Kevin Burns

Early life

Burns grew up in Niskayuna, New York and graduated cum laude from Hamilton College in 1977. In 1981 he received both a master's degree in film from Boston University's College of Communication and a Student Academy Award for his first film, I Remember Barbra, a humorous documentary short which profiled Barbra Streisand's impact on her former Brooklyn, New York neighbors. 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.^[2]

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 Burns's interest in the works of legendary Hollywood producer Irwin Allen.^[2]

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.^[3]

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^[4]), High Maintenance 90210,^[5] 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,^[6] a feature-length documentary which 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^[7], and The Curse of Oak Island along with 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 will serve as executive producer on the show, slated for release in 2018. ^[8]

Producer

• I Remember Barbra (1981)
• In Our Hands (1982)
• Meet Bertice (1993)
• Alien Nation: Dark Horizon (Uncredited, 1994)
• Biography (167 episodes, 1995–2005)
• The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995)
• Alien Nation: Body and Soul (Uncredited, 1995)
• A Hollywood Christmas (1996)
• Alien Nation: Millennium (Uncredited, 1996)
• Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies (1996)
• Monster Mania (1997)
• Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults (1997)
• Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1997)
• Twentieth Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1915–1965) (1997)
• Small Steps, Big Strides: The Black Experience in Hollywood (1915–1970) (1998)
• Beyond Titanic (1998)
• Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
• Lost in Space Forever (1998)
• The Bunny Years (1999)
• Who Knew ? (1999)
• Bride of Monster Mania (1999)
• Attack of the 50 Foot Monster Mania (1999)
• Hollywood's Hot Wheels (1999)
• Hollywood Screen Tests (1999)
• Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999)
• Famous Families (17 episodes, 1998–1999)
• Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the Chinese Theatre Footprints (2000)
• The Fly Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood's Scariest Insect (2000)
• Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years (1965–2000) (2000)
• Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970) (2000)
• Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001)
• Marilyn Monroe: The Final Days (2001)
• The Omen Legacy (2001)
• The Time Tunnel (2002)
• History vs. Hollywood (16 episodes, 2001–2002)
• Inside the Playboy Mansion (2002)
• Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (2002)
• The Alien Saga (2002)
• Monsterama (24 episodes)(2003)
• Hell Up in Hollywood: Soul Cinema and the 1970s (2003)
• 50 Greatest TV Animals (2003)
• Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest (2003)
• Sex at 24 Frames Per Second: The Ultimate Journey Through Sex in Cinema (2003)
• Playboy's 50th Anniversary Celebration (2003)
• The Robinsons: Lost in Space (2004)
• Just the Facts (2004)
• 50 Greatest Movie Animals (2004)
• Love Hollywood Style (2004)
• Animal Icons (17 episodes, 2004)
• Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004)
• Backstory (55 episodes, 2000–2005)
• Ultimate Super Heroes (2005)
• Ultimate Super Villains (2005)
• Ultimate Super Vixens (2005)
• The Girls Next Door (90 episodes, 2005–2009)
• Poseidon (2006)
• Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman (2006)
• The Science of Superman (2006)
• Hollywood Science (5 episodes, 2006)
• High Maintenance 90210 (6 episodes, 2007)
• Spider-Man Tech (2007)
• Star Wars Tech (2007)
• Star Warriors (2007)
• Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)
• Food Paradise (52 episodes, 2007–2013)
• Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest (2008)
• Batman Unmasked (2008)
• Batman Tech (2008)
• Vegas Revolution (6 episodes, 2008)
• The Valkyrie Legacy (2008)
• Kendra (43 episodes, 2008–2011)
• Ladies or Gentlemen (2009)
• The Face is Familiar (2009)
• Angels & Demons: Decoded (2009)
• Bridget's Sexiest Beaches (16 episodes, 2009)
• Holly's World (19 episodes, 2009–2011)
• The President's Book of Secrets (2010)
• Ancient Aliens (132 episodes, 2010–2017)
• Hef's Runaway Bride (2011)
• Civilization: Lost (2011)
• How Playboy Changed the World (2012)
• The Godfather Legacy (2012)
• America's Book of Secrets: The Series (33 episodes, 2012–2013)
• Birth/Mothers (2012)
• Kendra on Top (79 episodes, 2012–2017)
• "Bible Secrets Revealed" (6 episodes, 2013-2014)
• Target: Earth (2013)
• Secret Societies of Hollywood (5 episodes, 2013)
• In Search of Aliens (10 episodes, 2014)
• The Curse of Oak Island (43 episodes, 2014-2017)
• Cesar Millan: Love My Pit Bull (2014)
• "Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color" (2015)
• Lost in Space (2018)

Director

• I Remember Barbra (1981)
• The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995)
• Hugh Hefner: American Playboy (1996)
• A Hollywood Christmas (1996)
• Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies (1996)
• To the Galaxy and Beyond with Mark Hamill (1997)
• Monster Mania (1997)
• Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1997)
• 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
• Biography (9 episodes, 1995–1997)
• Hollywood Aliens & Monsters (1997)
• Hugh Hefner: American Playboy Revisited (1998)
• TV Guide Looks at Cops (1998)
• TV Guide Looks at Christmas (1998)
• Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
• Lost in Space Forever (1998)
• Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1999)
• Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years (2000)
• Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970) (2000)
• Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001)
• Playboy: Inside the Playboy Mansion (2002)
• Sex at 24 Frames Per Second (1997)
• Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy (2004)
• Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman (2006)
• Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)
• Star Warriors (2007)
• Indiana Jones and the Ultimate Quest (2008)
• Ladies or Gentlemen (2008)
• The Valkyrie Legacy (2008)
• The Face is Familiar (2009)
• The Godfather Legacy (2012)
• How Playboy Changed the World (2013)

Writer

• The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995)
• A Hollywood Christmas (1996)
• Monster Mania (1997)
• Twentieth Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)
• Biography (3 episodes, 1996–1997)
• Behind the Planet of the Apes (1998)
• Lost in Space Forever (1998)
• Twentieth Century Fox: The Blockbuster Years (2000)
• Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001)
• Backstory (2 episodes, 2000–2001)
• Playboy: Inside the Playboy Mansion (2002)
• Monsterama: Munsters Collectibles (2003)
• Monsterama: Aurora Model Kits (2003)
• Just the Facts (2004)
• Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)