Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns (born January 18, 1973) is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian, host, and director previously based in Austin, Texas. He was a co-founder, former chief executive officer, and former chief creative officer of Rooster Teeth. He is noted for his contributions in machinima, a form of film-making that uses video game technology in its production,[1] and also works with animation and live action.[2] Burns is also known for his work in the hosting and podcasting field.
In April 2003, Burns, along with several friends and co-workers, created the machinima series Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles. Filmed using the video game Halo,Red vs. Blue was acclaimed for its humor and originality, making Burns an Internet celebrity.[3] His success allowed him to co-found the production company Rooster Teeth.[4] After the immediate popularity of Red vs. Blue, Burns attracted the attention of video game company Electronic Arts, who asked him to create a promotional series using their upcoming game, The Sims 2. The result was The Strangerhood. Burns also premiered P.A.N.I.C.S., a mini-series that utilizes the F.E.A.R. game engine. In 2016, Burns starred in the science fiction comedy film Lazer Team and its sequel the following year, both of which he co-wrote.
As one of the innovators in the field of machinima, he has made guest appearances at the Penny Arcade Expo, San Diego Comic-Con, Sundance and The Sydney Film Festival.[3][5][6] For his work on 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, he has been nominated for two IAWTV awards in the "Best Host of a Web Series (Pre-Recorded)" category.[7] He was named one of the "Top 25 Digital Stars" by The Hollywood Reporter in 2015.[8] Alongside longtime-business partner Matt Hullum, he was named one of Variety's top Digital Entertainment Execs to Watch in 2018.[9]
Early life
Burns being interviewed by TSTV in 2012 about his time at University of Texas and his career since
After high school, he was accepted at the University of Notre Dame but, unable to afford the tuition, he chose to attend The University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science.[12][4][13] While there, Burns got his start in video production by volunteering at K29HW-D, Texas Student Television. During his time with TSTV, he founded Sneak Peek, the longest-running student television program in the world,[14] in which he reviewed films and conducted interviews with guests such as Adam Sandler.[15]
Burns went on to become the president of the tech support company teleNetwork Partners, and eventually broke out to form his independent company Rooster Teeth.[16]
Career
First film and viral video: 1997–2002
In his final year of university, Burns was intent on making a movie. Joel Heyman and Matt Hullum, who were roommates at the time, agreed to help, with the former agreeing to star and the latter helping write, produce and direct. They shot The Schedule (1997) over a three-month period on 16mm film for $9,000.[17] It took 10 months to edit on a non-linear editor Burns himself built.[18] That same system was used in his early videos, including their first viral hit.
Burns became frustrated with the difficult distribution process and the film only screened in a few festivals. They turned down an offer of about $25,000 to buy because they "wanted to hold onto the story."[18] A few VHS copies of The Schedule exist in Burns's possession. Soon after, the trio parted ways. Heyman and Hullum went to Los Angeles, while Burns accepted a position at a local tech support company.
