Michael Justin "Burnie" Burns (born 1973) is an independent filmmaker and co-founder of Rooster Teeth Productions. His most notable contributions have been in machinima, being the creator of Red vs. Blue, although he has also worked with live-action and animation. Burnie served as the main co-writer and director for Red vs. Blue, is best known for providing the voices of Church, Epsilon, and Lopez in the series, and was co-writer and starred in Rooster Teeth's first full-length film, Lazer Team.
Burnie left Rooster Teeth in June 2020.
Overview
In April 2003, Burns, along with several of his friends: Gustavo Sorola, Geoff Ramsey, Matt Hullum, Jason Saldaña, and Joel Heyman, created the internet machinima series Red vs. Blue, filmed using the Xbox video game Halo: Combat Evolved. Red vs. Blue was quickly acclaimed for its humor and originality, eventually elevating Burns to the status of an Internet celebrity; visibility that allowed him to create one of the few successful machinima film-houses in the industry: Rooster Teeth Productions. Burns even attracted the attention of video game giant Electronic Arts, who asked him to create a promotional series using their new game, The Sims 2. The result, The Strangerhood, has received mixed reviews. Burns also released P.A.N.I.C.S., a mini-series that utilizes the F.E.A.R. game engine. He has appeared at several film festivals, including Sundance. He currently lives in Austin, Texas, having divorced from his wife Jordan Burns in 2011 - he's currently married to Ashley Burns (nee Jenkins).
The Beginnings of Red vs. Blue
Burnie and his "creation".
In 2003, Burns joined the staff of a website called "drunkgamers". Hosted by Texans Geoff Fink and Gustavo Sorola, drunkgamers brought Burns into contact with what would become his future team for Red vs. Blue. Burns began to add weekly videos of his favorite game, Halo on the Xbox, to the drunkgamers site. As the videos progressed, Burns began adding voice-overs to make the videos more entertaining. While playing Halo with Fink and Sorola, the three began wondering why a certain in-game vehicle was named the Warthog, sparking the idea for what would later become the machinima series (a version of the conversation would become the plot of Episode 2). He also credits the birth of the series to being "extremely bored".
In early 2003, Computer Gaming World asked the owners of drunkgamers for permission to use an Apple Macintosh commercial parody featured on the site, which by this time had shut down. This was an opportunity Burns saw to attract viewers to a possible new project. A trailer of The Blood Gulch Chronicles was made. A few months later, Burns rallied the entire staff of drunkgamers, as well as friends Matt Hullum and Joel Heyman, and created the first episode of The Blood Gulch Chronicles. The episode began an Internet phenomenon that is still continuing today.
Rooster Teeth Productions
- Main article: Rooster Teeth Productions
After the first season of Red vs. Blue, Burns, voicing the character of Church, became an instant celebrity in the machinima community. As the director, writer, and lead actor of the series, Burns is sharing the fame of being the star of Red vs. Blue, but is also 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. The series is still ongoing and completed its thirteenth season on September 7, 2015.
Burns regularly attends conventions featuring Red vs. Blue and has made several appearances on G4techTV.
Burnie's Xbox Live account is burnieburns.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | The Schedule | Writer, director, producer |
| 2003 | Red vs. Blue: Season 1 | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), Tex (voice, episodes 11 and 12 when using voice synthesizer), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design, visual effects |
| 2004 | Red vs. Blue: Season 2 | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), Vic (voice), Chupathingy (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design, visual effects |
| 2005 | PANICS | Bravo 1 (voice), Alpha Team commander (voice), producer |
| 2005 | Red vs. Blue: Season 3 | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), Vic (voice), The Red Zealot (voice), Yellow Church (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2006 | Red vs. Blue: Season 4 | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), Vic Jr. (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2006 | Red vs. Blue: Out of Mind | Church (voice) |
| 2006 | The Strangerhood: Season 1 | Griggs (voice), Tobar (voice), Tovar (voice), writer, director, producer |
| 2007 | Red vs. Blue: Season 5 | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), Vic Jr. (voice), Yellow Church (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2008 | Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2009 | Red vs. Blue: Relocated | Lopez (voice), writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2009 | Red vs. Blue: Recreation | Church (voice), Lopez (voice), Epsilon (voice), writer, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2010 | Red vs. Blue: Revelation | Epsilon (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2011 | Red vs. Blue: Season 9 | Epsilon (voice), Lopez the Heavy (voice), Alpha AI (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2012 | Red vs. Blue: Season 10 | Epsilon (voice), Alpha A.I. (voice), Omega A.I. (voice), writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, sound design |
| 2013 | Red vs. Blue: Season 11 | Epsilon (voice), Lopez the Heavy (voice), executive producer |
| 2014 | Red vs. Blue: Season 12 | Epsilon (voice), Lopez the Heavy (voice), writer, executive producer |
| 2015 | Red vs. Blue: Season 13 | Epsilon (voice), Lopez the Heavy (voice), writer, executive producer |
| 2015 | Lazer Team | Hagan, writer, producer, story |
| 2016–present | RWBY | Taiyang (voice) |
| 2016 | Red vs. Blue: Season 14 | Vic (voice), Church (voice), Epsilon (voice), Lopez the Heavy (voice), himself, writer, executive producer |
| 2017 | Red vs. Blue: Season 15 | Lopez (voice), Vic (voice), Lorenzo (voice), Tex (voice with synthesizer), Church (voice), executive producer |