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Personal Statement
I am the eldest of five sisters raised by activist parents. Our Dad taught us to proudly claim our heritage of the Indigenous American and Mexicans of early California, our Irish ex-Catholic Mom had us pass out fliers with her when she campaigned as a delegate for Shirley Chisholm, and the mix of cultures we grew up with inculcated empathy and made me a bit of a chameleon. Add to this a childhood of creatively low-budget travel and short-term residences in different cultures from Malaysia to France to India, and my interest in seeing the world through different perspectives led to my exploring character through storytelling.
I earned a scholarship to Yale where I studied both acting and directing, supplemented by my volunteering at Sundance. Inspired by the independent filmmakers at Sundance, I moved to Los Angeles after college and directed my first feature with a small grant of 35mm film – and because I could not afford to buy more, I had to make it work with the limited amount of film I'd been awarded. I story-boarded every shot before shooting and thus learned to be an extremely efficient director. Being highly prepared as a director allows me to roll with unexpected curveballs that are inevitably part of production. My hard work and good humor inspire cast and crew to deliver their best. Now with 6 features under my belt I am excited about moving into television directing where I can work within each show's unique style.
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Bio
Named by Variety as "talent to watch," Maria has directed 6 successful independent feature films, the latest of which are currently available on Netflix and Amazon: A Sort of Homecoming, with Laura Marano and Katherine McNamara, and For the Love of George, with Rosanna Arquette, Tate Donovan, Rex Lee & Kristen Johnston. Earlier films include Just Friends (AMC/WE), Temps, and Manna from Heaven (MGM/SONY).
Burton helms Five Sisters Productions with her real-life siblings, through which she directed the pilot for the Emmy qualifying short form series Old Guy and produced The Happiest Day of His Life (MTV/Logo), Kings, Queens & In-Betweens, and Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" (Showtime).
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Burton has been selected for television directing programs including the recent DGA's DDI Emerging Directors Mentorship Program, the Disney/ABC Directing Program, the CBS Directing Initiative, the Ryan Murphy HALF Foundation, the SONY Diverse Directors Program, and ProjectHER, for which she wrote and directed the short pilot Good Eggs.
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Burton has served on the National Board of the DGA (Alt), Co-Chair of the DGA's WSC and DGA's Council of Joint Co-Chairs, past Co-Chair of Alliance of Women Directors and is a member of Film Fatales. She's currently working on an indie film, MidLife, and developing projects including Searching for Tamsen Donner, based on her mother's award winning books; and Mercury 13, a drama inspired by the women tested for the original astronaut program, which has been named to the Athena List, the BitchList/Bechdel List, won a CineStory Fellowship, and is a Nicholl Quarterfinalist.
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Contact
Andrew Hersh @ Thrive Entertainment 310-209-1500