This demonstrates that even her character may always be hyper-focused on her career, Gale does realize that other things are just as important, too.

If I were forced to choose my favorite Gale from the Scream series, it would probably have to be Scream 3 — a movie I will defend until I take my very last breath. It might actually be the Scream movie I rewatch the most, which feels weird to say, but I’m a sucker for Hollywood horror and Scooby-Doo-esque mysteries, so Scream 3 just scratches all kinds of cinematic itches for me.

Also, let me just go ahead and address this head on because it already came up when I teased that I was writing this piece: I couldn't care less about Gale’s bangs. It’s just a haircut, and the fact that people still bring her bangs up as some kind of commentary on the quality of this installment in the Scream franchise after 25 years will always be ridiculous to me. I cannot think of a goofier way to try and quantify the quality of art than by using one character’s hairstyle as a metric. It’s been 25 years — move on.

Anyway, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I think how Gale is positioned from a professional standpoint in Scream 3 does a fantastic job of revealing the constant ups and downs of her professional journey. We learn that Gale continued to find success as a pundit in journalism while she worked on the team at “60 Minutes II,” which meant she was sharing screen time with elite reporters like Dan Rather and Charlie Rose during her stint with that program.

But at the same time, Gale lost that gig at some point is now working over at “Total Entertainment,” which means she’s experiencing a bit of a career lull in some ways. Work is work though, and the fact that Gale is still maintaining some form of consistent employment (which isn’t exactly an easy feat in any realm of journalism — trust me) proves that her voice still has some value even if she’s no longer working for a premier news program and is back to dabbling in tabloid-style news.

When we catch up with her character in Scream 3, Gale is speaking to a group of college students about the world of journalism, demonstrating that she’s willing to share the wisdom she has gained in her field over the last few years with others (a complete 180 from how we saw her in Scream 2). Gale mentions during the lecture that you have to be willing to cut throats (figuratively, and maybe a little literally, too) to be successful as a journalist, but you can tell in her moment of hesitation when she’s asked if everything she’s done to get ahead is worth it that she might be back to putting up a brave front so that she can be perceived in a certain light.

For most professional women, that’s a veneer many of us have to put up in order to be taken seriously regardless of our accolades, and that’s been something that has factored into how Gale and her career are showcased throughout the Scream franchise.

And when a new Ghostface shows up and starts racking up a body count in Hollywood while Stab 3 is in production, it is Ms. Weathers who is viewed as THE respected voice of authority on all things Woodsboro by L.A. Detective Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey), who enlists her to help him investigate this new series of murders. He doesn’t go to Dewey — who is literally working on the set of the movie that is directly associated with the slain Cotton Weary — no, he reaches out directly to Gale because he knows that she knows her shit. She is Gale Weathers, after all.

But even though Gale is taken seriously by the likes of Detective Kincaid in Scream 3, there’s also so much fun to be had with her character because Cox spends a good amount of screen time alongside the other Gale, played by the amazing Parker Posey. Seeing Cox have to contend with this heightened iteration of herself from the overly dramatic actress (and I am speaking of Jennifer Jolie here, not Posey herself) is just pure comedic gold, and the shared dynamics between these two powerhouse actresses is just one of several reasons why this Scream sequel is still so endlessly entertaining to me.

While Sidney is front in center with how Ghostface is dealt with in Scream 3, which makes perfect sense because of the story being told, I do think that some of the best scenes in the entire franchise are when Gale and Jennifer are doing their investigation into Maureen Prescott’s connection to Sunrise Studios — the very studio behind the Stab movies. And it is, of course, Gale who catches producer John Milton’s conversational faux pas when they ask him about Maureen’s involvement in a bunch of his films decades prior (as Rena Reynolds).

That being said, the depiction of Gale Weathers in Scream 4 might be the most I have ever directly related to the character throughout the entire series. Early in the sequel, we see Gale struggling with where she fits into the world at this point in her life. She can’t seem to figure out how to start her next book and it’s evident that she’s filled with doubt, which isn’t something we typically see from the usually confident Gale Weathers. But, to rub more salt in that wound, we see Sidney on a big promotional tour for her memoir, Out of Darkness, in Scream 4, which only exacerbates Gale’s creative frustrations even further.

On top of that, Dewey’s job as the sheriff of Woodsboro often leaves her feeling isolated from her husband as he has to conduct “official” business related to a new slew of killings that he feels like he cannot share with his wife, even if she is something of an authority on the subject of all things Ghostface. Gale, ever resourceful, realizes that there’s a new game being played in Scream 4 after new murders begin to happen, and she understands that the typical investigation isn’t going to work this time, so she sets out on her own to try and find out just who is lurking underneath the Ghostface cowl this time around.

And that’s the thing about Scream 4’s Gale — she doesn’t really know where she fits in anymore but she’s actively trying to figure it all out as she goes. I think that’s something any of us who have been in a specific profession for sometime can relate to, because things change, and it’s up to you to figure out just how you want to adapt to those changes so that you can continue doing what it is that you’re meant to do. Honestly, it’s something I’ve struggled with myself for years, especially now that I’ve had to make writing my secondary focus when it comes to work.

Also, there’s a hilarious moment in Scream 4 that feels so relevant to me when Sidney’s agent Rebecca (Alison Brie) begins gushing over Gale when they meet at Sid’s signing. At one point Rebecca declares, “You were my ‘90s!” and for those of us of a certain age, that’s a platitude that cuts deep. But even though Cox’s character has a fiery retort to that statement (“I’ve still got it.”), it’s an interesting commentary on not only where Gale fits in anymore as a writer and a fixture of Woodsboro’s notorious legacy, but also on the character’s dynamic within this franchise that Wes Craven was trying to evolve into something new in the early 2010’s (it’s such a shame that the Master of Horror didn’t get have the ending he wanted where Jill was victorious or do a follow-up to this story as a whole).

As someone who has been writing professionally through three different decades now, there’s a lot about the presentation of Gale in Scream 4 that always hits me hard in the feels even with subsequent rewatches. There are so many times where I have struggled to get the words on the page, or wondered if my time of enjoying any modicum of success (however that is measured) had passed me by, or have even felt isolated from loved ones because I was so focused on my own goals.

The Scream films have all done an excellent job of showcasing what an interesting, multi-layered character Gale Weathers is, but it’s Scream 4 where the character has felt the most human and I love that so much of that is due to Cox’s extremely fantastic performance here that is equal parts determination and vulnerability.

Through all of the Scream films, the highs and lows of Gale Weathers have taught me so much about finding the strength and the will to endure as a writer, even if I’m not constantly dealing with masked killers chasing me down. But when you’re someone who is driven by sharing your voice (in whatever form that may take), there will be road blocks that come your way, and you are the only one (and in the case of the Scream movies, that would be Gale) who can decide to keep pushing through even when everything else is telling you it’s time to stop.

And I do love that when we catch up with Gale Weathers in the more recent Scream movies that she has once again found yet another avenue for her talent: being a morning talk show host who still does some reporting from time to time. Once again, Gale’s career has taken a new turn, and she’s remained in the public forum even if the world of journalism has changed greatly since her days at “Top Story” back in Woodsboro. That she was able to find a new platform perfectly demonstrates that Gale has always been so much more than a “cheesy, tabloid reporter,” even if she doesn’t end up winning that Pulitzer Prize she was dreaming about back in her OG Scream days.

But regardless of her lack of a Pulitzer, Gale Weathers will always be the Queen of Scream to me, and I have always appreciated just how much her character has exemplified the ups and downs of journalism in all of its forms.