John H. Mitchell Professor of Entertainment; Director of Screenwriting Program
jimburn@umich.eduOffice Information:
phone: 734.615.9478
Department of Film, Television, and Media; Administration
Education/Degree:
M.A., English Language and Literature, University of Michigan, 1974B.A., English, University of Michigan, 1972
Burnstein's Winter 2016 FTVM 427 class offers him a token of their appreciation for being such an excellent instructor and a valuable mentor.
Newest from Jim Burnstein
Ham-Let: A Shakespearean Mash-up (2022)
Jim Burnstein and Garrett Schiff
Geared toward middle grade readers, Ham-let is a fun and endearing graphic novel reimagining of a classic Shakespearean tale. This satirical story stars a cast of anthropomorphic animals based on characters from Shakespeare’s greatest plays.
The eponymous Pig Prince himself returns home from college to find that his uncle Claude betrayed and murdered his father to seize the throne! But this familiar fable veers into the zany and adventurous when Ham-let calls upon his best friend Horatio and a troupe of rowdy, self-centered actors to aid him in halting his uncle’s evil ...
Love and Honor (2013)
Jim Burnstein, Screenplay
n 1969, at the time of the Apollo 11 mission, U.S. soldier Dalton Joiner, fighting in the Vietnam War, uses his time of R&R supposed to be spent in Hong Kong, to fly back to the U.S. to re-capture the heart of his girlfriend Jane. Fellow soldier Mickey Wright accompanies him. Jane now calls herself Juniper, and is member of a group of anti-war activists. Joiner...
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Renaissance Man (1994)
Jim Burnstein, Screenplay
Bill Rago (DeVito) is a divorced advertising executive down on his luck. When he loses his job in Detroit, the unemployment agency finds him a temporary job: teaching a class at a nearby U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane.
Initially unenthusiastic, Rago finds that he has only six weeks to teach a group of "squeakers," or low achievers, the basics of comprehension and use of English language. Most of the...
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