Tim Burns is a Canadian writer and producer for Canadian and American television; more popularly known as the show runner/executive producer of the
Teletoon
Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...
-
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
shared, supernatural comedy-drama series, ''
My Babysitter's a Vampire
''My Babysitter's a Vampire'' (released as ''My Babysitter's a Vampire: The Movie'' in some regions) is a 2010 Canadian comedy horror television film directed by Bruce McDonald. It stars Vanessa Morgan and Matthew Knight. The film's plot cente ...
'' and for writing its
TV pilot film. He was also supervising writer of the third season of ''
Crank Yankers
''Crank Yankers'' is an American adult puppet television show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison. It features actual crank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, while re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a vis ...
'' and was a composer on ''
The Sunny Side Up Show
Sunny Side Up (previously known as The Sunny Side Up Show) is a defunct television programming block which premiered on Sprout on September 26, 2007 and ended on August 11, 2017. Each week, a new theme was introduced, including food, Hallowee ...
''.
Career
Tim Burns began his writing career in 1985 with the CBC radio comedy series ''The Norm Show'', and in 1989 was hired as a staff writer on ''
The Jim Henson Hour
''The Jim Henson Hour'' is a television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the The Muppets, Muppet characters.
Nine of the twelve episodes produced air ...
''. He also wrote the 1 hour special ''
Dog City
''Dog City'' is an animated television series that was produced by Nelvana Limited and Jim Henson Productions in association with Channel 4, Global Television Network, FORTA and Canal+ Spain and aired on Fox Kids from September 26, 1992, to Novem ...
'' which was later developed into an animated series. During pre-production of the Henson Hour, he met
Tom Stern and a few years later they and Stern's writing partner
Alex Winter
Alexander Ross Winter (born July 17, 1965) is a British-American actor and filmmaker. He played the slacker Bill in the 1989 film ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' and its sequels ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' (1991) and ''Bill & Ted Face t ...
created the sketch comedy series ''
The Idiot Box''. Burns also dabbled in CGI and created the animated character 'Votar - The Voice Over Announcer of the Future" on his Amiga computer. The trio collaborated again on the screenplay for the movie ''
Freaked
''Freaked'' is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Tom Stern and Alex Winter, both of whom wrote the screenplay with Tim Burns. Winter also starred in the lead role. Both were involved in the short-lived MTV sketch comedy show '' The Idiot ...
'', in which Burns played the Hideous Frogman, and also wrote the soundtrack tunes "Wienerschnitzel Polka", "Pick-A-Freek", and "Freekz!" That's What They Call Us!. Stern and Burns wrote many ''
Monkeyed Movies'' parodies for the TBS network, which evolved into the half-hour comedy series, ''
The Chimp Channel
''The Chimp Channel'' is an American sitcom which aired on TBS Superstation in 1999. Based on the '' Monkey-ed Movies'' interstitials that TBS aired one year prior, it is the network's first original sitcom. The series primarily consists of costum ...
". Returning to Canada in 2000, Tim served as supervising producer for the second season of the ''
Blackfly'' wrote two episodes.
Having started out as a drummer in a new-wave band 'The Strone', Burns began composing in 1996 with ''
Hello Mrs. Cherrywinkle'', and other shows like ''
The Good Night Show
''The Good Night Show'' is a defunct television programming block for preschoolers, which aired on the Sprout channel (previously known as PBS Kids Sprout). It was designed to help preschoolers get ready for bedtime. The block featured recu ...
'', ''
Saul of the Mole Men
''Saul of the Mole Men'' is an American live-action/puppet/animated hybrid comedy television series created by Craig Lewis, former writer on Cartoon Network's '' The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy'' and ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends''. ...
'', and ''The Sunny Side Up Show'' from 2007 until 2009. He also worked on soundtracks for ''
Young Person's Guide to History
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim
Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
''. Burns wrote an episode of ''
Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' in 2008, "Destroy Malevolence". In 2010 he wrote the teleplay and story for the
Teletoon
Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...
TV movie, ''
My Babysitter's a Vampire
''My Babysitter's a Vampire'' (released as ''My Babysitter's a Vampire: The Movie'' in some regions) is a 2010 Canadian comedy horror television film directed by Bruce McDonald. It stars Vanessa Morgan and Matthew Knight. The film's plot cente ...
'', when the movie became a
series
Series may refer to:
People with the name
* Caroline Series (born 1951), English mathematician, daughter of George Series
* George Series (1920–1995), English physicist
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Series, the ordered sets used in ...
, he became executive producer of the series and wrote the series premiere episode along with two other episodes.
More recently, Burns has contributed music and comedy sketches for the Netflix special, ''
Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History
''Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History'' is a Netflix variety special starring Kevin Hart.
Premise
''Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History'' is a guide to African-American black history through re-enactments with a familial sitcom set-up and archiv ...
'', and composed music for numerous songs, including the theme, to the Universal Kids' stop-motion animated series ''
Norman Picklestripes
''Norman Picklestripes'' is a stop-motion musical children's television series that premiered July 27, 2019 on Universal Kids. The series is produced by an animation studio in Manchester, UK, Factory, that was awarded by BAFTA and Kidscreen. The ...
''. He continues to develop new comedy and music material for film and television in both Canada and the U.S.
Filmography
External links
*
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
20th-century Canadian screenwriters
21st-century Canadian screenwriters
Canadian male screenwriters
Canadian television writers
Canadian comedy writers
20th-century Canadian male writers
21st-century Canadian male writers
Canadian Comedy Award winners
{{Canada-screenwriter-stub