Burnie Burns

At 51 years old, Burnie Burns has this physical status:

Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns, born January 18, 1973, is an American writer, producer, comedian, host, and director who lives in Austin, Texas.

He is a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and former chief creative officer of Rooster Teeth.

He is known for his contributions to machinima, a form of film-making that makes use of video game technology in its production, as well as animation and live action.

Burns is also known for his work in the hosting and podcasting industries. Burns, along with several colleagues and coworkers, developed the machinima film Red vs.

The Blood Gulch Chronicles, blue.

Halo, Red vs. video game, was shot and edited on film.

Burns became a Internet celebrity because of its humour and originality.

His success led him to co-found Rooster Teeth, a production company.

After the immediate success of Red vs. Sweden, the game was a hit.

Burns, a blue and white guy, piqued Electronic Arts' interest, who asked him to produce a promo series based on their latest game, The Sims 2.

The result was The Strangerhood.

P.A.N.I.C.S., a mini-series that makes use of the F.E.A.R. Game engine.

Burns appeared in the science fiction comedy film Lazer Team, which he co-wrote in 2016.

He appeared in its sequel the year after, which he co-wrote. He has appeared at the Penny Arcade Expo, San Diego Comic-Con International, Sundance, and The Sydney Film Festival as one of the finest machines in the field of machinima.

In the "Best Host of a Web Series" category, he was nominated for two IAWTV awards in Immersion (2010), a live action series that tests video game tropes in the real world, and The Gauntlet (2013), Rooster Teeth's reality game show.

In 2015, he was named one of the "Top 25 Digital Artists" by The Hollywood Reporter.

He was named one of Variety's Top Digital Entertainment Execs to Watch in 2018. Matt Hullum, a long-serving business partner, was named one of Variety's top Digital Entertainment Execs to Watch in 2018.

Early life

Burns was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in Houston, Texas. His father, a physics professor who worked on the Desertron Super Collider, was a physics professor. He is of one quarter French-Canadian descent. An Alief Elsik High School senior gave him the nickname "Burnie" to distinguish him from his classmates. Burns' determination to pursue a medical career led him to join HOSA. At Southwest Memorial Hospital, half of his senior year consisted of clinical rotations.

He was accepted into Notre Dame after high school but, unable to afford the tuition, he chose The University of Texas in Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science. Burns got his start in film production by volunteering at K29HW-D, Texas Student Television. During his time with TSTV, he created Sneak Peek, the world's longest-running student television show, in which he reviewed films and conducteded interviews with guests such as Adam Sandler.

Burns went on to become the president of the technology support firm teleNetwork Partners and then went out to form Rooster Teeth, a separate company.

Personal life

In August 2000, Jordan Burns married her and divorced in December 2011. In early 2016, Burns first became engaged to The Know host Ashley Jenkins. In June 2019, the two were married.

Burns has three sons.

After briefly living in Los Angeles, California, he mainly lived in Austin, Texas. Burns resigned from Rooster Teeth on June 11, 2020, but he also announced that he was leaving the United States. He has since moved away from public life and has kept his family's current location private.

Rooster Teeth's projects are still in the first glance.

He is a member of the International Academy of Web Television.

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Career

Burns had a dream of making a film in his last year of university. Joel Heyman and Matt Hullum, roommates at the time, promised to assist, with the former agreeing to act and the latter helping write, produce, and direct. They shot The Schedule (1997) over a three-month period on 16mm film for $9,000. On a non-linear editor Burns himself built, it took ten months to edit. The same device was used in his early videos, including their first viral hit.

Burns became dissatisfied with the difficult distribution process, and the film was only shown in a handful of festivals. They turned down a bid of about $25,000 to buy because they "wanted to hold onto the story." In Burns' possession, there are a few VHS copies of The Schedule. The trio split up soon after. Heyman and Hullum moved to Los Angeles, while Burns accepted a job at a local tech support company.

Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola, his coworkers and future Red vs. Blue collaborators, were on site. Burns created their first viral video, a Mac Gamer Switch parody, in June 2002.

Burns describes "two vectors that came together, the film guys, and the tech guys" as a catalyst for their triumph.

