A New Zealander based in Tokyo, James is a script reader and screenwriter. His short film Newtown was shot in Tokyo recently, and he is in the process of building a crime portfolio of television pilots and features. James has worked in front of the camera as an actor and stunt man in films and television, with a Masters degree in theatre he has worked across five continents. Most of his current material is based eith in Japan or New Zealand as his goal is to produce local language content that plays globally, but hes branching out into stories set across North America. His stories often center around mixed ethnicity families (as he is a father of two half Japanese boys and hes constantly having nightmares about his children being the victims of hate crime), and issues of being foreign, as he is an immigrant in a largely monoethnic country.
Currently working on
Short film trilogy centered around strong Asian female leads.
Four TV crime spec pilots
Three crime spec features
One war spec feature
Five 30 - minute limited series pilots
FLY BY NIGHT Budget: $0 - $100K | Crime SERIES LOGLINE The disappearance of a loan shark’s granddaughter gives a failed private investigator haunted by his past a last chance to clear his debt by finding her; as police hunt him he fights to rebuild severed relationships and repair his destroyed reputation unearthing ties to trafficking, organized crime and his former boss, a corrupt politician. PILOT LOGLINE When a failed investigator can`t pay back his gambling debt he gets one week to find the missing granddaughter of his murderous creditor.
BOBBY KNUX Budget: $1M - $5M | Sports ⋄ Crime A disgraced and timeworn boxer fights to re-up his license to get back in the ring and save his kidnapped son.
TAKAO Budget: $1M - $5M | Thriller A Tokyo detective banished to a rural precinct embeds herself in a case involving severalgruesome murders to hide the fact she’s avenging the death of her daughter.
THE CLEANER Thriller ⋄ Action A grieving father takes a job as a janitor to break into a building and gatecrash a Christmas party to exact revenge on those who committed a heinous act against his son.
DAUGHTER Budget: $1M - $5M | Thriller ⋄ Crime A bullied suburban housewife who walks into the robbery homicide of a loan shark must evade being hunted by both sides of the law to protect her family.
SHEARWATER Budget: $1M - $5M | Thriller ⋄ Crime When their debts start piling up a crew of fishermen must tread dangerous waters and cooperate with a ruthless organized crime gang or risk becoming one of the towns’ murdered.
FIFTH STREET Drama An ex-gambler and her estranged poker champion mother in law compete for sole custody of her daughter.
Silent Service
(
Television
William D Collins
Nihon Dokuritsu
(
Film
Donald D Hoover
Coin Lunch
(
Film (short)
Jeff
The Last Recipe
(
Film
Russian Spy
Kodomo Tsukai
(
Film
Tommy
Official Selection Tokyo Lift - Off Festival
(2024)
Official Selection Dubai International Cineverse Screenplay Awards
(2024)
Official Selection The Flight Deck Film Festival
(2024)
Quarter Finalist Emerging Screenwriter Suspense Screenplay Competition
(2024)
Finalist Dubai International Cineverse Screenplay Awards
(2024)
Finalist Clown International Film Festival Paris
(2024)
Honorable Mention WideScreen Film and Music Video Festival
(2024)
Quarter Finalist WideScreen Film and Music Video Festival
(2024)
Best Feature Screenplay The Flight Deck Film Festival
(2024)
Victoria University of Wellington
(1997-2003)