Draft:John Burnham (Talent Manager)

• Comment: These two sources highlight Mr. Burnham's move to ICM [1] [2] but they offer limited information about the person himself.
  Since he is described as "cornerstone talent" in the Deadline article, you can probably find more in-depth sources to fill in those citation needed tags. Ca ^{talk to me!} 05:07, 7 October 2024 (UTC)

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John Burnham
John Ludwig Burnham (2022)
Born	John Ludwig Burnham (1953-03-01) March 1, 1953 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	UCLA
Occupation	Talent Manager
Years active	1978–present
Children	4

John Burnham is a veteran talent manager and producer who manages a roster of writers, filmmakers, and actors at Atlas Artists and Atlas Literary, the management subsidiaries of Charles Roven's Atlas Entertainment. Before Atlas, Burnham worked at the William Morris Agency and then ICM Partners before switching to management after the acquisition of ICM by rival company Creative Artists Agency.

Early life and education

Burnham was born in Beverly Hills on March 1, 1953, to an American Jewish family. His father, Jerome, was in the textile business, and his mother, Linda, was an interior designer. He attended the Dunn School in San Ynez, and later Beverly Hills High School. He would go on to graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1976. His career in the film industry began the following year when he worked for manager Allan Carr. At the same time, he attended law school in the evening to receive his Juris Doctorate.

Career

Talent agent

In 1978, he joined the Paul Kohner Talent Agency as an assistant, subsequently promoted to agent. After leaving Kohner in 1981, Burnham joined ICM (International Creative Management), starting in the Talent Literary Department before moving into the Motion Picture Department, where he worked for Sue Mengers and Jeffrey Berg.

Burnham then joined the William Morris Agency in 1984, becoming Co-Head of the Motion Picture Department and serving on the agency's board of directors for 16 years. He later returned to ICM in 2001 as the Head of Motion Pictures and served on the Board of Directors before becoming a partner.

Talent manager

Following Creative Artists Agency's acquisition of ICM in 2022, Burnham opted to join Atlas Artists and Atlas Literary as a manager and partner alongside his longtime childhood friend and Atlas founder, Charles Roven. Burnham brought with him a prestigious client list to bolster Atlas's already growing roster.

In 2023, Burnham appeared in and served as a consultant on his client, Michael Chow's, documentary AKA Mr. Chow. In 2024, he would serve as a consultant again on MAX's The Regime, directed by his client Sir Stephen Frears. In the near future Burnham will executive produce Barry Levinson's upcoming Assassination and Walter Hill's upcoming St Vincent.