Nia Vardalos

-
 
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/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Now or Never (2011) - A short film about family relationships

-
Image
Vivandy Productions  Director: Vivandy and F.C Rabbath  Written and Produced: F.C. Rabbath Synopsis: Its about 3 generations of women; the grandmother, mother and daughter. The same story is being repeated between grandmother and mother as well as mother and daughter. Each mother is trying to reconnect with her daughter; both being unsuccessful. What intrigued me:  Showing the mother getting prepared (I'm planning on doing something like that for my video)  portrayal of family drifting (arguing about being too busy for each other)  when she opens the bathroom cupboard when she's young and closes it when she's old (i like the technique it uses to show time passing)  having the same conversation with her daughter as she did with her mother  the way we are shown that there is an issue (phone call from doctor)  VO flashback to the same line she said her mother 'You're being selfish' = realisation the ending:
Read more

Documentary - Storyville Episode: Blackfish

-
Image
StoryVille Episode Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite Producer: Gabriela Cowperthwaite Writers: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Eli B. Despres and Tim Zimmerman Synopsis: It concerns Tilikum, an orca held by Sea World and the controversy over captive killer whales Even though I analysed this documentary for my script I wanted to analyse it for my research as well.  When watching it, it starts off with Voice over and archive footage of what happened (v.o is the telephone call to emergency).  It then goes on (which I though was smart) and shows and advertisement for Sea World = shows glory, happiness, once in a life time opportunity.  Another thing which I enjoyed was the fact that all the people that were interviewed for the documentary were ex-trainers for Sea World. The technique it then uses is a montage of the trainers saying where they come from (all over the US) A lot of archive footage was used especially when showing the incident or the shows from the whales. 
Read more

Evaluation

-
Writing the final versions of the script was fun, exciting but also a long process. Having a clear idea of what directions my episodes where going I wrote skeleton drafts to begin with and worked like that. With each new draft,  added new jokes, stories lines. With guidance from Simon and his suggestions for certain characters I did make a few changes to some story lines and slightly changed my characters personality. In the first few drafts of each episode Hara was becoming somewhat annoying and lacked a lot of humour. Therefore I decided to make her into a bit of a spiritual person who gives herself a pep talk in each episode but also one of those people who believes in positive thinking and constantly carries a positive thinking book with her, sage and incense.  Kotchy, didn't have much of a story, if you got rid of him you wouldn't even notice. Therefore I made him so that each time his family does something humiliating he captures it on camera or Sebastian does and he
Read more