Meet writer/actress/creator Michaela Zannou, based in New York City all the way from Athens, Greece!
What project are you currently working on? What is your role in the project?
I have just finished a feature script called “Touch Red,” an LGBTQ love story about a young woman who begrudgingly follows her family to their hometown in Greece for her cousin’s wedding and ends up unexpectedly falling in love with his bride-to-be. I am the screenwriter and will most likely act in it and I am currently in the process of assembling a producing team and examining the filmmaking landscape in Greece.
Do you have a favorite hat under the “creator” umbrella?
It comes and goes but at the moment it’s screenwriting.
What were your earliest inspirations? How did you get started as a creator?
I grew up watching movies on a daily basis. We had a bookcase at my house but instead of books there were videotapes and everyday my sister and I would pick one and we’d watch it together. Julie Andrews, Diane Keaton, Bette Midler as well as many amazing Greek actors were my first “teachers.” I ended up getting an MFA in Athens and, soon after, I moved to New York. My initial goal was to focus on acting but it wasn’t long before I realized how much I love writing and filmmaking and started weaving them into my artistic identity.
Whose work do you admire? Who are your dream collaborators?
I adore Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I think she is immensely talented and a wonderful human. I also love Reese Witherspoon, Jessica Chastain, Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling, all of them powerful, multi-hyphenate artists that have changed the landscape of female representation in film and television.
Is there another job in the industry that you’d like to try?
I would like to dip my toes into directing.
What’s your creative superpower?
Stubborn tenacity.
Stay up to date with Michaela and her work on social media and IMDb! @michaelazannou