His mother, Jane Russell Burris, was a high school librarian and instilled in him a deep love of literature and storytelling from an early age.
At UNC's student television station Burris formed a sketch comedy troupe with future filmmakers Peyton Reed and John Schultz, among others.
Burris moved to New York after college where he worked on a number of films for such NY indie-film scene figures as Abel Ferrara, Jim Jarmusch, and Paul Auster.
In 1992 Burris hooked up with childhood friends Danny and Daniel Chavis and Marvin Levy to join Mercury/Polygram recording artists and soulful, shoegaze innovators The Veldt for their major label debut Afrodisiac.
[3] Burris' producing partners on the picture were fellow North Carolina natives Todd Labarowski of Dreambridge Films and Michael Wrenn (currently based in Sydney).
Shot entirely on location in the mountains around Asheville, North Carolina, the film stars Jeremy Irvine, Noah Wyle, Minka Kelly, Adelaide Clemens, Steve Earle and Haley Joel Osment.