Afterwards, Burcksen was hired by Colossal Pictures where he collaborated editorially on many commercials, including those for Disney, Budweiser, and Levi's.
Burcksen was hired by Industrial Light & Magic in 1989 to become the visual effects editor on The Hunt for Red October.
In 1996, he was signed up to edit Colors Straight Up, which was later nominated for best feature-length documentary at the Oscars the following year.
His collaboration with director Jeroen Krabbé on the feature Left Luggage received four prestigious awards at the Berlin Film Festival in 1998.
In February 2011, the American Cinema Editors honored Burcksen with the Robert Wise Award for his tireless efforts to highlight the post-production process of film and television projects in his role as editor-in-chief of CINEMAEDITOR.