Burns was involved with Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola in one of their many Internet ventures, while drunkgamers.com produced voiceover-enhanced gameplay videos for the website. The three brothers were huge supporters of Halo: Combat Evolved, 2001, and they were invited to discuss whether an automobile in the game referred to as a Warthog looks like a puma. "This discussion, according to Burns, was "the spark for the whole series." Burns made a trailer for Red vs. Blue on the drunkgamers website, but it was largely ignored, and drunkgamers soon closed down, as seeing the potential for a full story. Computer Gaming World contacted Ramsey four months later for permission to include a different drunken video in a CD that would be sent with the magazine. Ramsey granted permission, but Burns and Burns decided that they wanted a website to get the most benefit from Computer Game World's fame. They resurrected Red vs. Blue and re-released the trailer to coincide with the Computer Gaming World issue. Burns founded Rooster Teeth to produce the show with Sorola, Ramsey, Matt Hullum, and Joel Heyman. On April 1, 2003, the first episode was released. The series is mainly made using the machinima technique of synchronizing video footage from a game to pre-recorded dialogue and other audio.

Burns had hoped that Red vs. Blue would be short, but the project grew beyond his hopes. Burns and Ramsey had preconceived a list of parody tales for which they were entitled six to eight episodes. They learned that the series had fleshed out more than anticipated by episode 8, although they had only seen just about one third of their original list. Thousands of viewers watched the show at the same time as it attracted the attention of major websites like Slashdote, Penny Arcade, and Fark. Burns estimated a series of 22 episodes in season 1; however, despite the series's success, he discovered more potential story than could be covered in that length, and was able to imagine a prolongation of the season 1 plot. Burns and the entire production team eventually resigned and began to work full time on the series; to bring in money, they opened an online store to sell T-shirts.

Burns, who played the role of Church in the first season of Red vs. Blue, became a celebrity in the machinima community. He was the series's producer, writer, and lead actor. At the 2003 Machinima Film Festival, his series received three prizes: Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Independent Machinima Film, as well as three others.

On June 28, 2007, the series officially known as the Blood Gulch Chronicles, concluded its original five-season 100-episode run. The Recollection Trilogy for seasons 6–8 (Reconstruction, Sport, and Revelation), and The Freelancer Saga for seasons 9 and 10. Burns' season eleven, which premiered on June 14, 2013, had Miles Luna's directorial and head writing duties to refocus on other projects. He also does voice work for characters such as Church, Lopez, and Vic.

Burns and Matt Hullum created the comeback web series The Strangerhood in 2004, 13 months after the first season of Red vs. Blue had finished airing. The series uses the same machinima technique used to film Red vs. Blue.

Burns and his Rooster Teeth partners were introduced to the Life Sims 2 game and immediately realized that it would be suitable for a series that parodied reality television, which led to the series's concept. Electronic Arts, the game's developer, allowed them to continue with the project. The series follows eight strangers who awakened one day with no idea where they are or how they arrived. On April 27, 2006, the first season of 17 episodes was released. Strangerhood Studios, a group funded by the Independent Film Channel, was produced in 2005 by the group in collaboration with Paul Marino. This spin-off was the first machinima sequence to be broadcast, and it earned an award for Best Editing at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival.

Burns and Rooster Teeth produced the comic science fiction mini-series P.A.N.I.C.S. The video game F.E.A.R. was based on and filmed in this region. Monolith Productions was hired by Monolith Productions to produce the film for the Director's Edition of the game. Five episodes were included in the series.

The story revolves around a newcomer to Bravo Team, a special military group created to combat supernatural adversaries. Bravo Team has been sent at night into a military facility to look at the evidence of paranormal activity from within as the series begins. This is a parody of the main scenario in F.E.A.R.

Burns first experienced live action with Captain Dynamic a mini-series designed to sell the online game City of Heroes. It was based on a team of writers hired to market Captain Dynamic, the 'worst superhero in the country', using the latest in-game content creation techniques.' Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, a long-time friend, was directed by Matt Hullum and written by Burns.

