Writer. Producer. Leadership Consultant.
I believe people are smart and savvy.
They’re hungry for stories that surprise, delight, and inspire them.
And leaders who have compassion, integrity, and humanity.
So that’s what I help create.
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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.
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I’m an independent film producer, working across documentary, narrative, and branded content.
Film: 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 also work with writers and directors in development and post-production as a story producer.
I’ve also been a reader and judge for Almanack Screenwriters, a programmer for the Tribeca Festival, worked with ByKIDS, and given film-changing notes on dozens of films.
I’m on IMDb here.
Video + Branded: I've written and produced over 250 pieces of video content, including 50+ animations through my work at Nomadic Learning and the Josh Bersin Academy.
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
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I consult with organizations of all sizes, teaching a human-centered approach to leadership that centers collaboration, dignity, and bringing out the best in everyone. Human-centered leaders listen first and lead with empathy to create a culture where people feel heard and seen—and do their very best work.
As a founding team member and Editor in Chief at Nomadic Learning, I have coached, taught, and mentored over 100,000 people in the practice of human-centered leadership. Clients included Citibank, PepsiCo, and IBM, among dozens of others. I’ve interviewed hundreds of Fortune 500 CEOs, CHROs, and CDOs, as well as academics, managers, and thought-leaders. I’ve designed and developed learning experiences in leadership, team building, management, DEI, and culture transformation, among many others.
As a leader myself, 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.
I’m now bridging my work as a producer and leadership consultant to bring leadership training, coaching, and mentoring to producers and leaders in film and other creative industries.
Writing
How We Stay: A Field Guide to the Impossible
a book and podcast
A book-length work of nonfiction written by Amanda Burr Xido, drawn from dozens of hours of conversation and interviews with her father and stepmother, the legendary death penalty defense attorneys Richard “Dick” Burr and Mandy Welch.
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.
How We Stay explores the stories, practices, lessons, and ways of seeing the world that keep Dick, along with his wife and long-time legal partner Mandy Welch, 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 Dick and Mandy survive and navigate the impossible. Told through a mix of essays, conversations, letters and artwork from clients, simple meditations, and even recipes, How We Stay offers a bulwark against despair in dark times and inspiration for how to carry on.
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.
Film
Trailers for select projects. My full IMDb is here.
learn more here
learn more here
Client Work
Selection of animations I’ve produced for clients. Live-action client work samples available on request.
for Nomadic Learning, now Guild Academy, and Coqual
for Nomadic Learning, now Guild Academy
Leadership Consulting
Human-centered leadership training built for the creative industries
Every film is a startup. Every arts organization is a business.
We raise capital, build teams, establish a culture, manage budgets, build go-to-market strategies; we just call these other things. Producers and other leaders are often CEOs, CFOs, Chief Marketing Officers, and heads of HR—all wrapped into one.
Uniquely, we must also create and sustain spaces that nurture creativity and traverse complex ethical questions amidst intimate, often grueling physical and emotional labor. We jump in, day one, with a new crew on a tight schedule, expecting everyone to get along.
And the vast majority of us get into the business-side of creative work with very little leadership or management training to support us.
But it doesn’t have to stay that way.
I bring leadership training to creatives. No jargon. Just good advice and practical skills.
I spent 12+ years teaching leadership to managers in Fortune 500 businesses. I saw how the skills they built changed their lives and the lives of those around them.
I also discovered the benefits of that leadership training in my work as a producer. People who work on my sets and in my production offices regularly tell me that “there’s just something different” about these crews. That difference? A practice in human-centered leadership.
Now, I’m merging the lessons from my consulting work with my experience as an independent producer in film, theater, and non-profit arts organizations.
Leadership training, coaching, and mentoring
for producers, directors, ADs, department heads, and anyone who leads people
across film, television, the performing arts, and other creative industries.
Let’s Work Together.
Masterclasses & Workshops
Keynotes and hands-on sessions for film festivals, labs, professional organizations, universities, and conferences. Research-backed lessons and insights, built around real-life scenarios faced by leaders in the creative industries.
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Documentary lab
- 1The situation
A lab brings in a cohort of promising producers. They know budgets and schedules, but almost none have ever been trained to lead a team.
- 2What we do
A 90-minute masterclass on setting the tone, building trust, and handling hard conversations, with time to solve real problems from the participants' own projects. An optional hands-on workshop follows.
- 3What changes
Producers leave with practical tools they can use on their next shoot, and a shared language for leading with respect.
Illustrative example. Every engagement is tailored.
One-on-One Coaching
Private coaching for producers, directors, ADs, and department heads facing a first big leadership role, a tough crew dynamic, or a project already in motion. A confidential space to think, plan, and practice.
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First-time feature producer
- 1The situation
A first-time feature producer is leading a large crew, and a conflict between two department heads is starting to spill onto set.
- 2What we do
Three private sessions over three weeks, plus a check-in two weeks later. We map what's happening, rehearse the hard conversation, and put clear agreements in place for the team.
- 3What changes
She addresses the conflict directly, the crew knows what's expected of them, and she has a repeatable way to lead through the next problem.
Illustrative example. Every engagement is tailored.
Team Training
Custom training built for production companies, arts organizations, guilds, and studios. Equip existing and emerging leaders with the skills to transform the culture of an entire organization.
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Growing production company
- 1The situation
A company is taking on more staff and more projects. Its leaders came up as artists and filmmakers, and each team runs a little differently.
- 2What we do
A custom program for the leadership team: a kickoff workshop, short follow-up sessions, and simple team habits like morning check-ins, explicit agreements, and regular feedback.
- 3What changes
Leaders manage with consistent habits, new hires know what to expect, and the culture holds as the company grows.
Illustrative example. Every engagement is tailored.
About Amanda
Amanda Burr Xido is a writer, producer, and educator working in film, literature, audio, theater, and digital learning.
Recent producing credits include Sons of Detroit (DOC NYC 2025, True/False 2026), 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 serves as a mentor for filmmakers at places like the Vancouver International Film Festival’s Institute for the Moving Image, helping transform early-stage projects into industry-leading films.
She has also worked as an associate programmer for the Tribeca Festival, a consultant with Almanack Screenwriters, a programmer for the Chicago Humanities Festival, and as a theater director for Albany Park Theater Project.
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 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. She speaks English and Spanish, and can be polite in French, Catalán, and Mandarin.