Mark Burnett, Producer Media Man Australia

Mark Burnett, Producer

Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960), a British-born, naturalized citizen of the United States, is a US TV producer known for pioneering reality television as a genre. Burnett produced the series Survivor and the Eco-Challenge adventure race. His eponymous production company setup The Apprentice, The Restaurant, The Casino, Rock Star and The Contender. He is currently collaborating with Steven Spielberg on a show titled On the Lot which will grant one out of 16 contestants an exclusive Hollywood deal with DreamWorks and Spielberg.

Burnett has won two Emmy Awards, and is currently living with Northern Ireland-born actress Roma Downey.

Mark Burnett was born an only child in London, England. From 1977 to 1982 he served with the British Army in Northern Ireland and took part in the Falklands War. In 1982, Burnett moved to Los Angeles, and for the next decade held a variety of jobs, including nanny in a Beverly Hills and selling t-shirts in Venice Beach.

In 1991, after reading an article on the Raid Gauloises, Burnett purchased the rights from its creator Gerald Fusil, and eventually launched the Eco-Challenge in 1995. In 1996, Burnett successfully adapted another format by purchasing the American rights to Survivor.

In 2005, he published his autobiography JUMP IN!: Even If You Don't Know How to Swim (ISBN 0-345-48098-8) detailing his career in America, from his first job to producing reality television. While promoting the Fall 2006 Season of Survivor - Burnett responded to criticism of the show's race-based divisions by saying, "We realized that there would be a lot of heat, but I look at [racism] as truly an American malady... Other countries don't look at race the way Americans do. America has a history of bad things happening to certain races," he said. "Where I grew up, nobody really cared about these sort of things." Burnett was eight years old in his native England when British Conservative politician Enoch Powell gave his famous "Rivers of Blood" speech, which warned against the supposed dangers of immigration and illegalizing institutional racisim, 14 when the openly racist National Front party finished a strong second in several regional English elections, and came to maturity in London during an era of constant small-scale protests, race riots, beatings and anti-immigrant movements. As well, Burnett served in the British Army in Northen Ireland durning a key era of conflict and peace management which tested the tolerance of several different religious and ethnic communities and cost many lives. Exactly what Burnett meant by, "nobody really cared about these sort of things," remains unclear. (Credit: Wikipedia)

Articles

Mark Burnett to produce new 'The Restaurant'-like 'The Casino' reality
series for FOX

Great moments in product placement

Techniques used in Reality TV in Australia

Trademark challenger: Fired up over 'The Apprentice'

Trumping slump in reality TV

Profiles

Survivor

The Apprentice

Websites

Media Man Australia

Media Man Australia does not represent Mark Burnett