[5][6] He moved to New York to attend film school at NYU,[1] then graduated from Goddard College and received a master's degree from Columbia University.
[8] In his 2002 review of The Credeaux Canvas, Alvin Klein of The New York Times called Bunin "a brainy young playwright with the mighty mission of combatting mindlessness" and said his "works reveal a boundless sense of wonder".
[2] Bunin's play The Coast Starlight premiered at La Jolla Playhouse in 2019 and was subsequently staged by Lincoln Center in 2023.
[10] Bunin wrote the "Oliver" episodes for season 2 of the HBO series In Treatment, as well as the screenplay for the 2013 film Horns, based on the novel by Joe Hill.
[12] Bunin's screenplay for Pixar's Onward (co-written with Dan Scanlon and Jason Headley) earned a nomination for Best Writing: Feature from the 2021 Annie Awards.