Nia Vardalos

Nia Vardalos

" Don't listen to the odds, don't listen to the naysayers. Don't listen that the odds of you getting hit by lighting or getting kidnapped are greater than having your screenplay done. If you have a story to tell, just write it."

Nia Vardalos took her one-woman play about the pitfalls of intermarriage and turned it into her noteworthy debut screenplay for My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The film was a tremendous hit, becoming the highest-grossing independent feature and made Vardalos an overnight success, earning her nominations for Best Original Screenplay WGA and Academy Awards®. The Canada native also wrote and starred in the 2004 comedy Connie and Carla and is currently penning an adaptation to the Laura Zigman novel Piece of Work. In this candid and whimsical interview, she talks about how her experiences in the Second City comedy troupe helped her as an actress and a screenwriter, and how the unofficial "tell-the-Greek" word-of-mouth program had a hand in catapulting her movie to such great heights. 

80 Minutes

Letterbox

$8.95
TD-NV5-2
Writer's Tip #69

"I approach my writing in a way a working class guy would - a blue collar guy. This is my job. It's not romantic."

DVD CHAPTERS
  1. Intro
  2. An Elephant Never Forgets
  3. You Can't Force Creativity
  4. Don't Listen To the Odds
  5. I Write Like I Talk
  6. Anything Said With An Accent Is Funny
  7. Dammit, Why Didn't I Listen To That Note?
  8. Never Shoot Material Before It's Ready
  9. A Sponge in Every Crevice of My Brain
  10. I'm Not That Smart
  11. It's Not A Snuff, But A Little Bit Porno
  12. I Don't Wanna Lose My Soul
  13. I Took the Problem and Made It the Solution
  14. Who The Hell Do I Think I Am?