Barely in her twenties and finding herself a stranded military housewife on a base in Germany, Natalie killed time (rather than herself) by writing her first screenplay. As she didn’t know what she was doing, the seeds of her cinematic craft involved studying the only film playing on the base at the time; and so it was that Natalie saw Wayne’s World 17 times.
Meticulously timing the action with a penlight and a stopwatch, she began to learn not only about the structure of a film, but also an awful lot about comedic timing, something which would play out significantly later in her career.
Eventually, a screenplay was born. And then another. And another, until finally her work cracked the titanium shell of Hollywood.
Natalie’s first recognition as a writer came at the age of 10 in England when her words earned her placement in the winners’ circle of a BBC letter writing competition
She never stopped writing (although her diaries have a habit of ending in April) and her ability to swiftly and eloquently pen entertaining and powerful messages garnered Natalie her first professional paycheck from Canada’s national television network, the CBC, when she wrote and hosted her own humorous segments for CBC’s live children’s program SWITCHBACK.
writer
published author