Sapphires scribe to sparkle in Roughcut

Tony Briggs, writer of the stage and screen versions of The Sapphires, will present at Tropfest Roughcut NZ.

The Sapphires was a based on a true story hit, the story being that of Briggs’ mother and aunt’s time in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Co-writer of the screen adaptation, Keith Thompson, spoke at 2012’s Big Screen Symposium.

With his actor hat on, Briggs is a familiar face for Australian audiences, appearing in Wentworth, Redfern Now, The Slap and, much earlier in his career, Blue Heelers and Neighbours.

Briggs is currently in development with TV series The Athletes with Robert Connolly (The Turning, The Slap, Balibo, The Bank ). Briggs is also developing his next feature script, The Grip, another 1960s-set tale about a group of friends who figure out how to legally beat one-armed-bandit gambling machines.

For Roughcut, he joins the previously-announced US social media specialist Sheri Candler.

Roughcut runs on 4 September 2014 at Q Theatre, Auckland.

TropfestNZ runs 14 February in Taranaki. Submissions close 1 December.