His book, Lawrence Tierney: Hollywood’s Real-Life Tough Guy, the first biography of the notorious screen legend, was published in December 2022 by the University Press of Kentucky (RogerEbert.com: “An unforgettable portrait”; Noir City magazine: “Spectacular”). The Show Won’t Go On: The Most Shocking, Bizarre and Historic Deaths of Performers Onstage, was written with Jeff Abraham and published in 2019 by Chicago Review Press. The work received acclaim from sources as varied as National Public Radio, the Daily Mail and Jerusalem Post. Kearns is also author of the controversial memoir, Tabloid Baby (TV Guide: “Hilariously scandalous”; SeekBooks: “As much high-octane entertainment as any Hollywood exposé”; Maury Povich: “The Bible”), and a regular contributor to the literary pop culture website, Legsville.com. 

In the fall of 2024, Applause Theatre & Cinema Books will publish Shemp! The Biography of The Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard, The Face of Film Comedy.

Burt Kearns is perhaps best known for his work in nonfiction television and film -- most recently as a creator and executive producer of Breaking the Ice, a sports docuseries that premiered on WE tv and ALLBLK streaming in 2023. Long in demand as a nonfiction television producer, writer, showrunner and consultant, he’s helmed and contributed to series and specials as diverse as Who Do You Believe?, Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Guinness World Records Unleashed, Joe Rogan Questions Everything, TIME Presents: Celebrities on Trial, The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll with Gene Simmons,  All The Presidents’ Movies, and El Chapo & Sean Penn: Bungle in the Jungle. His film credits  include the documentaries Death of A Beatle and The Seventh Python, and, along with Academy Award® winners Albert S. Ruddy and Gray Frederickson, writing and producing the 20th Century Fox feature film, Cloud 9, starring Burt Reynolds.  Kearns got his start as a print and television journalist in New York City, was an Emmy-winning newswriter, and achieved some notoriety for Tabloid Baby, his controversial 1999 television memoir which detailed his role in the evolution of the tabloid television genre.