There, he met his co-workers and future Red vs. Blue collaborators Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola. In June 2002, Burns teamed up with his colleagues to create their first viral video, a Mac Gamer Switch parody.[19]
That moment is probably the single most important moment in the history of this company. Even more so than when we put the first video of Red vs. Blue online. That's when we developed a lot of the early strategies... that's why to this day we still have a website, we still have our own presence on there, which we think is an important part of what we do."[20]
Burns attributes "two vectors that came together, the movie guys and the tech guys," as being a catalyst for their success.[21]
Red vs. Blue: 2003–2024
Burnie Burns at RTX 2017 convention in Austin, Texas during the "Red vs Blue" panel discussion
Burns joined Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola in one of their many Internet ventures, drunkgamers.com creating voiceover-enhanced gameplay videos for the website. The trio were giant enthusiasts of the 2001 first-person shooter video game Halo: Combat Evolved, leading them to discuss whether an automobile in the game known as a Warthog looks like a puma. Burns has said that this discussion was "the spark for the whole series".[22] Seeing potential for a full story, Burns created a trailer for Red vs. Blue, which was released September 5, 2002 on the drunkgamers website, but it was largely ignored, and, for unrelated reasons, drunkgamers soon closed. Four months later, Computer Gaming World contacted Ramsey for permission to include a different drunkgamers video in a CD to be distributed with the magazine. Ramsey granted permission, but he and Burns felt that they needed a website to take advantage of the exposure from Computer Gaming World. They therefore resurrected Red vs. Blue and re-released the trailer to coincide with the Computer Gaming World issue. Burns founded the production company Rooster Teeth to produce the show with Sorola, Ramsey, Matt Hullum and Joel Heyman. The first episode was released on April 1, 2003. The series is primarily produced using the machinima technique of synchronizing video footage from a game to pre-recorded dialogue and other audio.[23]
Burns initially envisioned Red vs. Blue to be short, but the series grew beyond his expectations. Burns and Ramsey had preconceived a list of jokes for which they allocated six to eight episodes. By episode 8, however, they realized that the series had fleshed out more than expected; they had covered only about one third of their original list.[24] At the same time, the show received the attention of major websites such as Slashdot, Penny Arcade, and Fark, leading to thousand of views.[25] Later in season 1, Burns estimated a series of 22 episodes; however, driven by the series' popularity, he realized that there was more potential story than could be covered in that length,[26] and was able to conceive an extension of the season 1 plot. Burns and the whole production team eventually quit their jobs and began to work full-time on the series; to generate revenue they created an online store to sell T-shirts.[16]
After the first season of Red vs. Blue, Burns became a celebrity in the machinima community. As the director, writer, and lead actor of the series, he was the driving force behind the series. His series earned three awards at the 2003 Machinima Film Festival – Best Picture, Best Writing, and Best Independent Machinima Film – and was nominated for three others.[27]
The series completed its original five season 100-episode run on June 28, 2007, collectively known as the Blood Gulch Chronicles. Subsequent seasons were re-tooled with The Recollection Trilogy for seasons 6–8 (Reconstruction, Recreation, and Revelation), and The Freelancer Saga for seasons 9 and 10. Since season eleven, which premiered on June 14, 2013, Burns handed directorial and head writing duties to Miles Luna to shift his focus onto other projects. He still provided voice work for characters such as Church, Lopez and Vic until 2021 when Lopez was recast with Eddy Rivas taking over the role. In 2023, it was announced Burns would return to write the show's final season with longtime business partner Matt Hullum also returning as director, planned to air in 2024.[28]
The Strangerhood and PANICS: 2004–2006
In 2004, 13 months after the first season of Red vs. Blue had finished airing, Burns and Matt Hullum created the comedy web series The Strangerhood. The series uses the same machinima technique used to film Red vs. Blue.
The idea for the series came from the E3gaming convention where Burns and his Rooster Teeth partners were introduced to the life simulation gameThe Sims 2 and realized that the game would be suitable for a series that parodied reality television. The game's publisher Electronic Arts allowed them to continue with the project.[29] The series centers on eight strangers who awake one day unaware of where they are or how they arrived there.[30] Its first season of 17 episodes completed on April 27, 2006.[31] In 2005, the group collaborated with Paul Marino[32] on Strangerhood Studios, a spin-off commissioned by the Independent Film Channel.[33] This spin-off was the first machinima series to be commissioned for broadcast[33] and won an award for Best Editing at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival.[34]
The following year Burns and Rooster Teeth created the comic science fiction machinima mini-series P.A.N.I.C.S. based on and filmed using the video game F.E.A.R. developed by Monolith Productions, who asked them to produce the series for the Director's Edition of the game. The series consists of five episodes.[35]
The story centers on a newcomer to Bravo Team, a special military group formed to battle supernatural enemies. As the series begins, Bravo Team has been sent into a military facility at night to investigate the reports of paranormal activity from within. This is a parody of the main scenario used in F.E.A.R.
