Scott Z. Burns

Scott Z. Burns
Born	(1962-07-17) July 17, 1962 (age 63) Golden Valley, Minnesota, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Minnesota
Occupations	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, screenwriter, and playwright.

Early life and education

Burns was born in 1962 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] He also wrote a screenplay for The Man from U.N.C.L.E , which was initially intended to be directed by Soderbergh but was ultimately directed by Guy Ritchie. ^[6] Burns also produced the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth (2006). ^[7] He wrote and directed the film The Report (2019), a drama about the secret torture program inside the CIA. ^[8] He performed uncredited rewrites on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes , the Star Wars film Rogue One and the James Bond film No Time to Die (2021). ^{[9] [10] [11]}

Public interest in Burns's film Contagion (2011) renewed during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the seventh-most downloaded film on iTunes by March 6, 2020. ^{[12] [13]}

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 ^[14]

Burns was announced to write the screenplay for a new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel American Psycho , with Luca Guadagnino directing and Lionsgate distributing. ^[15]

Burns also wrote a screenplay for a Star Wars film set after Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker , entitled The Hunt for Ben Solo ^[16] (and operating under the code name Quiet Leaves), ^[17] directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Adam Driver as Ben Solo/Kylo Ren. While Lucasfilm loved the idea, when they presented the screenplay to Disney, Bob Iger and Alan Bergman said no because, according to Driver, "They didn't see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that." ^[16] Still, Burns received a reportedly seven-figure payment for the script. ^[17]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Notes
2006	An Inconvenient Truth	No	No	Yes
	Pu-239	Yes	Yes	No
2007	The Bourne Ultimatum	No	Yes	No
2009	The Informant!	No	Yes	No
2011	Contagion	No	Yes	No
2013	Side Effects	No	Yes	Yes
2014	Last Days	No	Yes	No	Animated short documentary film
2014	Dawn of the Planet of the Apes	No	Uncredited	No
2016	Rogue One	No	Uncredited	No
2017	The Mercy [18]	No	Yes	Yes
2019	The Report	Yes	Yes	Yes
	The Laundromat	No	Yes	Yes
2021	No Time to Die	No	Uncredited	No

Television

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Executive producer	Notes
2007	Californication	Yes	No	No	Episode "Filthy Lucre"
2018	The View from Here	Yes	No	Yes	TV miniseries
2019	The Loudest Voice	Yes	No	No	Episode "2016"
2023	Extrapolations	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also showrunner
2024	Dune: Prophecy	No	No	Yes

Plays

Year	Title
2014	The Library [19] [20] [21]

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. Jr, Mike Fleming (March 18, 2013). "Tom Cruise Eyeing 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' With Guy Ritchie At Warner Bros". Deadline. Retrieved December 28, 2025.
7. Gilchrist, Todd (October 11, 2019). "Scott Z. Burns Receives Variety Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award at Mill Valley Film Festival". Variety. Retrieved December 28, 2025.
8. N'Duka, Amanda (May 1, 2018). "'The Torture Report': Tim Blake Nelson, Ben McKenzie, Matthew Rhys & More Round Cast Of CIA Drama – Cannes". Deadline.
9. "'Contagion' Writer Tapped to Pen 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. May 15, 2012. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2012.
10. Perez, Rodrigo (August 29, 2018). "Chris Weitz Says Christopher McQuarrie, Scott Z. Burns & More Wrote On Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". The Playlist. Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
11. https://theplaylist.net/scott-z-burns-writing-no-time-to-die-climate-change-projects-interview-20210930/
12. 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
13. "'Contagion,' Steven Soderbergh's 2011 Thriller, Is Climbing Up the Charts", The New York Times , March 4, 2020, retrieved March 25, 2020
14. Setoodeh, Ramin (March 12, 2020). "'Contagion' Screenwriter on Coronavirus, Donald Trump and What We Can Do". Variety .
15. Gajewski, Ryan (April 1, 2025). "Luca Guadagnino Teases New 'American Psycho' Movie". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved April 6, 2025.
16. "Adam Driver on Jarmusch, 'Star Wars' and putting filmmakers first". AP News. October 20, 2025. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
17. Rodrigo Perez (October 24, 2025). "'The Hunt For Ben Solo': Steven Soderbergh & Adam Driver's Secret 'Star Wars' Movie Was Greenlit Before Disney Pulled The Plug [Exclusive]". The Playlist. Archived from the original on October 24, 2025. Retrieved October 25, 2025.
18. "Bristol Live - latest local news, sport & business from Bristol".
19. 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.
20. Healy, Patrick (January 16, 2014). "Soderbergh to Direct New Play at Public Theater". The New York Times.
21. Rooney, David (January 16, 2014). "Steven Soderbergh to Direct Off-Broadway Play Starring Chloe Grace Moretz". The Hollywood Reporter.

External links

• Scott Z. Burns at IMDb