Ask Mark Burnett Anything — Open Call for Questions! #AskBurnett

Mark Burnett is by almost all accounts, on top of the television game right now. The 51 year-old British-born producer has been on a decade-long golden streak, reshaping reality television into must-see TV franchises with hits like Survivor, The Apprentice and now The Voice.

He wasn’t always that way of course. In the mid 90’s he was selling $18 t-shirts to tourists on Venice Beach, but a chance adventure trip showed Burnett an opportunity to start producing entertainment of his own in what would lead to his breakout Survivor. Put another way, he is a man that knows when to seize an opportunity.

Now Burnett is dipping his toe into the internet pool, testing out the waters of what could be a major push for his company onto the internet, launching his first series CliffsNotes Films earlier this month on Cambio as joint project with AOL, Coalition Films and Josh Faure-Brac.

Here’s where you come in, loyal Tubefilter readers. We’re interviewing Burnett on camera next week and we’re looking for your questions for him. Just leave a comment below or tweet us using the hashtag #AskBurnett, and we’ll pick the best ones to ask during the interview. And we’ll give you credit for the question too on Tubefilter next week.

Some questions to get started…

What would a young Mark Burnett do today if he were just starting out? Would digital be his first target?

Why have so many traditional entertainment companies struggled to produce hits on the internet?

Five years from now, where is the television industry? Are productions going to have to come down in cost to compete with online budgets?

Reality formats are appearing more online—If I Can Dream, ControlTV, Genuine Ken, Ultimate Proposal—but it’s ironically their inflated costs that have kept them from flourishing. Can they work on the internet the same way as TV?

And, be sure to check out CliffsNotes Films, his animated mash-up series that brings to life those trusted study guides that got us through AP English—covering the classics of Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar to Hamlet.

(Top photo by jdlasica)