Meet John Varkados | Screenwriter, Producer & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Varkados and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, what do you attribute your success to?
I believe it was my upbringing, education, and the lessons I’ve learned while serving in the Marine Corps.

‘Success’ is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Another layer that I consider is to ensure to maintain and sustain that pattern in any of my endeavors.

I was born in a mental institution in Seoul, South Korea.

My biological mother was in a catatonic state and she could very well be alive to this day. The biological father could have been one of the doctors or someone my biological mother encountered where they found her in the streets – homeless.

I know there are adoptive kids in the U.S. who ends up looking for their biological parents but I never had that desire mostly because the people who adopted me and whom I call my parents have definitely proven to be fantastic individuals.

With my biological mother being plugged up with who knows what in terms of drugs – I was born.

I was thrown in an orphanage with 2-3 kids that my adoptive parents noted that because we were poorly taken care of, some of those kids weren’t alive. Sorry for not really putting South Korea in a good light but it’s because of the societal norms of what was acceptable in terms of family and children in the early 90s that you can see photos of me with rashes and clear red flags that I had no chance in hell of reaching my second birthday if that small family in the Poconos didn’t adopt me.

I get the occasional “why don’t you speak Korean” or “be more in touch with my culture”, but a bad taste swells up in my gut cuz I know full well Korea wouldn’t touch me with a ten-foot pole in my first months of existence. Being an American is a big deal for me and that was one of the factors why I decided to enlist in the Marine Corps.

Going back to that small family in the Poconos, Kathy and Nick actually were looking to adopt another kid from the same orphanage. That kid had a cleft foot infection and I was basically runner up once the adoption agency told my family that “John the first” passed and that they “had another kid in the back”.

Talk about a life-changing callback. With a year of going back and forth processing my naturalization and paying the adoption fees and the wild card of not knowing what emotional damage I would bring, I arrived in the U.S. August 31, 1991 – Kathy’s Birthday.

Because they didn’t know my actual date of birth, Kathy and Nick thought it would only make sense to make my “official” DOB September 1.

“Doesn’t matter what you look like”, Kathy would tell me as a kid, “Just don’t grow up to be an a** or I’ll stand on this chair and beat the crap outta ya with a broom – I don’t care how much taller you get!”

My mom would make sure she didn’t hide any of this from me (but if you were the only Asian in the family, what could you really hide?) and we functioned like any functional, dysfunctional family on the verge of WW3 because of good ol’ sibling rivalry. We still have the home videos of my sisters running me over with their Mattel Barbie convertible power wheels cars.

My childhood was filled with speech therapists, psychologists, and the whole nine yards. I hated myself for a time because I wasn’t as “developed” and always being the token Asian in the predominantly Italian-Catholic elementary school didn’t help either.

Senior year of high school was approaching and knowing my options was either working at the Blockbuster the next town over or go to the closest community college, I had to do something drastic.

December 2009 I busted my a** for 3 months at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, SC and left with my Eagle, Globe, and Anchor.

The last thing I would find was a career in music and entertainment. I mean singing cadence during platoon runs and weekends at the on-base karaoke nights with the guys segueing into me singing the National Anthem for professional sports games and an audition in Los Angeles that led to my acceptance to Berklee College of Music.

Fast forward graduating Berklee in 2017 to now…what a journey.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m most proud of this screenplay, which I’ve polished with the intent to option or produce/direct independently.

“Dog Tags” is a drama feature. Following a sexual assault by a commanding officer, a young Marine returns home, hoping to quickly pass her mental exams and be deemed “fit.” However, she’s met with conflict at every turn, including interference from her abusive father, an uncooperative doctor, and a strong desire to flee and never look back.

It originally began as a short film I wrote for a class while enrolled at SCAD, but it truly took on a life of its own three years later.

“Dog Tags” currently ranks in the top 14% of discoverable projects on Coverfly (top 16% of 42,293 drama projects). My end goal is for it to place at the Austin Film Festival and the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.

My second original screenplay, “Beckett!,” a one-hour television comedy, landed me on Coverfly’s Red List, ranking among the top television (one-hour) comedy projects that month. I wrote this project concurrently with my thesis at SCAD. “Beckett!” tells the story of an under-appreciated campaign manager who, while rectifying the actions of an impetuous political candidate, considers her own ambitions.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The Battery

The Buckhead Club

This one ‘secret’ walking path where there are no traces of city noise.

Marietta Diner

Ponce City Market

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Mom and Dad – Mom and Dad didn’t “make a mistake” and have me; they intentionally adopted me. My mom would tell me she was on the phone with the adoption agency for a year, finalizing my naturalization, before having me ‘shipped’ to the U.S. They also had biological children of their own but still took me in as their own and treated me equally with all the kids. I’m grateful for the dynamics we have today.

Sal and Jen DiFusco – Sal is a professor at Berklee College of Music, and I had him for one of my professional development classes. Post-graduation, I was in a tight situation. Trying to find a sustainable way to make income with student loans looming can stress anyone. Sal and Jen let me rent their basement, which helped me get my footing during a difficult time. I miss the morning conversations over coffee with Jen, and Sal has such a big, down-to-earth personality—a rarity these days.

Renee Bishop – When I was pursuing my MFA at the Savannah College of Art & Design, Professor Bishop really helped shape my writing. We stay in touch often since my graduation in August 2024. She’s the kind of person who is always rooting for you, and it’s a blessing to have people who support your dreams and aspirations.

Website: https://linktr.ee/johnvarkados

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnvarkados/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnvarkados/

Twitter: https://x.com/johnvarkados

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.varkados

Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7970293/

Image Credits
2023 Webby Awards