Burns got his start in the movie industry right after college as a production assistant on the
Oliver Stone movie
The Doors. While working at
Entertainment Tonight, he financed, produced, directed, and was featured in his first movie
The Brothers McMullen in his spare time, which was largely filmed in his hometown of Valley Stream. Once he completed the movie, he was able to get a copy to
Robert Redford after an ET junket interview for
Quiz Show at the Rhiga Royal Hotel in
Manhattan. In 1996, Burns wrote, directed, and was featured in the ensemble drama ''
She's The One with Jennifer Aniston, Cameron Diaz and Amanda Peet, as well as in Sidewalks of New York'' in 2001. Burns also appeared in the movies
Saving Private Ryan (1998),
Life or Something Like It (2002), and
Confidence (2003).
Looking for Kitty (2004), which Burns wrote, directed and starred in, was shot with a hand-held $3,000 digital
Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera with a
Mini35 adapter. The movie's entire budget was $200,000 and was filmed in New York City with a tiny crew and without standard permits. Burns discussed this unusual movie-making process in the director's commentary on the DVD and wrote in the Director's Letter "If you are an aspiring filmmaker, in this day of inflating budgets and
runaway production, the truth is you can make a movie for no money in New York ... and have a blast". His movie
Purple Violets premiered exclusively on
iTunes on November 20, 2007. Burns began a series of guest appearances on the
HBO original series
Entourage midway through season 3, as well as appearing as
Grace Adler's boyfriend in
Will & Grace. In
Entourage, Burns plays himself and is (within the context of the series) writing a new television show in which
Johnny Drama is able to acquire a part. In 2007, Burns announced plans to partner with
Virgin Comics to create a series entitled
Dock Walloper. Burns planned to use the comic series as a springboard to a movie of the same story. In March 2009, a series of short movies called
The Lynch Pin written and directed by Burns (who was also in the cast) were released via the internet. With the modest success of
Purple Violets, Burns considered taking a studio directing assignment to make money. After reading scripts and attending meetings, he chose to remain an independent writer/director. Burns next wrote
Nice Guy Johnny and filmed it quickly with the RED One camera for a reported $25,000 with a small crew.
Nice Guy Johnny premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival in 2010. To coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011, Burns wrote
Newlyweds, which he also directed and starred in. Conforming to a model similar to
Nice Guy Johnny,
Newlyweds was filmed in 12 days for $9000 with a
Canon 5D camera and an even smaller crew. The movie premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2011 as the final night movie. He claimed on Twitter that the $9,000 budget was "5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can." In 2013, Burns featured as real-life gangster
Bugsy Siegel in
Frank Darabont's miniseries
Mob City. In 2012, Burns set up a screenwriting contest with the web startup
Scripped for a
crowdsourced screenplay which he intended to help get produced. In 2024, Burns began production in the Republic of Ireland on his golf-based film ''
Finnegan's Foursome''. ==Personal life==