Kevin Burns

For other people named Kevin Burns, see Kevin Burns (disambiguation).

Kevin Burns (June 18, 1955 – September 27, 2020) was an American television and film producer, director, and screenwriter. His work can be seen on A&E, National Geographic Channel, E!, Animal Planet, AMC, Bravo, WE tv, Travel Channel, Lifetime, and The History Channel. Burns created and executive-produced more than 800 hours of television programming.

Kevin Burns
Burns in 2013
Born	(1955-06-18)June 18, 1955 Schenectady, New York, U.S.
Died	September 27, 2020(2020-09-27) (aged 65) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Education	Hamilton College Boston University
Occupation(s)	Producer, director, screenwriter
Years active	1981–2020

Biography

Early life

Born on June 18, 1955, Burns grew up in Niskayuna, New York. Raised Roman Catholic, he graduated from St. Helen’s School before attending Niskayuna High School. In 1977, he graduated cum laude from Hamilton College. In 1981, he received both a master's degree in film from Boston University's College of Communication and a Student Academy Award from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his first film, I Remember Barbra, a humorous documentary short that profiled Barbra Streisand's impact on her former Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. After graduation, Burns taught film production at the university, as well as heading the school's Film Unit, a group that allowed students to gain real-world experience by producing commercials, public service announcements, documentaries, and other projects for clients. In 1988, he moved to Los Angeles, where he began working as an executive at 20th Century Fox Television.

Career

While at Fox, Burns co-founded Foxstar Productions, the production unit responsible for creating a series of Alien Nation movies for television. In 1994, while serving as senior vice-president of Foxstar, he founded Van Ness Films, a non-fiction and documentary production unit. That same year, he met Jon Jashni, a Fox film executive who shared his interest in the works of legendary Hollywood producer Irwin Allen.

In 1999, Burns officially made a transition from his role as a studio executive to that of a full-time producer. While still under a production deal at Fox Television Studios, Burns and Jon Jashni formed Synthesis Entertainment and began developing and producing remakes and sequels of the Allen properties, most notably a Fox Television pilot for an updated version of The Time Tunnel (2002) and the feature film versions of Poseidon (2006) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.

In 1999, Burns also created Prometheus Entertainment, a company specializing in documentary, reality, and non-fiction programming and specials. Here, Burns continued to produce and direct a wide variety of programming, including the reality show The Girls Next Door on E! (about the adventures of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner's three live-in girlfriends), High Maintenance 90210, Hollywood Science for the National Geographic Channel, Food Paradise and Bridget's Sexiest Beaches (both for the Travel Channel) along with Kendra and Holly's World, both spin-offs of The Girls Next Door.

In 2002, Burns received his first of two Emmy Awards as executive producer for A&E's Biography series. That same year, he was selected by George Lucas and Lucasfilm to produce and direct the 150-minute documentary feature Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy. Four years later, he was again selected by Lucas to produce and direct Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed, a feature-length documentary that premiered on The History Channel and went on to earn three Emmy Award nominations. Other specials include Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman, which Burns co-produced with Superman Returns director Bryan Singer; Spider-Man Tech; Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest; Batman Unmasked; Batman Tech; The Valkyrie Legacy, his second co-production with Bryan Singer; and Angels & Demons: Decoded in 2009.

Since 2010, Burns and his company Prometheus Entertainment have produced The History Channel TV series Ancient Aliens, America's Book of Secrets, and The Curse of Oak Island, as well as the reality TV series Kendra on Top for WEtv, and other non-fiction series and specials.

Along with his business partner Jon Jashni, Burns played an integral part in the development and creation of the Lost in Space reboot for Netflix and was serving as executive producer on the show.

Death

Burns died on September 27, 2020, of cardiac arrest at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.

Awards and nominations

Primetime Emmy Awards

• Nominated: Outstanding Cultural Music-Dance Program, Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies (1996)
• Won: Outstanding Non-Fiction Series (Informational), Biography (2002)
• Nominated: Outstanding Nonfiction Series, Biography (TV Series) (2006)
• Nominated: Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)
• Nominated: Outstanding Nonfiction Special, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)
• Nominated: Outstanding Nonfiction Series, Biography (TV Series) (2007)
• Nominated: Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming, Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)

Daytime Emmy Awards

• Won: Outstanding Special Class Special, Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (2003)

DVD Exclusive Awards

• Nominated: Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes, Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001)
• Won: Best Original Retrospective Documentary, *Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001)
• Won: Best Behind the Scenes Program (New for DVD), Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2005)

International Monitor Awards

• Won: Documentaries – Director, Hollywood Aliens & Monsters (1998)

Student Academy Awards, US

• Won: Documentary, I Remember Barbra (1981)

