Anthony Burns Joins Grail as In-House Creative Producer
Anthony Burns, a director and producer, has joined Grail as its in-house creative producer, Deadline reported on 2 November 2026. His job is to develop and package original film and TV projects, which means finding stories, shaping them and getting them ready for financing and production.
Grail is a United States production and rep company, meaning it both makes content and represents it on behalf of others. It was founded by filmmaker Davide Bianca and producer Jeff Krelitz, and it has offices in Florida and Los Angeles. The company works across film, TV, advertising, gaming, animation, immersive media and AI.
Burns made his feature directorial debut with Skateland, which he co-wrote and produced. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 and screened at South by Southwest. It starred Shiloh Fernandez and Ashley Greene.
His directing and producing record also includes Home Sweet Hell, which he directed and produced. It stars Patrick Wilson, Katherine Heigl and Jordana Brewster. As a producer, he worked on Monica, starring Trace Lysette and Patricia Clarkson, and on Jimi: All Is by My Side, the Jimi Hendrix biopic with André Benjamin in the lead.
On the Grail side, Burns served as showrunner on José vs. Mourinho, a project the company describes as its collaboration with Coca-Cola and Goal for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He has also worked with Davide Bianca on an original project called A Song To Raise The Dead.
Grail says it is building Grail+Forge, an AI-powered production environment meant to support filmmakers and creative teams from development through to production. The company's portfolio includes commercial work for Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Activision, among them Fanta's Haunted Universe.
For Burns, the move puts him inside a company rather than working project by project. A creative producer in that role typically spends the early stages of a project deciding what gets written, who is attached and how the story will be pitched to financiers and buyers. Grail's advisory board includes Bob Teitel and Adrian Askarieh.
The appointment adds one senior creative hire to a company that already runs across entertainment and advertising. Further details on the projects Burns will take on were not announced in the Deadline report.
