Template:Infobox Celebrity Mark Burnett (born 17 July, 1960) is a British television producer. He is known for introducing reality television as a genre to the United States.

Career

He produced the U.S. version of the series Survivor and the Eco-Challenge. Survivor is the most watched summer series since Sonny and Cher. He has also produced both the U.S. and U.K. versions of The Apprentice, and helped produce the irish version of The Apprentice, The Restaurant, The Casino, Rock Star, Combat Missions, The Contender, Martha Stewart, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, and Pirate Master. He collaborated with Steven Spielberg on a FOX show titled On the Lot, which granted one out of 18 contestants an exclusive Hollywood deal with DreamWorks and Spielberg.^[1] The show premiered in May 2007.

New series for Mark Burnett in 2008 include Amne$ia and My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad on NBC and Jingles on CBS.

Since 2001, Burnett has been nominated for 48 Emmy Awards and has won two.

In November 2007 Burnett was elected into the Broadcast and Cable Hall of Fame.

Time Magazine included Burnett in their April 26, 2004 list "100: Our List of the Most Influential People in the World Today". ^[2]

Early life

Mark Burnett was born in London, United Kingdom, and was an only child. From 1978-1982 he served with the Parachute Regiment in Northern Ireland and the Falklands War^[3]. In 1982, Burnett moved to Los Angeles, U.S., and for the next decade held a variety of jobs, including a nanny in Beverly Hills and selling t-shirts in Venice Beach.

Burnett mentioned in his book that he had pre-sold the idea of an raid type adventure show to MTV Networks but never mentioned in his book how he was able to secure the deal beforehand leaving some to speculate that, in fact, someone else had produced the rights for him.

For the first season of Survivor, Burnett was paid an estimated $10,455,000. He received a staggering $10 million alone from ad revenue and a $455,000 licensing fee. At the close of the first season it was agreed by Burnett and CBS CEO Les Moonves that Burnett would no longer participate in ad revenue sharing but would be given a per episode $1,000,000 license fee. Considering Survivor, on average, has around fifteen episodes, Burnett takes home close to $15,000,000 a season. Survivor is now in its 17th season, making Burnett a very wealthy individual with a net worth in the $300,000,000 - $400,000,000 range.^[4]

It was recently announced that Mark Burnett has teamed up with Rap Mogul and Icon Sean "Diddy" Combs to find the hottest solo acts to sign to Diddy's record label Bad Boy Entertainment. Diddy who is known for his hit show Making the Band usually sets his sights on the hottest performers and creating groups but due to Mr. Burnetts overwhleming success and genius has chosen to broaden his horizons. The new show "Starmaker" is set to air this winter on MTV.

TV career

References

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External links

• Template:Imdb name
• SWINDLE Magazine Interview with Mark Burnett

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