Lilly Burns ’05 is a creative producer, and produce creative shows she has, all types for all sorts of streaming services. She is a Peabody Award winner, was nominated for an Emmy, and helped found two companies.   

Her bio lists one show after another, including Broad City (Comedy Central), Search Party (HBO Max), Russian Doll (Netflix), Emily in Paris (Netflix), and My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman (Netflix).  

Lilly and her husband, Tony Hernadez, were founders of Jax Media, where she oversaw the creative side of the business. Jax Media was acquired by Imagine Entertainment where Lilly and Mr. Hernandez served as presidents. In 2024 she co-founded Counterpart Studios with Mr. Hernandez; that company currently is producing Dexter Resurrection (Showtime), Dexter Original Sin (Showtime), Emily In Paris, and the upcoming Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed (Apple).  

Lilly graduated from Columbia University in 2008. She is the daughter of Ken Burns, best known for his award-winning documentaries, ranging from The Civil War to Baseball to The National Parks.  

Lilly has been married to Mr. Hernandez since 2015, and they have two children.  

We recently asked a few questions of Lilly, who will be here for Reunion Weekend June 6–8.  

When did you decide on your career path of producing shows? 

“I always wanted to make TV shows and movies ever since I can remember. I started out wanting to be a comedy writer, but my first internship was at The Daily Show, and it was there I realized that I wanted to be a creative producer. Soon after that we started our first company, Jax Media, and I was able to produce many different shows and work alongside many brilliant writers. It felt like exactly where I wanted to be.”  

What influence did Loomis Chaffee have on your career choices and on you as a person? 

“I think the forced independence of leaving home is the most formative thing about boarding school. I'm not sure any of us changed more than we did over those four years.”  

Of everything that you have produced, are there shows that stand out for particular reasons? 

“I would say three shows that are really meaningful to me are Broad City, Search Party, and Russian Doll. They all felt new and groundbreaking in their own way and were very fun to make. We are still shooting Emily in Paris season 5 right now, and that show, and shooting in Paris, is really dreamy.”  

The variety of the shows in which Lilly has been involved is reflected in their storylines. IMDB.com calls Search Party “a dark comedy about four self-absorbed twenty-somethings who become entangled in an ominous mystery when a former college acquaintance suddenly disappears.“ The website describes Russian Doll’s storyline as “a cynical young woman in New York City keeps dying and returning to the party that's being thrown in her honor on that same evening. She tries to find a way out of this strange time loop.” Emily In Paris, says IMDB, is a romantic comedy about “an ambitious twenty-something marketing executive from Chicago who unexpectedly lands her dream job in Paris.”   

What part of producing shows gives you the greatest satisfaction? 

“I like the making part. The writing and the shooting. It's really nice when something you love finds an audience, but the real fun for me is the part before that.”   

What do you remember most about having your father as the Commencement speaker in 2005? 

“I'm sure just being worried he was going to embarrass me. The plight of a nepo-baby ...” (For the record, he did not embarrass her. His address in part was about learning during his career that history is the greatest teacher.) 

How has your father and his work influenced you and your work? What lessons have taken from him as you saw what he has done in his career? 

“Seeing that he could build a career in the creative arts and do it on his own terms allowed me to believe I could do the same.”    

If you were to produce a show about Loomis Chaffee, what would it be called ... 

“I really, really want to make a boarding school show. Unfortunately, it will reveal that we all should have been expelled quite frequently, and I will probably not be invited back.”