Scott Z. Burns

Scott Z. Burns is an award-winning screenwriter, producer, director and playwright. His new Audible Original podcast, What Could Go Wrong?, is out now. He is the writer, director, executive producer and creator of the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations, starring Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Edward Norton and Marion Cotillard. In film, Burns’ writing credits include The Bourne Ultimatum as well as The Informant!, Contagion, Side Effects and The Laundromat for director Steven Soderbergh. As a director, Burns’ credits include PU-239, starring Oscar Isaac and Paddy Considine, and The Report, starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening and Jon Hamm, which tells the story of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program. Burns served as a producer for the Academy Award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, as well as an executive producer for An Inconvenient Sequel and Sea of Shadows. On stage, Burns’ play The Library, which deals with a high school shooting, was produced at the Public Theater and was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for best new American play. Burns began his career in advertising; before leaving the industry, he was part of the team that created the “Got Milk?” campaign.

Talks

Three Great Things: Scott Z. Burns

By Scott Z. Burns | June 12, 2025

Three Great Things: Scott Z. Burns

The acclaimed screenwriter and director, whose new podcast What Could Go Wrong? is out now, on the Clash, Soderbergh and Barolos.

Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!) Talks with Oscar Winner Oorlagh George for The Talkhouse Film Podcast

By Scott Z. Burns | August 29, 2014

Screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!) Talks with Oscar Winner Oorlagh George for The Talkhouse Film Podcast

At the Sundance Labs, one of Hollywood's best screenwriters shares his wisdom with a young Academy Award winner starting out as a director.