Scott Z. Burns

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Scott Z. Burns
Born (1962-07-17) July 17, 1962 (age 61)
Golden Valley, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma mater University of Minnesota
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, director, producer
Notable work The Bourne Ultimatum
The Informant!
Contagion
Side Effects
The Laundromat

Scott Z. Burns (born July 17, 1962) is an American filmmaker and playwright.

Contents

Early life and education

On July 17, 1962(61 years ago), Burns was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota. [1]

In 1985, Burns graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English from the University of Minnesota. [2]

Career

After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Burns began his career in advertising, later becoming a television commercials director. He was part of the team at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners that created the original Got Milk? campaign. [3] [4]

Burns has written screenplays for The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Informant! (2009), and Contagion (2011), all of which feature Matt Damon. His films The Informant! (2009), Contagion (2011), and Side Effects (2013) were directed by Steven Soderbergh. [5] Burns also produced the Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth (2006). He wrote and directed the film The Report (2019), a drama about the secret torture program inside the CIA. [6]

Public interest in Burns' film Contagion (2011) renewed during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the seventh-most downloaded film on iTunes by March 6, 2020. [7] [8]

In a March 2020 interview, Burns commented on the film's resurgence and similarities to the active pandemic, especially in the wake of a round of CDC budget cuts:

"I was terrified. Every scientist who I spoke to when I worked on the movie said that exact same thing to me: It's not a matter of 'if,' it's a matter of 'when.' You can decide that most of the time, firemen are just sitting around. But it's very hard to start a fire department once your house is on fire. And so the notion that we're going to cut these things and we'll just try to rebuild them when we need them is foolish and dangerous. I was very aware that our Department of Homeland Security had a pandemic team standing by because this is a real threat. The fact that this administration decided to do away with that puts all of us at risk."

— Scott Burns [9]

Filmography

Films

YearTitleDirectorWriterProducer
2006 An Inconvenient Truth NoNoYes
Pu-239 YesYesNo
2007 The Bourne Ultimatum NoYesNo
2009 The Informant! NoYesNo
2011 Contagion NoYesNo
2013 Side Effects NoYesYes
2017 The Mercy [10] NoYesYes
2019 The Report YesYesYes
The Laundromat NoYesYes

Television

YearTitleDirectorWriterExecutive
Producer		Notes
2007 Californication YesNoNoEpisode "Filthy Lucre"
2019 The Loudest Voice YesNoNoEpisode "2016"
2023 Extrapolations YesYesYesAlso showrunner

Plays

YearTitle
2014 The Library [11] [12] [13]

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References

  1. ↑ "Star Tribune". Star Tribune . Archived from the original on January 21, 2012.
  2. ↑ "CLA Alumni of Notable Achievement". Cla.umn.edu. Archived from the original on January 16, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Scott Z. Burns".
  4. ↑ Goldrich, Robert (October 25, 2019). "Writer-Director Scott Z. Burns Reflects on "The Report"". Shoot Online.
  5. ↑ Scott, A. O. (February 7, 2013). "May Cause Greed, Lust or Retirement". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ N'Duka, Amanda (May 1, 2018). "'The Torture Report': Tim Blake Nelson, Ben McKenzie, Matthew Rhys & More Round Cast Of CIA Drama – Cannes". Deadline.
  7. ↑ Pandemic movie 'Contagion' is surging in popularity due to the coronavirus and has hit the No. 7 spot on iTunes, Business Insider, March 6, 2020, retrieved March 25, 2020
  8. ↑ "'Contagion,' Steven Soderbergh's 2011 Thriller, Is Climbing Up the Charts", The New York Times , March 4, 2020, retrieved March 25, 2020
  9. ↑ Setoodeh, Ramin (March 12, 2020). "'Contagion' Screenwriter on Coronavirus, Donald Trump and What We Can Do". Variety .
  10. ↑ "Bristol Live - latest local news, sport & business from Bristol".
  11. ↑ The Public Theater (April 18, 2014). "The Library". publictheater.org. The Public Theater. Archived from the original on April 8, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  12. ↑ Healy, Patrick (January 16, 2014). "Soderbergh to Direct New Play at Public Theater". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ Rooney, David (January 16, 2014). "Steven Soderbergh to Direct Off-Broadway Play Starring Chloe Grace Moretz". The Hollywood Reporter.
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