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It was while Nicole was working on Picha's The Missing Link, that she decided to write her own screenplays for the first time. The upshot is that the three screenplays at the basis of her three arthouse films (A Greek Tragedy, Vol van Gratie, and L.A.T.) had already been drafted as early as 1977. However, it would be many years before Nicole would continue working on these screenplays. That was because between 1977 and 1980, van Goethem was forced to return to the Antwerp nightlife to make a living. Around 1980, she was unable to work for a spell due to an accident. During this time, Nicole followed the advice of friends and continued to work on screenplay for A Greek Tragedy, submitting it to the film committee for approval in 1980.

Nicole van Goethem began working on A Greek Tragedy, the first short animated film of her trilogy, in the middle of 1983. A team of twelve worked on the production at her Ercola studio in Wolstraat for a year and a half, including her niece, Rudi Renson, and Jan Sanctorum. A Greek Tragedy was comprised of 2,500 cels in total. The six-minute, ten-second animated film about three caryatids and their self-liberation from their eternal labour propping up a temple was completed in January 1985.

The positive impact of the various prizes van Goethem was showered with between 1985 and 1987 is evident from the variety of commissions she started to rake in at the time. For example, as of 1986 she began illustrating the book Onze Sociale Zekerheid [Our Social Security] (1989) authored by the then University of Antwerp Rector, Josse Van Steenberge. That commission was the first of a host of collaborations between van Goethem and Van Steenberge. Not only did she illustrate books, but she also created illustrations for De Morgen in the late 1980s. Her time wasn’t just occupied as an illustrator during this period; she also worked on several film projects such as Human Rights Article 13, The Spectator (1986 to ca. 1990), a film commissioned by the Volksverzekering (DVV), and the unfinished Castagnetten [Castanets].