Nia Vardalos

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Full Name: Anotnia Eugenia Vardalos 
D.OB: 24.09.1962
Most Famous for: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 + 2 and I Hate Valentines Day 
- I will be focusing on My Big Fat Greek Wedding and her as a writer 


Her first screenplay she ever wrote was My Big Fat Greek Wedding which was based on her real life marriage (originally it was a one women show). Writing the film she was drawing it from her one man show. It was done like that because she didn't want any one to still her idea so she quickly wrote and got the rights to it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwSQrak793w

The way she writes:
- she performs it in her head whilst writing it
- She just applies the simple rules of story telling: beginning, middle and end
- doesn't pay attention to the 'rules' of screenwriting; that format doesn't work for her
- a writer should use their own process feel their way life
- doesn't use an outline for her writing and doesn't think too much of the details. Just know the ending and the in-between will come to you
- when writing you should become all the characters (know them off by heart)

Nia also advices that you should stop trying to make your female characters likeable but make them relatable. Also, the ending of the movie should reflect the beginning.

Nia wrote My Big Fat Greek Wedding because she was not getting offered any roles. It was written for herself - a big role for a Greek girl. She used material based on her family and her life for her comedy. When she wrote the script she was finding it difficult to get it sold and decided that she would turn it into a one man show, since thats what many actors were doing. In 1997 she had a six week season of performing her one-person show, both her self and her agent targeted Hollywood agencies and local Greek Orthodox Churches for publicity. This was a success as Industry insider came and were impressed but no one was sure if a Greek family with a non-famous lead would work. But the famous Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks saw the one-person show and loved it, offering Nia the chance to produce it.





After My Big Fat Greek Wedding aired, a spin-off unsuccessful sitcom was made; My Big Fat Greek Life. It came out in 2003 and starred Nia Vardalos in it and some of the original cast.

Vardalos had originally told the CBS that she was fed up of playing daddy's little greek girl. A compromise was made and she got a post-honeymoon plot. Rating of the sitcom dropped as the show lacked an emotional connection and Nia's new found fame did not allow her to blend in with an ensemble. The sitcom only aired seven episodes before CBS and Nia both decided to cancel the show.



http://www.la-screenwriter.com/2016/05/26/6-screenwriting-lessons-from-nia-vardalos-my-big-fat-greek-wedding/

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0889522/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

http://www.la-screenwriter.com/2016/02/19/how-my-big-fat-greek-wedding-got-made-and-became-a-sensation/

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