A product of the George Washington University Documentary Film Center, he wrote and directed the award-winning documentary short One Fall, which explores the return of independent professional wrestling to the District of Columbia. Prior to filmmaking, he was a practicing attorney, most recently with the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, where he prosecuted ethical misconduct in the DC government. He also owns and manages his family farm in Lincoln County, West Virginia, which produces 100% grass-fed Hereford beef. Burns holds a BS in Journalism from West Virginia University, a JD from the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, and an MA in Strategic Communication from the GWU School of Media and Public Affairs. His last film, Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film Finalist and one of The Washington Post’s Best Films of 2023, Imagining The Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting, is available on Amazon Prime and AppleTV. He is currently producing Loyal To The Soil, a film about Native American Military Service. Burns serves as Chief Operating Officer of Rena Flying Coyote Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to telling the stories of Indigenous Peoples through Film, Television, and the Arts.