SCOTT Z. BURNS is an award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and playwright. In film, Burns' writing credits include THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM as well as THE INFORMANT!, CONTAGION, SIDE EFFECTS and THE LAUNDROMAT for director Steven Soderbergh. Next, Burns is adapting AMERICAN PSYCHO for Luca Guadagnino. As a director, Burns' credits include PU-239 starring Oscar Isaac and Paddy Considine and THE REPORT starring Adam Driver and Annette Bening. Burns served as a producer for the Academy Award-winning documentary AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, for which he received the Humanitas Prize, as well as an executive producer of AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL and SEA OF SHADOWS, which won the Sundance Audience Award. In TV, he is the writer, director, executive producer and creator of the Apple TV+ series EXTRAPOLATIONS, which won an Environmental Media Association Award as well as a Norman Lear Award and stars Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton and Marion Cotillard, among others. Burns is also an executive producer of the HBO series DUNE: PROPHECY. On stage, Burns' play THE LIBRARY was produced at The Public Theater and received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Best New American Play. In audio, Burns' podcast WHAT COULD GO WRONG?, about human creativity in the age of AI, can be found on Audible, where it was recognized as one of the 20 Best Audiobooks of 2025 and was nominated for both an Ambie Award for Best Documentary Podcast and an Audie Award for Adaptation/Original Work.
Burns is a frequent advisor at the Sundance Institute and a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Leadership Committee. He attended the University of Minnesota where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in English Literature. Burns began his career in advertising where he was part of the team that created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign, for which he apologizes to lactose intolerant people everywhere.