Bryan Burk

• 1. The Name Behind the Credits

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  Bryan Burk served as producer on Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. That credit belongs alongside two Mission: Impossible films, the Star Trek reboot series, and television including Lost, Fringe, and Westworld. Burk built all of that output within a single production company, alongside the same creative partner, across more than twenty years. What holds a collaboration like that together for so long? And how does a career like Burk's actually take shape?

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• 2. Learning the Craft

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  A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television in 1991, Burk came from a Jewish family. He began his career working alongside established producers at three different studios. Brad Weston at Columbia Pictures was one early mentor. Ned Tanen at Sony Pictures and John Davis at Fox were the other two.

  In 1995, Burk moved to Gerber Pictures and began developing projects for television. There he worked on James Dean, a film for TNT. That production won an Emmy Award. J. J. Abrams was not yet a collaborator. The partnership that would come to define Burk's career was still several years away.

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• 3. Founding Bad Robot

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  In 2001, Burk and J. J. Abrams co-founded Bad Robot Productions. Burk became Executive Vice President of the company. That title placed him as executive producer on every television and film project Bad Robot undertook. The arrangement put his name on the company's entire output since its founding.

  Burk's regular collaborators have included Damon Lindelof, Adam Horowitz, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. Edward Kitsis, Andre Nemec, Josh Appelbaum, and Jeff Pinkner are also part of that working circle. These professionals have moved across Bad Robot projects repeatedly, their names recurring across different series and films. The first test of what the company could produce came on television, in the same year it was founded.

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• 4. Television First

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  Alias ran from 2001 to 2006 and was the first television series Burk worked on at Bad Robot. His credit there was co-producer rather than executive producer. That distinction applied only to Alias; every series that followed carried the executive producer designation.

  Person of Interest debuted in 2011 and ran through 2016, one of the longer-running series in Burk's television portfolio. Revolution launched in 2012 and ended in 2014. Almost Human began in 2013 and also concluded in 2014.

  In 2016, Burk's television credits expanded to include 11.22.63 and Roadies. His producing credits contain one exception from 2009, tied to a television series already among his commitments.

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• 5. The Feature Film Years

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  Cloverfield, released in 2008, was Burk's first feature film credit under the Bad Robot banner. Morning Glory followed in 2010. Super 8 and Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol both arrived in 2011, with Burk as producer on each. Ghost Protocol was the first of his two full producer credits in the Mission: Impossible franchise. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation followed in 2015.

  Star Trek Into Darkness, released in 2013, sits between those Mission: Impossible entries on the feature film timeline. 10 Cloverfield Lane and Star Trek Beyond both arrived in 2016. Burk also held the executive producer title on Star Trek in 2009 and on Infinitely Polar Bear in 2014. The one entry in Burk's filmography that falls outside the producing role dates to 2009 and involves a single television episode.

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• 6. One Story Credit

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  In 2009, Burk co-wrote the story for the Fringe season one finale. That episode is titled 'There's More Than One of Everything'. Akiva Goldsman co-wrote the story with Burk. Jeff Pinkner and J. H. Wyman wrote the teleplay. That episode is the only time in Burk's career that he stepped beyond producing into a writing credit.

  Pinkner's name appears in that episode's writing credits and also among Burk's regular collaborators at Bad Robot. That connection traces back to 2001, when Burk and Abrams established the company where so much of this work would unfold.

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