---
name: "Mark Burton"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/mark-burton"
fi1m_id: "mark-burton"
imdb_id: "nm0123666"
tmdb_id: 7316
wikidata_id: "Q6766943"
roles: ["Writer","Producer","Director"]
born: "30 September 1960"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 12
average_fi1m_score: 74
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 11
updated: "2026-10-22T03:22:35.237241+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Mark Burton

## Identity

Mark Burton

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/mark-burton
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** mark-burton
- **IMDb ID:** nm0123666
- **TMDB ID:** 7316
- **Wikidata ID:** Q6766943
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Burton_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6766943, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0123666/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/7316

Writer and producer. Born 30 September 1960 in USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer, Producer, Director
- **Born:** 30 September 1960, USA
- **Active:** 2000–present
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 12: 1 directing, 11 writing
- **Frequently works with:** [Nick Park](https://film.one/person/nick-park.md), [John Sparkes](https://film.one/person/john-sparkes.md), [Justin Fletcher](https://film.one/person/justin-fletcher.md), [Kate Harbour](https://film.one/person/kate-harbour.md), [Peter Lord](https://film.one/person/peter-lord.md), [Ben Whishaw](https://film.one/person/ben-whishaw.md), [Claire Jennings](https://film.one/person/claire-jennings.md), [David Sproxton](https://film.one/person/david-sproxton.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 74, as writer, over 11 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 77 (3), 2010s 76 (5), 2020s 72 (4)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 74 to 73 across 11 titles
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 7 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Family 11, Comedy 10, Adventure 9, Animation 9, Science Fiction 2, Horror 1
- **Screen time:** 16 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $1,747m across 9 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Burton_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6766943, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0123666/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/7316

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl*](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-vengeance-most-fowl.md) (81), [*A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon*](https://film.one/film/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon.md) (78), [*Paddington in Peru*](https://film.one/film/paddington-in-peru.md) (64), [*Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget*](https://film.one/film/chicken-run-dawn-of-the-nugget.md) (64)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Shaun the Sheep Movie*](https://film.one/film/shaun-the-sheep-movie.md) (80), [*Early Man*](https://film.one/film/early-man.md) (68)
- **HBO Max:** [*Paddington 2*](https://film.one/film/paddington-2.md) (91)
- **Disney+:** [*Gnomeo & Juliet*](https://film.one/film/gnomeo-and-juliet.md) (61)
- **The Roku Channel:** [*Madagascar*](https://film.one/film/madagascar.md) (60)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Mark Burton

> Mark Burton came out of television satire, where the job is finding the line, and has spent a quarter of a century at Aardman writing comedy in which nobody is allowed one. His best scripts are built in pictures; the weaker ones were built in rooms.

A farmer mumbles, a sheep bleats, and the plot moves on. *Shaun the Sheep Movie* (2015) runs eighty-five minutes through a whole city without a line of dialogue, and Mark Burton, who wrote and directed it with Richard Starzak, is a large part of why that is a writer's achievement and not a stunt. Every joke has to be set up in the frame and paid off in the frame, because nobody can explain it. We laughed, often, at the flock loose among people who cannot see what they are, because the film had done its work before each laugh arrived. The middle runs short of ideas. The rest does not.

It is an odd place to have landed. Burton began in BBC radio and television comedy in the mid-1980s, lead writer on *Spitting Image* from 1989, often with John O'Farrell. That is a trade in lines: the quick one, the one that lands before the puppet has finished moving. He moved into features with additional dialogue on *Chicken Run* (2000) and the screenplay of *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* (2005), and the same year supplied the original idea, with Billy Frolick, for *Madagascar*. Since then it has mostly been Aardman: *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019), *Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl* (2024) with Nick Park, and now the third Shaun.

What he brought from satire was the habit of the gag rather than the gag itself. The *Were-Rabbit* screenplay, by Park, Steve Box, Bob Baker and Burton, works hardest in its sight gags; the puns are often obvious and there is nearly always something in the picture worth watching instead. That is the method: write the joke the camera can show, and let the words come second. *Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom* (2026), written with Giles Pilbrow for first-time directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, drops the flock into a monster film and made us laugh more often than most comedies that use words. It is also a long episode of the television programme.

The weaker credits are the ones with the most names on them. Burton has described the outlining of *Paddington in Peru* (2024) as "almost like engineering", done with Dougal Wilson and other writers, and the film shows it: kind, brisk, handsomely made and the first of the three that plays like a sequel. *Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget* (2023) is neat and pleasant and finds the original's sharpness only once. Engineering produces things that stand up. It does not often produce things that surprise.

