Today we’d like to introduce you to Rich Burns.
Rich, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I knew I wanted to be a writer for film and TV at a pretty young age, although I didn’t voice it until I was about 18 and headed off to college. I started at the local branch of the University of Connecticut. I took a creative writing course because I needed something to lift me out of the boredom of statistics and the other business classes I was enrolled in. Most of the writing students were working on poetry and short stories. I wasn’t interested in doing that. I told the teacher I wanted to write a screenplay. She knew nothing about writing a movie script, but she was a truly exceptional educator. She offered to go with me on weekends to libraries all around southern Connecticut in search of material that could help us. We ended up finding some How-To books that were useful, along with some scripts for movies that had been made over the years. Using those as learning materials and with her guidance, I was able to complete my first script. And then via luck, serendipity, and my own naive determination, I was able to get it to an actor here in Los Angeles. He had just come off starring in a TV series that had been a major hit, and looking for his next project, he optioned it. That became the first significant step in my career. Nothing ultimately came of that project, but it did lead me to transfer to NYU so that I could major in screenwriting.
Upon graduating, I moved to LA. I wrote a script which I entered in the Nichols Fellowship Awards. That did really well and landed me my first agent. And although I tend to write live-action dark comedies, I somehow wound up working a lot in animation. My first job of note was to develop The story of King David from the bible for Disney. I went in on a meeting on a Friday and told them why it was a terrible idea for a Disney movie. The first act of King David’s story is all David and Goliath and sure that’s cool, but the rest is super-dark, with betrayal and adultery and murder. On Monday they told me I had the job. I was like… what? Did you not hear what I said on Friday??
I’ve worked a lot in animation over the years, but I do prefer the art of live-action. I like the speed of it, the collaboration on set with actors and the crew.
This led me in 2019 to start production on my own self-produced show, The Disappointments. It’s a show about a group of gay friends in their late 50’s and early 60’s dealing with the disappointments in life. All the characters started out in their 20’s with these dreams and hopes for their careers, expectations of wealth and exciting travel, the perfect partner, a great house and security later in life. But none of that came to pass and now they’re scrambling to set themselves up for the years ahead. It’s a dark comedy about people making some desperate choices to turn their lives around before it’s too late. I’m told it’s relatable to everyone, gay, straight, young, old. The first season is on YouTube and I was recently honored to receive a Humanitas Prize for writing it — the first web series ever to receive this honor.
We’re now almost done with production of the second season. Season Two is much more ambitious. We raised over $100,000 via Crowdsource funding. I’ve written 8 twenty-five minute long episodes, we’ve opened up the scope of the story, enlarged the cast, and we have every intention of landing it with a streamer… one who would get behind the show for a third and fourth and maybe even a fifth season.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
This career path has been anything but smooth. There have been great years, and there have been lean years. I’ve often thought of quitting, but writing is all I know and all I care about. And always, when I was thinking of quitting, someone of professional note would come along and give me just enough of a nudge, professionally, to acknowledge my talent and skill, which always felt like a message from the Universe that I should hang in there.
At least that’s how I interpreted it. I’m glad I’ve stuck with it because I seem to have hit a career resurgence after closing in on and hitting 60. And working on The Disappointments with people I love and admire — Gedde Watanabe, James Campbell, Trevor LaPaglia and many many more — has been the highlight of my creative life. If I had quit, I never would have had this joyous opportunity.
I will say, things might have progressed faster and more smoothly if I managed to get with a good manager or agent. For some reason, even though I’ve worked consistently and my writing is admired, that has not come to pass. Oh well!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I was known for a while as a Disney Animation Sequel Guy. Brother Bear 2. Fox and The Hound 2. Little Mermaid 3 (Yikes!!!)
I’ve written a few great live-action screenplays in the last few years, but not having representation, it’s hard to get them seen.
The thing I’m most proud of is The Disappointments. It’s 100% mine. My vision, my writing, my directing. Yes, all that can get compromised by not having enough money and the resulting need to shoot ten or twelve pages a day because of it. But at the end of the day, I made it. And the second season is going to be much more epic. I learned how to make a show and what I wanted that show to be by making Season One. Season Two is the payoff of all that learning. It truly will be great!
What are your plans for the future?
No big changes at the moment. I’d love to sell one or two of the movie scripts I’m sitting on. I’m currently a head writer on a new animated series that I developed, which will be premiering on Netflix late in 2023 or early in 2024. I also plan to sell The Disappointments to a streamer so we can make more seasons of it. There are almost 2 million visits to our YouTube channel for Season One. There is a market for this show and an appetite for it. Somewhere out there is a programmer who will get that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLKvJ_deH9k5gR0xwDSgtY7bu867nt-ja
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyrichray/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rich-burns-1416b5210/
- Youtube: https://bit.ly/TheDisappointments
- Other: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm1757227?ref_=nm_nv_usr_profile
Image Credits
Third image is of Rich and Trevor for “The Disappointments” by Ramon Christian Instagram @ramonchristian.photo