Filmography

Film	Year	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Producer	Writer
I Remember Barbra	1981	Yes	Yes	No
In Our Hands	1982	No	Yes	No
Meet Bertice	1993	No	Yes	No
Alien Nation: Dark Horizon	1994	No	Yes	No	uncredited
Biography	1995-2005	Yes	Yes	Yes	director 1995-1997 writer 1996-1997
The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen	1995	Yes	Yes	Yes
Alien Nation: Body and Soul	1995	No	Yes	No	uncredited
A Hollywood Christmas	1996	Yes	Yes	Yes
Alien Nation: Millennium	1996	No	Yes	No
Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies	1996	Yes	Yes	No
Monster Mania	1997	Yes	Yes	No
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults	1997	No	Yes	No
Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults	1997	Yes	Yes	No
Twentieth Century-Fox: The First 50 Years	1997	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hollywood Aliens & Monsters	1997	Yes	No	No
Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood	1998	No	Yes	No
Beyond Titanic	1998	No	Yes	No
Behind the Planet of the Apes	1998	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lost in Space Forever	1998	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hugh Hefner: American Playboy Revisited	1998	Yes	No	No
TV Guide Looks at Cops	1998	Yes	No	No
TV Guide Looks at Christmas	1998	Yes	No	No
Famous Families	1998	No	Yes	No	17 episodes
The Bunny Years	1999	No	Yes	No
Who Knew?	1999	No	Yes	No
Bride of Monster Mania	1999	No	Yes	No
Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania	1999	No	Yes	No
Hollywood's Hot Wheels	1999	No	Yes	No
Hollywood Screen Tests	1999	No	Yes	No
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2	1999	No	Yes	No
Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the Chinese Theatre Footprints	2000	No	Yes	No
The Fly Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood's Scariest Insect	2000	No	Yes	No
Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years	2000	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years	2000	Yes	Yes	No
Backstory	2000	No	Yes	Yes	producer 55 episodes writer 2 episodes
Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood	2001	Yes	Yes	Yes
Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days	2001	No	Yes	No
The Omen Legacy	2001	No	Yes	No
History vs. Hollywood	2001	No	Yes	No	16 episodes
The Time Tunnel	2002	No	Yes	No
Inside The Playboy Mansion	2002	Yes	Yes	Yes
Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s	2002	No	Yes	No
The Alien Saga	2002	No	Yes	No
Monsterama	2003	No	Yes	No	24episodes
Hell Up in Hollywood: Soul Cinema and the 1970s	2003	No	Yes	No
50 Greatest TV Animals	2003	No	Yes	No
Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest	2003	No	Yes	No
Sex at 24 Frames Per Second: The Ultimate Journey Through Sex in Cinema	2003	No	Yes	No
Playboy's 50th Anniversary Celebration	2003	No	Yes	No
Monsterama: Munsters Collectibles	2003	No	No	Yes
Monsterama: Aurora Model Kits	2003	No	No	Yes
The Robinsons: Lost in Space	2004	No	Yes	No
Just the Facts	2004	No	Yes	Yes
50 Greatest Movie Animals	2004	No	Yes	No
Love Hollywood Style	2004	No	Yes	No
Animal Icons	2004	No	Yes	No	17 episodes
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy	2004	Yes	Yes	No
Ultimate Super Heroes	2005	No	Yes	No
Ultimate Super Villains	2005	No	Yes	No
Ultimate Super Vixens	2005	No	Yes	No
The Girls Next Door	2005-2009	No	Yes	No
Poseidon	2006	No	Yes	No
Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman	2006	Yes	Yes	No
The Science of Superman	2006	No	Yes	No
Hollywood Science	2006	No	Yes	No	5 episodes
High Maintenance 90210	2007	No	Yes	No	6 episodes
Spider-Man Tech	2007	No	Yes	No
Star Wars Tech	2007	No	Yes	No
Star Warriors	2007	Yes	Yes	No
Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed	2007	Yes	Yes	Yes
Food Paradise	2007-2013	No	Yes	No	52 episodes
Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest	2008	Yes	Yes	No
Batman Unmasked	2008	No	Yes	No
Batman Tech	2008	No	Yes	No
Vegas Revolution	2008	No	Yes	No	6 episodes
The Valkyrie Legacy	2008	Yes	Yes	No
Kendra	2008-2011	No	Yes	No
Ladies or Gentlemen	2008	Yes	Yes	No
The Face is Familiar	2009	Yes	Yes	No
Angels & Demons: Decoded	2009	No	Yes	No
Bridget's Sexiest Beaches	2009	No	Yes	No
Holly's World	2009-2011	No	Yes	No	19 episodes
The President's Book of Secrets	2010	No	Yes	No
Ancient Aliens	2010-2020	No	Yes	No
Hef's Runaway Bride	2011	No	Yes	No
Civilization: Lost	2011	No	Yes	No
How Playboy Changed the World	2012	Yes	Yes	No
The Godfather Legacy	2012	Yes	Yes	No
America's Book of Secrets	2012-2013	No	Yes	No	33 episodes
Birth/Mothers	2012	No	Yes	No
Kendra on Top	2012-2017	No	Yes	No
Bible Secrets Revealed	2013-2014	No	Yes	No	6 episodes
_target: Earth	2013	No	Yes	No
Secret Societies of Hollywood	2013	No	Yes	No	5 episodes
In Search of Aliens	2013	No	Yes	No	10 episodes
The Curse of Oak Island	2014-2020	No	Yes	No
Cesar Millan: Love My Pit Bull	2014	No	Yes	No
Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color	2015	No	Yes	No
The Secret Life of: America's Tallest Buildings	2017	No	Yes	No
Vanished	2017	No	Yes	No
The Tesla Files	2018	No	Yes	No
The Curse of Civil War Gold	2018	No	Yes	No
Lost in Space	2018	No	Yes	No

External links

• Kevin Burns at IMDb
• Kevin Burns discography at Discogs