David S. Goyer & Jessica Borsiczky (FlashForward) interview

Thrilling, action-packed drama FlashForward is based on a novel by award-winning author Robert J Swayer. When a mysterious event causes the entire world to suffer a brief blackout and everyone sees a vision of their own future in six months’ time on a specific date, April 29 2010, every man, woman and child is forced to come to grips with whether their destinies can be avoided or fulfilled.

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Here, the show's executive producers, husband and wife duo David S. Goyer and Jessica Borsiczky, reveal more...


Who came up with the idea for FlashForward?

Jessica Borsiczky: “The show is loosely based on the novel, FlashForward by Robert Sawyer. I read it about eight years ago and at that time, David and I were just friends. We had a working relationship, but we weren’t married so I brought him the book to read and he was taken with this concept, just like I was.

“We loved the idea that if you know your destiny, what would you do about it? We both went onto do other things, but we eventually married and we still kept talking about the notion of FlashForward. We'd originally talked about it as a movie, but then David decided it would work as a television show.

“He went on to write the pilot’s script with [24 and Star Trek writer] Brannon Braga, which we then sold to ABC. We had the bible for the entire series worked out at that point.”

How difficult was it to adapt the book into a television series?

Jessica: “We had an amazing time figuring out how to adapt the show from the book, but we took some liberties and came up with new characters, so it’s a little different. For example, the flash-forwards are 21 years into the future in the book, but we adapted it to about six months in the show.”

The character of Lloyd Simcoe appears in the book and he’s portrayed by Brit actor Jack Davenport the show… Is the TV character the same as the character in the novel?

David S. Goyer: “That’s a good question. The Lloyd character is not exactly as he’s written in the book. In fact, if you were to read the book to look for clues where the character is going or what his part in the story is, it wouldn't help you. He’s different.”

There were a number of comparisons made between FlashForward and Lost. How did that make you feel?

David: “Well, I'm pretty good friends with [Lost Executive Producer] Damon Lindelof, but the genesis of this idea happened before Lost started. I'm an enormous fan of Lost because I think it is such a genre-breaking, bold show. It’s changed television, which is a wonderful thing."

Have you learned any lessons from Lost and Damon Lindelof?

David: “Did Damon given me any advice? He constantly told me, “Just tell your story. Just stick to your guns.” I think Lost taught me that you can use a large ensemble cast to do a show to tell a big, cinematic story. They’re not very similar shows, though.”

Did you share much of the story with the actors – or were they in the dark just like the audience?

David: “We made a decision very early on with the actors that we weren't going to tell them a lot about where their characters were going because I didn't want it to affect their performance. I sat down with everyone and made a pact – but every now and then I had to tell everyone certain pieces of information.

“However, they didn’t know where a lot of their characters were going or what was going to happen to them and I think that was fun and exciting. Hitchcock used to do that with a lot of the actors he'd work with. In Shadow Of A Doubt, Joseph Cotten would go to a window and Hitchcock would tell him, “Just go and look out of the window.” Cotten had no idea what he was looking at, but you would look at him in the movie and it's amazing. It worked really well.”

Was the intense and action-packed opening scene of FlashForward filmed on a real freeway or on a studio lot?

David: “It was all real freeways. We shut down the 110 Freeway in Los Angeles, which was awesome. I had a lot of friends texting me saying, "Is that you shutting this down? Thanks." We had to shut it down intermittently for three days and it was an intense shoot, but we hoped everyone liked it.“

Can we talk a little about the casting of the show… How did Lost star Dominic Monaghan become involved in FlashForward?

David: “I had a very interesting meeting with Dom. We were fans of Lost and his acting, but he signed on for this show without any kind of script and without any scenes written for his character. He took an enormous leap of faith, but it worked.”

And how did Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane end up in the show?

David: “Seth is a friend of Brannon's and I think Brannon was idly talking about the show, saying, “Hey, do you want to come down and do a part?” We were friends of Seth's and we thought it would be fun to do it, so he pops up on the show every now and then. He's a great guy.”

Jessica: “We love having him as part of the FBI cast. I'm a ridiculous Family Guy fan, so I shook in my boots every time he came around to shoot. I loved it.”


FlashForward: The Complete Series is released on DVD on 27th September 2010 by Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

> Buy the DVD boxset on Amazon.