A DJ in his thirties drifts between Tinder dates and bar nights while trying to turn his emotional chaos—and the women who pass through his life—into literature. A sharp yet tender portrait of a generation hiding behind screens.
Antonio is a night-time DJ, a disillusioned political science graduate, and an aspiring writer. He tries to turn his life into a novel while life itself—with all its excesses and contradictions—threatens to overwhelm him.
Set between 2015 and 2017, his story traces a search for affection and meaning in a world dominated by dating apps and liquid relationships. Every encounter, every mistake, and every night in bars pushes him to confront his narcissism, his need for love, and the mirror held up by the women who pass through his life.
In this generational portrait, a turbulent present intertwines with a past marked by Nina, the woman who left an indelible mark and became the origin of his unresolved emotional grief.
In 2015, Antonio shares an apartment with Jaime and Señor Lobo, in a domestic chaos where they take care of the cat Futre, eat pizza, and philosophize between video games. Between DJ sets, he swipes through Tinder profiles and strings together dates: Estrella, a night security guard and spiritual whirlwind; María, an introverted mortuary beautician; Lili, a sophisticated bourgeois woman; and Eglys, a charismatic Venezuelan who awakens both tenderness and awkwardness in him. With her, he brushes against the possibility of emotional maturity—but the old Antonio refuses to die.
At the same time, a younger girl, X, embodies the vertigo of constant validation. The scene in the DJ booth at the bar—with X present and Eglys watching from afar—is not infidelity, but it is a mirror: it exposes his emotional dispersion and seals the end of the relationship. By trying to have it all, Antonio ends up with no one. That failure becomes his literary raw material.
The following years deepen the downward spiral. With Paula, a vulnerable teenager, he projects his need for redemption and unconsciously uses her as a muse. Nina, his lost love, reappears—but not as he expects: she reads his manuscript and shatters his illusion of reconciliation. With Sara, a brilliant translator, he tries to build something adult—slow dates, complicity, intellectual rigor—but one night she discovers his online flirting and leaves him. This is the point of no return: what he believed to be narrative control turns out to be pure self-deception.
In 2017, Antonio recognizes his pattern: he confuses freedom with dispersion, desire with fear. Madrid becomes the stage for both his downfall and his awakening. There is no magical redemption, only the certainty that writing does not fill the void—but it can give it shape. His book will be called Matcho: an attempt to turn emotional chaos into narrative. Every date, every WhatsApp message, and every dawn is part of the same lesson—learning to love without fleeing or using others as drafts.
RELEVANT INFORMATION: Antonio Rodríguez de Tudanca holds a degree in Political Science and completed three years of Creative Writing at the Escuela de Letras de Madrid and one year at Hotel Kafka. He has worked as a music programmer and DJ.
Instead of Love is his debut novel: a millennial generational portrait and a satirical exploration of dating apps and love in contemporary society. The book has strong audiovisual potential, both as a feature film or a drama series, thanks to its balance of humor and melancholy. The protagonist’s arc—caught between digital validation and the need for real affection—resonates with an entire generation in crisis.
The result is an urban, contemporary, ironic, and deeply human story, perfect for adaptation.
AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Film.
AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.
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