Return to live-action, Captain Dynamic and RT Shorts: 2009
Burns first returned to live-action with Captain Dynamic a mini-series to promote the online game City of Heroes.[36] It was based around a team of writers hired to use the new in-game content creation tools to promote the title character, Captain Dynamic, the 'worst superhero in the world'. Directed by Matt Hullum and written by Burns, the series starred Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies, who is a long time friend.
The series was well received by fans, which led him and Rooster Teeth to begin producing a new live-action series, titled Rooster Teeth Shorts (also referred to as RT Shorts), a sketch comedy which parodies life at their offices. The series features the staff of Rooster Teeth, including Burns, who all play caricatures of themselves, as well as occasional appearances from voice actors from some of their machinima series. The first season ran for twenty episodes and five seasons have since followed, as well as six-second mini episodes released exclusively through the video sharing service Vine.
Hosting and producing work: 2008–2015
Burns in the Rooster Teeth office in Austin, Texas in 2008
On December 29, 2008 Burns co-hosted the inaugural episode of the Drunk Tank audio podcast, alongside his Rooster Teeth co-workers Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola. The podcast consists largely of comedic commentary on the popular culture of the week, including video games, recent news, website features, sports and upcoming projects and is available for download through iTunes, Zune Marketplace and their website. It has since become one of the more popular features of the site, at one point becoming the #1 most downloaded podcast on iTunes, as well as a featured podcast in the iTunes Store. New episodes have been released regularly every Wednesday since April 10, 2009, with occasional special episodes or multiple releases in one week.
In September 2011, the podcast was renamed The Rooster Teeth Podcast. The show has since become available in video form and Burns continues to make regular appearances. On January 7, the podcast won "Best Gaming Podcast" at the 8th Annual Podcast Awards.[37] The Rooster Teeth Podcast has recently adapted a new style of doing podcasts in which they live stream to "sponsors" on their website, in video, the night before the release of the audio podcast on iTunes and their site. The sponsor live stream is then later available 1 day on the Rooster website and 2 days later on YouTube.
Burns began co-hosting Immersion alongside Griffon Ramsey in 2010. The show tests the concepts of video games in real life, such as whether the heckling that sometimes occurs in multiplayer video games would negatively affect the performance of real soldiers. Burns joked in The Rooster Teeth Podcast that the series started as an "elaborate way for [them] to do fun stuff and get paid for it".[38]Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola were the test subjects throughout the first season. Gavin Free and Michael Jones (of Achievement Hunter) served as the test subjects for the second season.
On Halloween 2012, a partnership between Rooster Teeth and Blip was announced, with the premiere of their new 10-episode, reality game competition series sponsored by GEICO.[39]The Gauntlet follows gamers from around the United States competing in contests of skills, concentration, agility and stamina, inspired by reality competitions Wipeout and The Voice. The first season was hosted by Ali Baker and Burns. Season two was hosted by Burns and Joel Heyman and began on September 7, 2013.
The pilot episode of Million Dollars, But... premiered on May 21, 2015, with the series continuing on July 9, 2015. The ongoing series is frequently co-hosted by Burns and Gavin Free, with another special guest taking part. Each person has to come up with a typically difficult scenario, for example one where the person has to date Adolf Hitler for a year — which the cast comically re-enact — for which they will be given a million dollars.
