Mark Burg

Burg graduated from the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in 1981.^[2]

In the 1990s, Burg worked for Island Pictures and Palm Pictures, producing such films as Basketball Diaries (1995), The Sandlot, The Cure, and Strictly Business (1991).^[3] In 1998, Burg founded Evolution Entertainment along with his producing partner Oren Koules.^[4]

In 2003, Burg and Oren Koules saw a seven-minute teaser of a film written by Australian screenwriters, Leigh Whannell and James Wan, and agreed to produce the film. The film would later become the original Saw film that was released in 2004.^[5] The budget for the film was $1.2 million with $1 million of the funding coming direct from Burg and Koules. Production was done under a newly formed subsidiary of Evolution Entertainment called Twisted Pictures. The film turned in the Saw franchise with the sequel released in 2005 and the franchise making $420 million at the box office by 2007.^[6] Evolution Entertainment was also responsible for the production of Two and a Half Men starting in 2003.^[5]

Burg became the sole-owner of Evolution Entertainment in 2011, buying out co-founder Oren Koules.^[7] He also became an advisor for Forest Road, a special-purpose acquisition company, in 2020.^[8] Burg also co-produced Spiral, the ninth installment from the Saw Franchise. The franchise has grossed more than $1 billion from box office and retail sales as of 2021.^[9]

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Burg has been nominated and won numerous awards. He received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on Two and a Half Men and won both a TV Land Award for his work on the same and a ShoWest Award for his work on the Saw film series.