Ed Burns on Indie Filmmaking, Saving Private Ryan, and a Career Spanning Four Decades

Filmmaker and actor Ed Burns joins a rooftop bar conversation in Midtown Manhattan to trace his path from a 1970s Long Island childhood to writing, directing, and acting in Hollywood productions. The discussion moves through concrete career milestones — a micro-budget first feature, a chance encounter that changed everything, and a supporting role in a major war film — alongside his personal life and current outlook.

■ Career Origins
- Growing up working-class on Long Island and how that period feeds his writing, including his published book
- Discovering the writer-director role in a college film class, making student films, and his first job as a production assistant
■ Independent Filmmaking and Hollywood
- Building The Brothers McMullen on a tiny budget with free locations, facing a year of rejections, and the Sundance breakthrough that led to a studio deal
- Saving Private Ryan: landing the part, working with Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, and shadowing the director on set
- Later acting roles, shifts in his standing as a leading man, and a return to low-budget directing with two back-to-back films
■ Personal Life and Advice
- Meeting Christy Turlington, postponing their wedding after 9/11, and their shared preference for a quiet New York life
- Rapid-fire questions, reflections on career choices, and advice for people entering the industry

This is useful viewing for aspiring filmmakers, film students, and anyone interested in how independent productions get financed and sold. It offers a concrete, first-hand account of career pivots, setbacks, and persistence that viewers can apply to their own professional decisions.