We recently connected with Andrew de Burgh and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Andrew, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Perhaps the most meaningful project I’ve worked is my first ever TV series, the Cpics Original psychological thriller “The Twisted Doll” which I created, wrote and directed. It just released a couple of weeks ago and is currently streaming on Cpics and ZEE5 (under the Cpics add-on channel) if anyone would like to watch it!
Executive produced by Kavi Raz (“The Black Prince”), the show stars newcomers Summer Singh and Felix Merback in the lead roles, as well as Bree Mignano (“Attaway General”), Xander Bailey (“Beckman”), Andrew Ghai (“For All Mankind”), social media influencer Carrington Durham, Rebecca Ritz (“Minority Report”), Chelsea Gilson (“Hawaii Five-0”) and Will Roberts (“Oppenheimer”). It also features sound design by Steve Campagna (“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”) and original music by Elezeid (PlayStation 5’s “Z-Warp”).
It tells the story of a young Indian woman who embarks on a revenge mission in Los Angeles after her and her husband are scammed by two real estate agents. It’s biggest influences are the films “Drive”, “Memento” and “Get Out”.
To tell you how it started, I began writing the screenplay in 2017 and spent years trying to launch it. I was lucky to connect with Kavi Raz in 2022 and Cpics greenlit it and today it’s available for audiences to stream.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
A cinephile from a young age, I started writing, producing and directing short films whilst studying Film at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. In 2015, I wrote, produced and directed my first professional short film, the psychological thriller “Just One Drink” which starred scream queen Barbara Nedeljakova (“Hostel”). It scored a 100% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and was distributed as an Editor’s Pick by ShortsTV, the distributor behind each year’s Oscar® Nominated Short Films.
In 2018, I made my feature filmmaking debut with the cerebral sci-fi drama “The Bestowal” which starred Sharmita Bhattacharya (“Grey’s Anatomy”). The film scored a 78% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and won awards at film festivals worldwide, including Best Director at the Lake City International Film Festival, Best Actress at the Los Angeles IFS Film Festival and Best Screenplay at the Love International Film Festival. In November 2019, it was released by Indie Rights on Amazon Prime, Tubi, Google Play and YouTube Movies. In 2021, I co-produced and directed the animated Christmas short film “The Legend of Santa”, which received praise from film critics and qualified for a BAFTA through the film festival DokuFest. It was released on the short film app Sofy.tv by Mbur Films.
Season One of my debut TV Series as creator, writer and director, the psychological thriller “The Twisted Doll” was released on October 31st, 2024 on ZEE5 and Cpics. Executive produced by Kavi Raz (“The Black Prince”), the show stars newcomers Summer Singh and Felix Merback in the lead roles, as well as Bree Mignano (“Attaway General”), Xander Bailey (“Beckman”), Andrew Ghai (“For All Mankind”), social media influencer Carrington Durham, Rebecca Ritz (“Minority Report”), Chelsea Gilson (“Hawaii Five-0”) and Will Roberts (“Oppenheimer”).
In 2024, I wrote, produced and directed my second feature film as writer-director, the horror-thriller “The Seductress from Hell”. It stars Rocio Scotto (Blumhouse’s “AfrAId”) in the title role, as well as Jason Faunt (“Power Rangers”), James Hyde (“Netflix’s Monarca”), Raj Jawa (“Free Guy”), Kylie Rohrer (“I Joined a Cult”) and Andy Lauer (“Born on the Fourth of July”). A co-production between Garaj Pictures and Sacred Ember Films, it features sound design by Steve Campagna (“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”), special effects makeup by Brittany Jamison-Lackey (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”) and art direction by Anna Giudice (“Interstellar”). It had it’s World Premiere at the 2024 Glendale International Film Festival and it’s LA Premiere at the 2024 Micheaux Film Festival, where I was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Feature.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I think for me it’s telling stories I believe in. I’ve been grateful in my career to have been able to work on so many stories I’m personally very passionate about (whether it’s an animated origin story of Santa Claus or a horror film about a struggling actress turned serial killer).
My first feature “The Bestowal” impacted people so much that many people in comments said it was life changing and it was the best film they ever saw. I highly doubt it was the best film they ever saw but to get that kind of praise from people was truly special.
Another aspect that’s very rewarding is that this doesn’t feel like a job. I’m grateful I’m able to be creative professionally.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I think a good example is when I was trying to get into film festivals with my first feature film “The Bestowal”. Before we got even one acceptance, we got about sixty rejections from festivals. I still believed in the film and kept persisting, sending applications to festivals around the world.
Eventually the dam broke and not only did it end up screening at several festivals worldwide but it also won awards like Best Director at the Lake City International Film Festival, Best Actress at the Los Angeles IFS Film Festival and Best Screenplay at the Love International Film Festival.
Based on 9 reviews, it also scored a 78% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes:
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_bestowal
If anyone would like to see it, it’s streaming on Google Play, YouTube Movies and Tubi (free):
https://tubitv.com/movies/513118/the-bestowal
In terms of future projects I’m currently working on, I’m currently in pre-production for my next feature film, a horror fantasy called “The Demoness” about a demonic succubus that visits Earth to torment the human race. Will Roberts (“Oppenheimer”) recently joined the cast. It’s scheduled to be released on October 30th, 2026.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5410488/
- Instagram: @andrewdeburghdirector
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-de-burgh-88972a102/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@andrewdeburghdirector
Image Credits
Cpics