Tina Fey: Unbreakable Comedic Genius

Tina Fey

    Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, known publicly as Tina Fey, is a writer and actress who has received a plethora of awards and authored a wide range of creative works. From 1999 to 2006, she wrote for Saturday Night Live, during which she also appeared in the film Mean Girls, then transitioned to writing her own 7-season show 30 Rock. She continued to work in the film and television industry, notably co-creating the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. She also wrote the script for Broadway’s musical Mean Girls based on the original movie and went on to write her memoir Bossypants. From these works, Fey has won nine Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, seven Writers Guild Awards, three Producers Guild Awards, the AP Entertainer of the Year award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Tina Fey at the 2009 Emmy Awards

    To reach this level of success, Fey spent years mastering her craft. As a prodigal middle school student, she completed an independent study on comedy after finishing all of her regular course material, encouraged by an eighth-grade teacher to become a writer. She served as editor of her high school’s newspaper and participated in both choir and musical theater. She later went on to study drama at the University of Virginia, then moved to Chicago to take classes with and eventually join the cast of Second City. Throughout these years of work, Fey was intrinsically motivated by her love of writing and performing, noting that she really realized she liked it during high school and college. Although she has said that her high school musical theater performances were a "mistake", Fey also said, “kind of like the way a lot of people love sports but can’t actually play the sport they’re a fan of — that’s always been me with musical theater.” Although she has not always succeeded in all of her pursuits, her personal enjoyment has motivated her to continue working and writing.

Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch perform at Second City.

    Considering her creative process, Fey creates through flexibility. When asked how to succeed in writing and comedy, she recommends that writers “let things be malleable,” emphasizing the importance of patience and letting go. She has also said that writing can be very difficult, but that it is important to work hard and put work out for people to see and hear without fear, taking feedback insofar as it is valuable to progress. Also playing into her process, Fey uses personal experience and life events in her work. When writing the script for the Mean Girls musical, Fey shared that she “revisited high school behaviors of [her] own” and named characters after people she knew from college.

"Tina Fey's full speech at Variety's Power of Women event blasts comedy rooms and creators who treat women like cappuccino machines." (0:00 - 4:10)

    Another motivating factor for Fey is her feminism. During her time at SNL, she became the show’s first female head writer and often notes during interviews that she refuses to pit herself or other women against one another. Writing about women is also one of her passions. When asked about her process of writing female characters and stories, she has said, “I like to write about women, not so much about the way they relate to men, but about the way they relate to each other.” Fey is an inspirational creative, both for her range of accomplishments and her determination.

Works Cited:

List of awards and nominations received by Tina Fey

Tina Fey

15 Quotes by Tina Fey that’ll make you think

10 Things You May Not Know About Tina Fey

Tina Fey chats about branding, writing and coaching women during her Content Marketing World 2018 speech

5 Inspiring Quotes by Tina Fey on Writing

Tina Fey On Life, Motherhood, Writing And Comedy

What Tina Fey Says About Thriving in a Male-Dominated Creative Career