Michael Burns

Michael Burns is vice-chair of Lionsgate, the Canadian independent film and television studio, where he oversees business development including the studio's AI partnerships. On 12 June 2026 Lionsgate announced it had extended its equity stake in Runway, the generative-video AI company, deepening the partnership the two struck in 2024. Lionsgate injected no fresh cash and disclosed no financial terms. Burns described the arrangement as an iterative process, characterising it as an ongoing creative and commercial relationship rather than a one-time transaction. The two are co-developing a slate of short-form episodic series built from existing Lionsgate intellectual property run through Runway's generative models.

Burns has been a senior figure at Lionsgate for two decades, central to the studio's strategy of operating as an independent alongside the major studios. His role in the Runway partnership reflects Lionsgate's approach to AI: equity-based co-development using existing IP rather than either large-scale licensing (News Corp, AP) or litigation (The New York Times vs OpenAI). The equity stake means Lionsgate's financial return on the partnership depends partly on Runway's own valuation trajectory.

The Lionsgate-Runway model is an early exemplar of how independent studios may navigate generative AI: using proprietary character libraries and story worlds as the raw material for generative short-form content, with the AI company providing the generation infrastructure and taking equity rather than per-episode fees. Burns is the executive most publicly associated with this approach at Lionsgate.