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Mr. Andy Briggs is an author, conservationist, graphic novelist and a screenwriter. He has worked on Warner Bros.' animated Aquaman. He wrote contemporary series of Tarzan books. For Paramount Pictures, he worked on Judge Dredd, Foreverman, and Freddy vs. Jason. He wrote his debut adult novel titled Control-S. He produced, wrote, and executive-produced UK/Chinese movie titled Legendary which starred Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundren. He also wrote the critical acclaimed movie titled Crowhurst. His latest movie Supervized is what this blog interview is all about. Starring Tom Berenger, Ned Dennehy, Fionnula Flanagan, Louis Gossett Jr., Clive Russell, and Beau Bridges, Supervized is about four elderly superheroes in an Ireland retirement home who decided to join together for a final thrill. So, take this moment to get to know Mr. Andy Briggs and his experience working on Supervized.
1. What is the genesis of Supervized?
While working through CROWHURST, Legendary producer Robert Halmi called me up to discuss a passion project of his. He sent me some artwork he found of an elderly Flash, Superman and Spiderman playing poker and said “Make it something like that!”.
We started chatting about Grumpy Old Men and The Quartet, and the concept quickly fell together after that.
2. Were there other titles you came up with before Supervized? If so what were they?
We had always just called it SUPERHEROES. It wasn’t ever going to be the final title, but it stuck. I was always searching for something different that would combine Grumpy Old Men with the Avengers but it was elusive. SUPERVIZED! (including the exclamation mark) just appeared on an email one day. Not sure where it came from. I was a big fan of the exclamation mark, but that fell off somewhere!
3. In one word how would you sum up Supervized?
Fun.
4. Was there anything you find particularly challenging in writing Supervized?
The budget! On paper you’re not limited to the scope of the story. Of course, then we have to get real and the concept has to fall into line with what can be practically done. It was always going to be small in tone – a retirement home, faded powers that are more or less in the background. But the original ending had our heroes going to a genetic lab in the big city and was far more ambitious. That then moved to an abandoned dock, with a cool (and expensive) bad guy finale.
5. Which writer/s inspired you to become a screenwriter and an author?
I was a huge Marvel fan as a kid, so it was reading those and the personification of Stan Lee as a writer that made me think it could be a cool job. Years later my brother and I worked with Stan Lee on a movie and we stayed friends. It was a full circle dream come true.
6. Were you ever on set for the making of Supervized? If so, could you tell me what scene you were present at?
Sadly, I was working on a movie in China, so didn’t get to see any of it. They had to do a rewrite of the ending so I was annoyed to be half way around the planet!
7. Could you also express your feelings about Tom Berenger, Clive Russell, Fionnula Flanagan, Louis Gossett Jr. and/or Beau Bridges playing characters that you wrote?
It’s a fantastic cast. Director Steve Barron always insisted he wanted actors who played the ages they were in the script and who you could believe, when they were younger, could have portrayed heroes. To have a set of such legendary actors assemble was such a previlage!
8. Silly-Game question: From Control-S novel, could you please leaf through the pages and point at a random place. What is the full sentence? And what is the page number of this random sentence?
Well I still don’t have a copy yet (out in e-book/airport edition in July! Hit’s the shelves properly in November, so the page numbers won’t quite sit right. But…
“Kaiju Killer then raised two fingers at the camera and furiously flipped them like some ADHD kid on a caffeine high.” – page 24
9. If a self-published author is seeking a screenwriter/ producer, how would one get you or any expert to read his or her story to see if it would make a compelling movie?
That’s quite a difficult question as most screenwriters would gravitate towards a more traditionally published book. But that’s not to say it’s impossible (look at The Martian). Rather than pursue a screenwriter, it might be worthwhile the writer attempting the script themselves.
10. Which novel/novella/short story/article have you read that you would like to turn to a screenplay?
There are a couple – but I am not telling just in case those rights are available, I would rather grab them myself!
11. Do you have any fun, interesting fact to tell about working for comic creator Stan Lee and legendary producer Robert Evans?
Plenty! Stan was always generous with his time, and always fun to talk to – even during script notes when he had a very specific idea on how things should play through. When I wrote my YA superhero books (Hero.com and Villain.net) he gave me a huge full-page set of quotes, but we could only use one for the cover.
What always makes me chuckle is my brother, Stan and I were posing for a photo with a life-sized Spiderman statue in his POW! Office. My brother re-positioned it, and the arm came off (it was detachable!) – Stan gave a total look of comic horror.
Robert’s office on the Paramount low was our base camp for the project, so we had the back office there. The front is in an enclosed courtyard, so the Paramount tour trolley can’t access it, and passes around the back. So we decided to stand a full-sized Kid Notorious cut out in our office window. Thereafter the trolley always stopped so the guide could relay some excellent Robert Evans tales….
12. Who is your favorite superhero?
Old school Daredevil just beat Spiderman when I was a kid. However, now, it has to be Spidey.
13. Could you describe the movie Crowhurst in three words?
Insane true story.
14. What’s the best thing that happened to you this month?
It’s been a good month! My new children’s book was up for an award (which I lost!); it’s now part of a huge reading campaign from Booktrust (https://www.booktrust.org.uk), which will roll out across the UK in September. I was asked to do an interview about my part in The Philadelphia Experiment for the original movie’s blu-ray re-release. And I may…. may… be directing a movie later this year. Let’s see….