Fans adored the series, prompting him and Rooster Teeth to produce a new live-action film titled Rooster Teeth Shorts, a parody of life at their offices. The series stars Rooster Teeth's workers, including Burns, who all play caricatures of themselves, as well as occasional appearances by voice actors from some of their machinima movies. The first season had twenty episodes and five seasons, as well as six-second mini episodes that were exclusive to YouTube.

Burns and his Rooster Teeth co-worker Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola co-hosted the first episode of the Drunk Tank audio podcast on December 29, 2008. The podcast is mainly a comedic commentary on the week's popular culture, including video games, latest news, website features, sports, and forthcoming projects. It has since become one of the site's most popular features, as well as a featured podcast in the iTunes Store. Every Wednesday since April 10, 2009, new episodes have been broadcasting on Wednesday, with occasional special episodes or multiple releases in a week.

In September 2011, The Rooster Teeth Podcast was renamed The Rooster Teeth Podcast. Burns has since become available in video format, and Burns continues to make regular appearances. At the 8th Annual Podcast Awards on January 7, the podcast received "Best Gaming Podcast" on January 7. The Rooster Teeth Podcast has recently converted a new way of doing podcasts in which they live stream to "sponsors" on their website, in video, the night before the introduction of the audio podcast on iTunes and their website. The sponsor live stream will then be available on the Rooster website and two days later on YouTube.

In 2010, Burns co-hosted Immersion alongside Griffon Ramsey. The show explores the effects of realistic video games, such as whether the heckling that occasionally occurs in multiplayer video games could harm real soldiers' results. Burns joked in The Rooster Teeth Podcast that the series began as a "elaborate way for [them] to do fun stuff and get paid for it." During the first season, Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola were the test subjects. For the second season, Gavin Free and Michael Jones (of Achievement Hunter) served as the test subjects.

Rooster Teeth and Blip's first collaboration was announced on Halloween 2012 with the premiere of their latest 10-episode, reality game competition series funded by GEICO. The Gauntlet follows gamers from around the world competing in games of talent, concentration, agility, and stamina, inspired by reality competitions Wipeout and The Voice. Ali Baker and Burns hosted the first season. Burns and Joel Heyman hosted Season two, which began on September 7, 2013.

Million Dollars, But..., the pilot episode of Million Dollars, But... premiered on May 21, 2015, but the series's run-up continued on July 9, 2015. Burns and Gavin Free co-hosted the continuing series, with another special guest taking part. Each individual must come up with a realistic situation, for example, one in which the person must argue Adolf Hitler for a year — which the cast reenacts — for which they will be awarded a million dollars.

He has worked on producing Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, a 2012 documentary film about the Swedish video game developer Mojang, the makers of the famous video game Minecraft. He began producing the anime-influenced web series RWBY, created by Monty Oum of Rooster Teeth. In 2014, the premiere of a second season was broadcast. Oum died on February 1, 2015. On October 24, 2015, the show's third season premiered. Burns appeared as executive producer on the show X-Ray and Vav, a cartoon web series starring two Achievement Hunter workers (a video game division of Rooster Teeth). Burns and Gavin Free hosted the documentary The Greatest Head Massage: An ASMR Journey in 2016.

On Indiegogo, Rooster Teeth launched a crowdfunding campaign for the film Lazer Team in June 2014. The fundraiser hit its $650,000 target in less than ten hours and broke Indiegogo's record for the fastest film campaign to reach $700,000. The Lazer Team made $1 million within three days. With over $2.4 million collected in 2015, the Lazer Team set the record for the most funded film campaign on Indiegogo.

Burns said during the campaign that as it makes more money, the film's budget increases. "The initial budget for talent was based on making the film on the bare minimum, with us adding the remainder of the expected budget." For example, that meant using almost exclusively in-house skills. As the budget rises, so do our opportunities to hire all sorts of workers. The same can be said about Visual FX, high quality of props, costuming, lighting, crew, etc. Burns co-wrote, co-produces, and co-stars in the film as Hagan. It was launched in January 2016, making it one of the first titles that Rooster Teeth's parent company, Fullscreen, will distribute in its newly launched feature film division.

Burns appeared in the 2015 short film Hit as Officer Harris and the sports comedy-drama The Outfield. Burns appeared in the YouTube Red series 12 Days from Blumhouse Television.

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