After Burns, who’s 57, became an empty nester and started to think about how that changed his identity and marriage–and those of his friends in the same age group.

He realized that there was fertile ground for new drama that would address this new stage of life for Generation X-ers the way that “McMullen” had represented the 1990s.

“There were a lot of conversations in my group of friends, ‘What does tomorrow look like now that you don’t define yourself as a parent and you’re not actively parenting anymore?,” Burns said, “How do you define the marriage?” As Burns and his friends talked about their experiences the filmmaker realized there was a wealth of material in these topics, as well as the regrets and resentments some parents had over their partners getting to pursue their careers while they stayed home with the kids — not to mention the question of whether or not there comes a time when an artist can become creatively tapped out, with nothing left to say.

The result of Burns’ probing is Millers in Marriage, a funny and insightful ensemble piece that ranks among the director’s best work. The movie follows three middle-aged couples (Campbell Scott & Julianna Margulies, Gretchen Mol & Patrick Wilson, and Burns & Minnie Driver) as they navigate a number of professional and personal issues ranging from writer’s block to extramarital affairs and the pleasures and challenges of starting up a new romance at 50. The economy of Burns’ writing enables him to jam his two-hour running time with a novel’s worth of provocative ideas and powerful emotional effects, as he explores a broad and deep assortment of themes with both compassion and a sly sense of satire.

The movie has additional resonance due to the subtext that runs underneath the various plot lines related to artists whose relationship to art has changed.

That subtext is the unspoken premise that the whole movie is a metaphor for the world of independent filmmaking — for the promise and excitement it had in its youth, and the questions about how it has changed and what it all means.

The parallels were obvious to Burns and his cast even while shooting.

”About 10 years ago, we had ‘Fitzgerald Family Christmas. We premiered at the Toronto Film Fest and got great reviews, but the next day when we got on the plane back to New York, nothing had changed. It was basically a small movie that would reach a small audience, and that would be its life. From that point my producing partner Aaron Rubin and I made commitment to reimagine how to define success moving forward.”

Viewing the film festival circuit as his theatrical release and letting his films build their audiences on streaming and cable has worked for Burns slowly but surely.

While Burns may keep his budgets low and his schedules tight (“Millers in Marriage” was shot in 20 days) he knows how to maximize his resources by focusing on the things that don’t necessarily cost money — not just solid writing and acting, but a precise visual language that allows him to realize the fullest expressive potential in each frame.

With Millers, Burns reinforces and deepens the relationships through blocking, editing, and camera movements that are most likely imperceptible to the audience on a conscious level but add force and depth to the emotional content of each scene.

“We wanted to show the disconnect between Patrick Wilson and Gretchen Mol,” Burns said, “If you look at the film closely, they’re never in the same frame together.

With Julianna Margulies and Campbell Scott, the idea was that Campbell was always in the background of her shots, sometimes in soft focus or with his head cut off to put him in secondary position when she’s in the foreground.

We also played with the color red with Gretchen; she and Patrick wear black and white for the whole film, but she’ll have these shocks of red to indicate the passion and volatility underneath.”

“Millers in Marriage” honors all of its characters’ perspectives, even though their points of view are often at odds.

The editing is key, as Burns and longtime editor Janet Gaynor skillfully choose when to reveal each piece of information so that it shifts the audience’s perception; this is important in terms of placing the film’s flashbacks, which inspired a fair amount of experimentation on his and Gaynor’s part.

Burns said of a flashback revealing that his character’s soon to be ex-wife wanted kids and he didn’t. Up to the point when the audience sees that flashback the ex comes across unsympathetically, which made the choice of when to reveal her desire to have children extremely important–and challenging. “We established that she’s 42, so there’s still time to have a kid, and if he doesn’t want a kid then doesn’t she have every right to say, ‘I want out of this marriage?’ In each dynamic we tried to have scenes where the other partner had winning argument.”

Burns is on to the next project: “The Family McMullen,” the sequel to his breakthrough debut. “It’s me and Connie Britton and Mike McGlone. It’s the two brothers and the sister-in-law. I had to figure out way to give Connie primary role, and sadly for Jack Mulcahy the easiest way was to kill his character off. We start shooting in Brooklyn and New Jersey. It’s exciting.”