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John Burrud,
President of Burrud Productions, Inc., got his first real
taste of the world of filmmaking at age 14. John accompanied
his father,
Bill Burrud, on a walking safari in Africa
for an episode of the company's
famed Animal World
series. John was
hooked. He worked and studied
gradually developing multiple
skills as a cameraman, writer, director,
and producer.
Young Burrud began his apprenticeship with his father's
company by
running errands. As he years went by, he became involved in every
facet of film production (including filming sharks without a cage!). He
has been
directing the company's success as president for the past
15 years.
John
became an outstanding filmmaker at an early age and remains very
"hands-on "in the production end of the business. He has
personally
worked with Dick Clark, Loni Anderson, Philip Michael Thomas, Robert
Culp and many
others.
One
of John’s more recent programming coups was the production of
Beyond
Bizarre,
a series of 1-hour specials for the Discovery Channel.
The premiere
of Beyond Bizarre
in January 1993 on the received out-
accolades from movie critics across the United States for its
outstanding
entertainment value. Beyond Bizarre
received such high
ratings that it
became one of the 20 highest
highest rated shows in the
Discovery Channel's
twelve-year history. Since that time he has produced
12 additional episodes.
The Hollywood Reporter rated Beyond Bizarre no. 7 in the top ten
highest-
rated documentaries for 1996-1997 in its April 8, 1997
special issue.
August
1994 marked the premiere of Peter Gaulke's Strange
Wilderness,
a series of five comedy vignettes directed by John Burrud, and
featuring
comedic
talent Peter Gaulke as he pokes fun at the wildlife/adventure
documentary. A co-production of Bill Burrud Productions and
Nuckl'head
Productions, Strange
Wilderness aired August through September 1994
on Comedy Central as part of Viacom's new
comedy vignette series Small
Doses. |The show was so
successful, that Burrud joined with Popular Arts
Entertainment for
the making of the feature film Strange Wilderness:
The Movie.
John
joined with French producer Gilles Thion for the production of
The Call of Kilimanjaro, a TV family movie filmed entirely on
location in Africa.
The film earned Burrud and Thion a 1997 Silver
Award from the World-fest
Charleston for best family/children's
theatrical feature film and finalist
awards at both the New York Festival and the Chicago
International
Children's Film Festival. The producing team's next movie,
scheduled
to take place
in Tahiti, is currently in pre-production.
John
produced and directed several new series and specials in 1998.
Natural
Wonders, a 14-episode series delving into the rich history of
our
land's
heritage, is currently airing on The Travel Channel spring
1999.
Creatures of the Wild, a breath- taking 78 episode exploration
of nature's
most captivating wildlife, is ready for immediate release.
1999 saw
a flurry of activity on John's part. With six all-new Beyond
Bizarre episodes going into production for The Discovery Channel,
John also produced Animal Life for
Kids, a 31-episode children's
educational video series for the Schlessinger Media Group, the
largest distributor of |educational media in the United States. This
outstanding
production prompted the Schlessinger Media Group
to
order 29 all-new episodes for its Earth Science in Action educational
series.
In
addition to producing, John successfully co-designed and released
Battlecruiser: 3000 A.D., a flight simulator computer game.
Battlecruiser:
3000
A.D. was awarded "Best of
Show" by Game Bytes Magazine at the 1
994 Winter Consumer
Electronics show and was featured on the cover
of the May 1994 Computer
Gaming World Magazine.
John
Burrud continues to create innovative and top-rated television
programming, carrying on a Burrud family tradition of filmmaking
that
now spans three generations.
John & crew on location in
Africa
John hones his craft
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