Any author will tell you that in the back of their head lies a secret. It’s a secret that one day their book will become a huge hit and attract Hollywood producers who are willing to put a huge investment in something that they created.
For one such author, that dream will come true. Douglas Carlton Abrams, author of the bestselling book, The Diary of Don Juan, has done something all authors dream of—writing a book and having it turn into a movie. But, how does that happen? What steps does the author need to take for it to happen to them, too?
We interviewed Douglas to give us the lowdown on how an author can turn their book into a movie, which I believe will help authors in their quest for their books to end up on the silver screen.
Q. Thank you for this interview, Douglas. Can you tell us a little bit about what your book is about?
A.In a time of discovery and decadence, when the gold that poured endlessly into the port of Sevilla devalued money, marriage, and love itself, young Juan Tenorio was abandoned and raised by nuns. He grew up loving and worshipping all women, but a clandestine affair with one of the sisters forces him to leave the Church—and his plans for the priesthood—forever. Juan becomes a spy, as well as the world’s greatest libertine. But far from the heartless seducer that legend recounts, he seeks liberation and redemption as much as personal pleasure and gratification. He begins to keep a diary of his greatest adventures and the arts of passion he has mastered. The most dangerous adventure of all—the irresistible fall into the madness of love with the only woman who could ever make him forget all others—finally compels him to confess everything.
Q. Why did you decide to write it?
A.One night I went to bed asking myself a question that I believe every married man or woman asks eventually: how could I stay happily and passionately married for the rest of my life? The next morning I awoke as if I had been shaken. It was then that I first thought of Don Juan, the universal symbol of passion. I wondered what if he had kept a diary. What secrets would it contain? What could we learn from him about the nature of passion? And ultimately, what might cause the world’s greatest seducer to forsake all women for one woman? I left my wife’s warm sleeping body, walked past our three sleeping children, and sat down at the dining room table. It was as if a voice was whispering the story in my ear.
