dawn garcia. a writer.

to write a profound adaptation.

“Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” - Oscar Wilde

When I started this adaptation, it was a love affair. I began in 2001. I had read Oscar Wilde’s, The Picture of Dorian Gray because after an encounter with an Englishman while traveling in Dublin, I was told it was a book I must wrap my head around. He was right. It affected me profoundly. I re-read the book countless times and knew that it must be put to screen. I knew I had to adapt it for film. (It had been made many times but only twice was it even modestly successful) And so, I wrote 4 pages. And stopped. And then 6 years later wrote another 10. And stopped. And then, in February of last year, I met JJ Abrams at an Oscar event. We spoke. It was for the US-Ireland Alliance in Film. Everything was centered around Oscar Wilde. I knew it was time. And so I boldly spoke to JJ about it, called an Agent at William Morris whom I’d known most of my life, and after having had read the mere 14 pages, he implored me to finish. This was in June of 2010. I opened my MacBook and I managed to write 86 pages over a collective 4 days. And then stopped. Had major surgery, took months to recover, and began again. And another 90 pages were written to date. And today - rather, this weekend - I am on the final scenes.

And so now, with an Oscar nominated Director attached, and the real possibility of Robert Pattinson as the lead, I am 175 pages into it. I am at the end. 3 scenes remain. And I am paralyzed. The opportunity to see my baby, this passion project, have wings AND know, because it deserves to be made well, that it will be - it blows my mind. It is a challenge to write an adaptation, but even moreso when writing one that is so widely recognized and acclaimed as a piece of literary genius.

Sometimes in life, no matter how defeated we feel, no matter how hard we’ve fallen, no matter what has happened to us, we can achieve tremendous things. This is only the beginning. I have 2 shorts just about ready and come April my goal is to have 3 screenplays ready to hand over to my Agent at WME. I never believed it was possible though I’d been encouraged for years. I gave up writing for almost a decade. I did it but had no real faith in what it could be. After a solid year of writing, adjusting the lens through which I see life, I have a devoted following of readers spanning some 47 countries worldwide and the possibility of hope.

As a single mother who will give everything she has to be a shining example for my daughter AND having only recently learned what love really is, I just have to say that in life, there can be happy endings. So even on days when I was rummaging through my daughter’s piggy bank to get grocery money, this - this moment - makes it all worth it. Nothing is out of reach. Believe in it, yes, but MAKE it happen. Don’t wait for opportunities to present themselves. Create your own…

Written by Dawn Garcia