I wrote Troppo imagining the screen. A movie the calibre of Balibo or The Babadook or The Boys. Dave Wenham playing Troppo’s villain Shane, Mark Occhilupo surfing as Wenham’s stunt double. Maybe Nashville’s Clare Bowen—a Wollongong uni graduate like myself—as the young drifter Penny.

This screen-dream might not be as far-fetched as it seems.

Troppo has just been longlisted for Queensland Writers Centre’s Adaptable, a program which seeks material from Australian and New Zealand writers for film or television adaptation. If deemed successful, I’ll be given the opportunity to pitch my work to screen industry professionals in May.

Until then, I’ll be thinking of a creative way to sell the motorbike chases, the dancing monkeys, the draining right hand barrels, the chick who grazed her boobs off on the reef, the malaria-glazed eyes, the disappeared girls, the thunderous wet season storms … Bloody hell. If Troppo was a film, I’d watch it for sure!