Make This Movie: Someone Needs to Adapt One of Matthew Norman’s Novels

Behold the continuation of a brand new series of articles here at Awards Radar! With the “Make This Movie” series, we’ll be profiling material that we’d love to see become a film. Sometimes, it will be a book or a stage show that deserves the cinematic treatment. Other times, we’ll look at screenplays that are stuck in development hell. Basically, if it’s not yet a movie, it’s eligible. Today, we continue the column with a look at an author who’s been writing ready made hit movies. The industry just needs to realize that. So, read on and find out why we want Hollywood to Make This Movie!

Matthew Norman is currently one of my favorite authors. His style of writing is just up my alley. To me, reading one of Norman’s books is like watching a great character study. There’s a joy in the personas he creates, as well as a pleasure in watching these recognizable people strive for better. It may not be the sort of thing that wins awards, but not only is Norman penning underrated stories, he’s making ones that are ready made to be adapted by the film industry.

These are the books that Norman has written so far. Domestic Violets, which feels like an indie dramedy from the 2000s, We’re All Damaged, which has a similar vibe, Last Couple Standing, which could easily be a romantic comedy with an edge, and All Together Now, which reminded me a lot of About Alex, an underrated movie. Next week, he adds Charm City Rocks to that mix, and having almost finished reading it, there’s a Juliet Naked or High Fidelity feel to it.

Something he does here that I’d love to see replicated on screen is make his stories in a shared universe of sorts. Characters from one book show up in the next one, usually having gone through some sort of personal growth. So, you actually get to check in on some of the characters you’ve fallen in love with. That’s really special, and with the right actors and actresses, could really resonate.

Hollywood could easily snap one of these up and have a fun, smart, and likely successful movie for adults. It’s not hard to imagine someone like Ed Zwick directing the hell out of one of these. With strong characters like the ones in Norman’s books, it’s just a shame not to see them depicted in cinema.

We shall see what happens here, but if Hollywood is smart, they won’t sleep on Norman. It’s a matter of when, for him, not if. Once he’s noticed, you’ll see many of these get adapted. Just remember that I told you first…

Stay tuned to see if the industry takes my Matthew Norman advice and gets to Make This Movie!