Brendan Foley is a screenwriter, feature film director, producer and best-selling author.

His feature films include multi-award winning action drama Johnny Was (Sony/First Look), thriller The Riddle (Image Entertainment/Mail on Sunday) with 2.6 million DVDs, and chiller Legend of the Bog (Lionsgate). Brendan is also a Writer-For-Hire for studio and independent projects such as Addae’s Journey for Devonshire Productions and Endurance for Denmark’s Origicorp.

In TV, Brendan is co-creator of  children’s environmental animated series Shelldon (NBC) and the upcoming Flying with Byrd.

Brendan is author of WWII best-seller Under the Wire (Transworld/Random House), which reached number one on the Amazon UK history, biography and WWII charts. The book is the true story of one of the greatest ever Prisoner-of-War escape artists, William Ash, the real-life ‘Cooler King’ immortalised by Steve McQueen’s fictional rebel Hilts in The Great Escape.  A screenplay based on Under the Wire is now in early development as a major feature film. Another award-winning Foley script,  action drama Easter Rising. about the 1916 Dublin Uprising is also in active development.

Brendan also works under the banner of The Proper Picture Company, alongside international producers Lars Hermann and Ned Dowd. Their past movies as individuals – with credits ranging from producer to EP, writer, director or 1st AD include: Johnny Was, Apocalypto, The Riddle, Last of the Mohicans, As White as in Snow, King Arthur, In a Better World and Hoffa. Below, Brendan, Ned and Lars discuss their approach:

Prior to working in film and books, Brendan was an award-winning features journalist covering business, the environment and conflict in 77 countries world-wide. He also ran his own print and video consultancy which won the PR Week Award, three times for international clients including Texaco, Hawker-Siddeley and Coca-Cola.

Brendan is an Honorary Life Member of the National Union of Journalists, A Fellow of the Institute of Internal Communications, and a member of the Writers Guild GB. He is represented by Robert Kirby of United Agents, UK agent of the Year 2011/12.

Check out Brendan’s short showreel below, featuring work with Roger Daltrey, Sir Derek Jacobi, Vinnie Jones, Vanessa Redgrave and others.