15. Last question, what book did you read because everyone was reading it?
I hate doing that, so always try to avoid the books causing the most chatter. The last time I did so was the Harry Potter series. I jumped aboard around book 3. I’m quite happy with a Clive Cussler book on the beach, or re-reading some Michael Crichton….
I really like to thank Mr. Andy Briggs for taking his time to do this interview. Make sure you check out Supervized since it's available today! July 19th. If you want to know more about Mr. Andy Briggs and his future endeavors, you can visit his website: http://www.andybriggs.co.uk/ Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.
1. What is the genesis of Supervized?
While working through CROWHURST, Legendary producer Robert Halmi called me up to discuss a passion project of his. He sent me some artwork he found of an elderly Flash, Superman and Spiderman playing poker and said “Make it something like that!”.
We started chatting about Grumpy Old Men and The Quartet, and the concept quickly fell together after that.
2. Were there other titles you came up with before Supervized? If so what were they?
We had always just called it SUPERHEROES. It wasn’t ever going to be the final title, but it stuck. I was always searching for something different that would combine Grumpy Old Men with the Avengers but it was elusive. SUPERVIZED! (including the exclamation mark) just appeared on an email one day. Not sure where it came from. I was a big fan of the exclamation mark, but that fell off somewhere!
3. In one word how would you sum up Supervized?
Fun.
4. Was there anything you find particularly challenging in writing Supervized?
The budget! On paper you’re not limited to the scope of the story. Of course, then we have to get real and the concept has to fall into line with what can be practically done. It was always going to be small in tone – a retirement home, faded powers that are more or less in the background. But the original ending had our heroes going to a genetic lab in the big city and was far more ambitious. That then moved to an abandoned dock, with a cool (and expensive) bad guy finale.
5. Which writer/s inspired you to become a screenwriter and an author?
I was a huge Marvel fan as a kid, so it was reading those and the personification of Stan Lee as a writer that made me think it could be a cool job. Years later my brother and I worked with Stan Lee on a movie and we stayed friends. It was a full circle dream come true.
6. Were you ever on set for the making of Supervized? If so, could you tell me what scene you were present at?
Sadly, I was working on a movie in China, so didn’t get to see any of it. They had to do a rewrite of the ending so I was annoyed to be half way around the planet!
7. Could you also express your feelings about Tom Berenger, Clive Russell, Fionnula Flanagan, Louis Gossett Jr. and/or Beau Bridges playing characters that you wrote?
It’s a fantastic cast. Director Steve Barron always insisted he wanted actors who played the ages they were in the script and who you could believe, when they were younger, could have portrayed heroes. To have a set of such legendary actors assemble was such a previlage!
8. Silly-Game question: From Control-S novel, could you please leaf through the pages and point at a random place. What is the full sentence? And what is the page number of this random sentence?
Well I still don’t have a copy yet (out in e-book/airport edition in July! Hit’s the shelves properly in November, so the page numbers won’t quite sit right. But…
“Kaiju Killer then raised two fingers at the camera and furiously flipped them like some ADHD kid on a caffeine high.” – page 24
9. If a self-published author is seeking a screenwriter/ producer, how would one get you or any expert to read his or her story to see if it would make a compelling movie?
That’s quite a difficult question as most screenwriters would gravitate towards a more traditionally published book. But that’s not to say it’s impossible (look at The Martian). Rather than pursue a screenwriter, it might be worthwhile the writer attempting the script themselves.
10. Which novel/novella/short story/article have you read that you would like to turn to a screenplay?
There are a couple – but I am not telling just in case those rights are available, I would rather grab them myself!
11. Do you have any fun, interesting fact to tell about working for comic creator Stan Lee and legendary producer Robert Evans?
Plenty! Stan was always generous with his time, and always fun to talk to – even during script notes when he had a very specific idea on how things should play through. When I wrote my YA superhero books (Hero.com and Villain.net) he gave me a huge full-page set of quotes, but we could only use one for the cover.
What always makes me chuckle is my brother, Stan and I were posing for a photo with a life-sized Spiderman statue in his POW! Office. My brother re-positioned it, and the arm came off (it was detachable!) – Stan gave a total look of comic horror.
Robert’s office on the Paramount low was our base camp for the project, so we had the back office there. The front is in an enclosed courtyard, so the Paramount tour trolley can’t access it, and passes around the back. So we decided to stand a full-sized Kid Notorious cut out in our office window. Thereafter the trolley always stopped so the guide could relay some excellent Robert Evans tales….
12. Who is your favorite superhero?
Old school Daredevil just beat Spiderman when I was a kid. However, now, it has to be Spidey.
13. Could you describe the movie Crowhurst in three words?
Insane true story.
14. What’s the best thing that happened to you this month?
It’s been a good month! My new children’s book was up for an award (which I lost!); it’s now part of a huge reading campaign from Booktrust (https://www.booktrust.org.uk), which will roll out across the UK in September. I was asked to do an interview about my part in The Philadelphia Experiment for the original movie’s blu-ray re-release. And I may…. may… be directing a movie later this year. Let’s see….
15. Last question, what book did you read because everyone was reading it?
I hate doing that, so always try to avoid the books causing the most chatter. The last time I did so was the Harry Potter series. I jumped aboard around book 3. I’m quite happy with a Clive Cussler book on the beach, or re-reading some Michael Crichton….
I really like to thank Mr. Andy Briggs for taking his time to do this interview. Make sure you check out Supervized since it's available today! July 19th. If you want to know more about Mr. Andy Briggs and his future endeavors, you can visit his website: http://www.andybriggs.co.uk/ Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.
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