His producing work includes executive producing the 2012 documentary film Minecraft: The Story of Mojang, about the Swedish video game developer Mojang, the creators of the popular video game Minecraft. In 2013, he began executive producing the anime-influenced[40] web series RWBY, created by Rooster Teeth employee Monty Oum. A second season premiered in 2014. Oum died on February 1, 2015.[41] A third season of the show premiered on October 24, 2015.[42] In 2014, Burns served as executive producer on the show X-Ray and Vav, a cartoon web series starring two Achievement Hunter employees (a video gaming division of Rooster Teeth) Gavin Free and Ray Narvaez, Jr. In 2016, Burns and Gavin Free hosted the documentary World's Greatest Head Massage: An ASMR Journey.[43]
In June 2014, Rooster Teeth launched a crowdfunding campaign for the film Lazer Team on Indiegogo. The fundraiser reached its $650,000 goal in under 10 hours and broke Indiegogo's record for the fastest film campaign to reach $700,000.[44][45] Within three days, Lazer Team broke $1 million.[46]As of 2015[update], Lazer Team held the record for the highest funded film campaign on Indiegogo with over $2.4 million collected.[47]
Burns explained during the campaign that as it makes more money, the film's budget scales up. "The initial budget for talent was based on making the movie on the bare minimum with us throwing in the remainder of the expected budget. For instance, that meant using talent almost exclusively from in-house. As the budget grows, so do our opportunities to approach all kinds of talent. The same applies to Visual FX, quality of props and costuming, lighting, crew, etc."[48] Burns co-wrote, co-produces, and co-stars in the film as Hagan. It was released in January 2016, making it among the first titles that Rooster Teeth's parent company, Fullscreen, will be distributing in its newly launched feature film division.[49]
Burns appeared in the 2015 short film, Hit, as Officer Harris and the sports comedy-drama The Outfield.[50][51] Burns appeared in the YouTube Red series 12 Deadly Days from Blumhouse Television.[52]
Post-Rooster Teeth and Morning Somewhere: 2019–present
In September 2019, Burns' involvement within Rooster Teeth became one of executive producer, withdrawing from on camera appearances focusing on larger projects behind the scenes.[citation needed]
In June 2020, Burns officially left Rooster Teeth, announcing on his blog a focus on his family alongside a move abroad.[53]
On December 26, 2023, after a period of withdrawal from the public eye, Burns launched the daily podcast Morning Somewhere, co-hosted with wife Ashley Burns in their home in Scotland.
He married Jordan Burns in August 2000 and divorced in December 2011. Burns became engaged to The Know host Ashley Jenkins in early 2016.[58] They married in June 2019.[59]
Burns has three sons and one daughter.[60][61][62]
He mainly resided in Austin, Texas, after briefly spending time in Los Angeles, California.[63] When Burns announced his resignation from Rooster Teeth on June 11, 2020, he also announced he was moving away from the United States.[64] He has since moved away from public life and has kept his family’s current location private, until December 27, 2023 when he revealed on a podcast that they moved to Scotland.
Machinima is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words machine and cinema. According to Guinness World Records, machinima is the art of making animated narrative films from computer graphics, most commonly using the same engines used by video games.
Red vs. Blue, often abbreviated as RvB, is an American web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media franchise Halo. It is distributed through Rooster Teeth's website, as well as on DVD, Blu-ray, and formerly on the El Rey Network and Netflix. The series initially centers on two opposite teams fighting in an ostensible civil war—shown to actually be a live fire exercise for elite soldiers—in the middle of Blood Gulch, a desolate box canyon, in a parody of first-person shooter video games, military life, and science fiction films.
Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC was an American entertainment company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth was a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment, which is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Strangerhood is a comedy series created by Rooster Teeth Productions. The series is produced primarily by using the machinima technique of synchronizing video footage from video game to pre-recorded dialogue and other audio. The animation is created using the video game The Sims 2 as a parody of sitcoms and reality television. The series details the lives of eight "assorted stereotypes" who wake up living in a neighborhood called Strangerhood Lane, with no memory of who they are, where they are, or how they got there.
Joel Pearce Heyman is an American actor, best known for voicing Michael J. Caboose in the Rooster Teeth web series Red vs. Blue from 2003 until 2020. He co-founded Rooster Teeth with Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola and has appeared in their other projects, including The Strangerhood, The Gauntlet (2012) and RWBY (2013–2020).