Start with *Shaun the Sheep Movie*, then *Were-Rabbit*, then *Mossy Bottom* if the first one took. He is a satirist who turned out to write best for characters who cannot talk, and we would not argue with where he ended up.

## Biography

Mark Burton is a British screenwriter and writer. He has contributed to several Aardman Animations films, including additional material for *Chicken Run* (2000) and the screenplay for *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* (2005). He also wrote for *Madagascar* (2005) and co-wrote *Shaun the Sheep Movie* (2015).

Burton worked on the *Paddington* film series, providing additional material for *Paddington 2* (2017) and co-writing the screenplay for *Paddington in Peru* (2024) with Jon Foster and James Lamont, based on a story by Paul King, Simon Farnaby and Burton. He has an earlier background in British television and radio comedy, including writing for *Spitting Image*.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, bigissue.com.*

## On Fi1m (12)

### Directed (1)

- *Shaun the Sheep Movie* (2015), Fi1m 80, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/shaun-the-sheep-movie.md)

### Wrote (11) — the average rests on these

- *Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom* (2026), Fi1m 77, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/shaun-the-sheep-the-beast-of-mossy-bottom.md)
- *Paddington in Peru* (2024), Fi1m 64, Screenstory, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/paddington-in-peru.md)
- *Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl* (2024), Fi1m 81, Story, Executive Producer, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-vengeance-most-fowl.md)
- *Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget* (2023), Fi1m 64, Writer, Additional Writing — [page](https://film.one/film/chicken-run-dawn-of-the-nugget.md)
- *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019), Fi1m 78, Writer, Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon.md)
- *Early Man* (2018), Fi1m 68, Screenplay, Story — [page](https://film.one/film/early-man.md)
- *Paddington 2* (2017), Fi1m 91, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/paddington-2.md)
- *Gnomeo & Juliet* (2011), Fi1m 61, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/gnomeo-and-juliet.md)
- *Madagascar* (2005), Fi1m 60, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/madagascar.md)
- *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* (2005), Fi1m 87, Screenplay — [page](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit.md)
- *Chicken Run* (2000), Fi1m 84, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/chicken-run.md)

## Complete filmography (27)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom* (2026), Writer — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/shaun-the-sheep-the-beast-of-mossy-bottom.md)
- *Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl* (2024), Screenplay, Story, Executive Producer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-vengeance-most-fowl.md)
- *Paddington in Peru* (2024), Screenplay, Screenstory — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/paddington-in-peru.md)
- *Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget* (2023), as Additional Writing · Writer — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/chicken-run-dawn-of-the-nugget.md)
- *Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas* (2021), Executive Producer, Story
- *Ada Twist, Scientist* (2021), series, Executive Producer
- *Star Wars: Visions* (2021), series, Executive Consultant
- *A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon* (2019), Writer, Executive Producer — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/a-shaun-the-sheep-movie-farmageddon.md)
- *The Angry Birds Movie 2* (2019), Thanks
- *Early Man* (2018), Screenplay, Story — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/film/early-man.md)
- *Paddington 2* (2017), Writer — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/paddington-2.md)
- *Shaun the Sheep Movie* (2015), Director, Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/film/shaun-the-sheep-movie.md)
- *So You Want To Be A Pirate!* (2012), Story
- *Kikoriki: Team Invincible* (2011), Writer
- *Gnomeo & Juliet* (2011), Screenplay — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/gnomeo-and-juliet.md)
- *Aliens in the Attic* (2009), Screenplay, Story
- *May Contain: Nuts* (2009), Adaptation
- *A Matter of Loaf and Death* (2008), Creative Consultant, Writer
- *One of Those Days* (2008), Writer
- *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* (2005), Screenplay — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit.md)
- *Madagascar* (2005), Writer — Fi1m 60, [page](https://film.one/film/madagascar.md)
- *Chicken Run* (2000), Additional Dialogue, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/chicken-run.md)
- *The Peter Principle* (1997), series, Creator
- *Never Mind the Horrocks* (1996), Writer
- *Spitting Image: Election Special '92* (1992), Writer
- *Murder Most Horrid* (1991), series, Writer
- *Spitting Image: The Sound of Maggie* (1989), Writer

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 2016: Best Animated Feature (nominated), for *Shaun the Sheep Movie*

### Other awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film 2018: European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film (nominated), for *Early Man*
- European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film 2015: European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film (nominated), for *Shaun the Sheep Movie*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/mark-burton