Andy Armstrong And Danielle Burgio Talk Writing Partnership And ‘Squealer’

Now in theaters and available on Digital and On Demand, Squealer centers on a police officer (Wes Chatham) and a social worker (Danielle Burgio) who are trying to uncover why young women are disappearing in a small town. These clues lead to a butcher (Ronnie Gene Blevins) at a pig farm, and thus this horror-thriller travels down its share of dark and bloody corners. Burgio co-wrote with script with Squealer director Andy Armstrong, and the two talked about the collaboration.

Andy Armstrong has carved out a successful career as a stunt coordinator, and during the interview he reflected on his work in the Tom Cruise headlined feature The Firm. Danielle Burgio is also a veteran in the stunt and acting world, and the pair bring their respective sensibilities to Squealer.

“Andy had written many scripts and was a beautiful mentor and support system for me” said Burgio, who has been writing with Armstrong for five years. “We complement each other quite well in the process. I particularly love working with somebody. Having a writing partner, for me, is amazing.”

“It’s a very productive process,” added Armstrong. “We end up writing fast and I think it’s purely the fact that we bring different qualities to the table. I have loads of ideas but 80% of them might be utterly insane.”

“In truth, they’re all great and brilliant,” said Burgio. “Some of them fit and some of them don’t. The first thing we did was we went old school style. We had index cards and we laid them out all over his dining table. Sometimes we would write the scenes together, sometimes he would take a stab at it and I would take the next pass. We didn’t have any hard rules about it. I think we just kept kicking each other forward.”

Full interview with Armstrong and Burgio is below. Squealer is now out in theaters and available on Digital and On Demand.

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