Writer. Producer. Story Consultant.
I believe people are smart and savvy. They’re hungry for stories that surprise, delight, and inspire them.
So that’s what I make.
-
I have 20+ years of experience writing in fiction, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, nonfiction theater, and digital learning. My work has appeared onstage at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, in cinemas around the world, in Fast Company, and in digital learning platforms that have reached over 100,000 learners.
As an editor, I’ve coached, edited, mentored, and cajoled over a dozen writers across fiction and nonfiction.
I’m working on my first book, How We Stay: A Field Guide for Impossible Times, in collaboration with my father, the renowned death penalty defense attorney Richard Burr.
-
I’m an independent film producer, working primarily in documentary.
I run every aspect of pre-production, production, and post. I’ve led complex shoots everywhere from the middle of the Mongolian desert to the stage of a burnt-out WPA-era auditorium in Detroit. I oversee fundraising, marketing, pitching, and distribution.
My films have premiered and won awards at over 90 film festivals around the world, including CPH:Dox, International Film Festival Rotterdam, DOC NYC, Hot Docs, Bergen, Sydney, and BAFICI. They’re on streaming platforms globally.
I’m on IMDb here.
-
I work with teams and organizations across film, digital learning, and podcasting to shape stories that impact hearts and minds.
Film: I work with writers and directors in development and post-production. I’ve been a reader and judge for screenwriting competitions, worked with ByKIDS, and given film-changing notes on dozens of films.
Digital Learning: I've written and produced over 250 pieces of video content, including 50+ animations, and written 1000s of lessons through my work at Nomadic Learning and the Josh Bersin Academy. I’ve interviewed hundreds of Fortune 500 CEOs, CHROs, and CDOs, as well as academics, managers, and thought-leaders. I’ve led teams, mentored, coached, and nurtured people in various disciplines. I’ve overseen several business transformations and built partnerships with products valued in the millions.
Audio: I created the audio installation We Could Just Leave in collaboration with the Canary Project. I’m developing new podcast and immersive audio experiences.
How We Stay
a book and podcast
Amanda Burr Xido and Dick Burr’s book How We Stay: A Field Guide for Impossible Times is part of the same enlightened and embracing family as Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy and Thich Nhat Hahn’s At Home in the World.
One of the nation’s leading death penalty defense attorneys and a practicing Buddhist, Dick Burr knows how to survive in the darkest of times. He has spent a lifetime in the trenches of the fight for social justice, trying to overturn death sentences and reform a system that is stacked against him and his clients at every turn.
In How We Stay, he shares the practices, lessons, and ways of seeing the world that keep him tethered to hope, love, and a deep belief in the fundamental goodness of human beings. Against all odds and against all evidence.
Each chapter is built around a guiding principle, a touchstone that has helped him survive and navigate the impossible. Told through a mix of essays, letters and artwork from his clients, simple meditations, and even recipes, How We Stay offers a bulwark against despair in dark times.
How We Stay: The Podcast will expand beyond the scope of Dick’s work, inviting people who do mission-driven work—from ER doctors to teachers, labor organizers to chaplins—to share the stories, tools, and practices that keep them sane and dedicated to making change.
About Amanda
Amanda Burr Xido is a writer and producer working in film, literature, audio, theater, and digital learning.
Recent producing credits include Sons of Detroit (forthcoming in 2025), The Bones (2024 CPH:Dox), the series FILMS BYKIDS for PBS, Death Metal Angola, Man Shot Dead, and the short doc/fiction hybrid "Solitary/Release."
She was a founder and Editor in Chief at the digital learning company Nomadic, where she wrote, directed, and produced over 50 animated short films and education programs.
She has also worked as an associate programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival, a consultant with the Screenwriters Colony, a programmer for the Chicago Humanities Festival, and as a theater director.
She has a BS in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and an MFA in Writing from Spalding University, where she studied literary fiction and screenwriting.
She lives between Los Angeles and Barcelona with her husband, daughter, and two dogs.