From Page to Screen: The Journey of Curtis Curly-tail

What do authors want? At first, my goal was to create a book that would educate children and adults so that they would enjoy reading. Then came the delight of people asking if I had any new books. Of course, this keeps the pressure on me to continuously produce more quality books, which I am thrilled to do.

But perhaps there’s more. I’d like to be listed on the “book you should be read list,” which happened recently: a Pick in the Children and Young Adults category in Pima County Public Library’s 2025 Southwest Books of the Year.

Maybe even someday on the New York Bestseller List. Being self-published and recognized for popularity on such a notable list would be wonderful.

Then there is the dream of having one of your books or characters selected by a movie or television company for production. Would I ever be Ann Cleeves creating a beloved character such as Vera? Even a 30-something-year-old friend found Vera intriguing. Wow, multi-generational interest. Or would my books become beloved children’s books, shared throughout the generations? That would be lovely, too.

From Pages to Pictures

I’ve written audio theater scripts, so I’ve thought of creating scripts based on my books. However, it turns out that I don’t have to do the scriptwriting. The folks at Luck Media have decided that Curtis Curly-tail has excellent potential as a protagonist in a 30-minute animated film. My Curtis is a star. His story, which includes conservation as one of the themes, is very important to me. I have a personal connection to this subject, and in fact, we’ve decided that a percentage of the income from the 30-minute movie will go to iguana conservation, a subject near and dear to my heart.

We expect the movie to be a success, but as the saying goes, “you have to spend money to make money,” so we’re doing a bit of fundraising, if you’d like to join in the adventure of animating Curtis, please contribute to our Indiegogo campaign:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/curtis-curly-tail-a-road-trip-animated-short-film#/

Of course, we offer perks depending on the donation. If you’d like to collaborate with the production team, we’d like to chat with you.

Along with our initial video, we’ll be releasing additional short videos. These tell the story of Curtis’s creation, how Anderson Atlas and I met and formed our partnership, amusing tales of my life with reptiles, and…you might hear me interview the star himself! Yes, Curtis and I converse.

Thank you for considering sharing in this adventure. Look for the Curtis movie in 2026!