Matthew Jay Hullum is an American film director, producer, writer, actor and visual effects supervisor living in Austin, Texas. He was one of five co-founders and former CEO of production company Rooster Teeth, which specializes in online content, including live-action series, podcasts, animation and machinima, an art using game engines to create films.
Geoffrey Lazer Ramsey is an American voice actor, film producer and internet personality. He co-founded the production company Rooster Teeth and is known for voicing Dexter Grif in the web series Red vs. Blue. He also co-founded Achievement Hunter, a now defunct gaming division of Rooster Teeth.
The following is a list of notable machinima-related events in the year 2006. These include several new machinima productions, season finales, and the 2006 Machinima Festival.
The following is a list of notable machinima-related events in the year 2005. These include several new machinima productions, season finales, and the 2005 Machinima Film Festival.
The following is a list of notable machinima-related events in 2007.
Monyreak "Monty" Oum was an American web-based animator and writer.
Gavin David Free is an English actor, director, cinematographer and internet personality. He is best known for his work at Rooster Teeth—where he formerly served as creative director—featuring in many of their projects, including the Achievement Hunter gaming division. He directed season 7 of Red vs. Blue, as well as its miniseries Relocated.
Barbara Julie Dunkelman (born July 2, 1989) is a Canadian actress and internet personality. She is known for her work with the former production company Rooster Teeth, where she served as a Creative Director and was formerly the Director of Social and Community Marketing and a Program Director for RTX. She also provides the voice of Yang Xiao Long in the web series RWBY and Nerris in Camp Camp, and is a partial owner of the FCF Wild Aces Indoor Football Team.
Lazer Team is a 2015 American science fiction action comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by Matt Hullum. The first feature film produced by Rooster Teeth, it stars Burnie Burns, Gavin Free, Michael Jones, Colton Dunn, Allie DeBerry, and Alan Ritchson. The film follows the Lazer Team, a group of four who find themselves responsible for the fate of the planet upon discovering an alien crash site containing a battle suit.
Achievement Hunter was an American video gaming division of Rooster Teeth Productions. Founded by Geoff Ramsey and Jack Pattillo on July 6, 2008, the website was originally based on the achievement mechanic in video games but grew to become a core component of Rooster Teeth, hosting a wide variety of videos related to video games. Achievement Hunter dissolved after publishing its final video on October 1, 2023, with all members having moved elsewhere within Rooster Teeth, which itself closed in May 2024.
Gustavo Raul "Gus" Sorola III is an American actor and podcast host.
The Rooster Teeth Podcast, formerly known as the Drunk Tank, is a podcast produced by Rooster Teeth that aired weekly from December 9, 2008 to April 22, 2024 and featured various members of Rooster Teeth's staff discussing different topics each week. Throughout its run, main hosts included Rooster Teeth founders Gus Sorola, Burnie Burns, Geoff Ramsey and Joel Heyman as well as Gavin Free, Jack Pattillo and Barbara Dunkelman while Armando Torres, Griff Milton and Andrew Rosas acted as its final hosts. It is sometimes advertised as simply The RT Podcast. It was named Best Gaming Podcast by the Podcast Awards in 2012 and 2013.
Lazer Team 2 is a 2017 American science fiction action comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Matt Hullum and Daniel Fabelo. The film is a sequel to 2015's Lazer Team, and follows the team traveling through a wormhole to find their missing friend Woody. It was released on YouTube Red in November 2017. It received positive reviews, with critics generally considering it to be an improvement from its predecessor. Financially, it grossed less than $20,000, significantly less than its predecessor.
The Eleven Little Roosters is an American spy comedy web series created by Josh Flanagan and co-directed and co-written by Blaine Gibson and Flanagan. It stars Zach Anner, Burnie Burns, Barbara Dunkelman, Gavin Free, Ashley Jenkins, Geoff Ramsey and Gus Sorola. It is the successor to the 2014 series Ten Little Roosters, acting as an spy thriller that pits international assassins against each other. It premiered on Rooster Teeth's website on January 16, 2017.
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