Essays, observations, and writings on filmmaking, storytelling, and the work.
One Mac app for the work other tools leave to spreadsheets: documentaries written and heard before the edit, consent that keeps footage out of the film when permission changes, channels planned like…
A while back I wrote about why I tore my old website down and rebuilt it, and what I think most filmmakers are getting wrong about how their work gets found. That…
A Pride Month reflection from the director's chair. Five years ago this month, The Sound of Identity premiered on STARZ. I have been thinking about that release a lot lately. Not because…
There are a handful of films I've watched, conservatively, more than thirty times each. I don't say this as a flex. I mean that for whatever reason, three films in particular have…
I was 19 years old, sitting in my department chair's office at Georgia Southern University, crying. I was in the wrong major. There was no film degree to transfer into, because Georgia…
Cannes opens Tuesday. By the time most of you read this, the Marché du Film will be open for accreditation, the Croisette will be filling up, the Carlton will already be booked…
Early in my career, I attached to a project I should have walked away from. Everything looked right on the surface. The producer and financier I respected and had a track record.…
I want to talk about Infection. It is a short film I am directing this year for Kids in the Spotlight. The shorthand I have been using is Severance meets American Psycho.…
The first time a film festival asked me to speak, I made a mistake that took me a year to undo. The festival had asked for a craft talk on documentary direction.…
Sometime late last year, I pulled up my own website on my phone and felt something I have not felt looking at my own work in a long time. Embarrassment. It loaded…
The best commercial brief I ever got was one page long, written in plain language, and ended with the sentence "the brand is nervous, the agency is excited, and the budget is…
The Sound of Identity aired nationally on STARZ. The American Question debuted at number one on Apple TV's documentary chart in 2024. A limited documentary series I'm executive producing for Lionsgate Television…
For the past several weeks, I've been quietly rebuilding jameskicklighter.com from the ground up. New theme, new architecture, faster load times, a proper Press archive, real project pages, an On-Location photos archive…
Gravitas Ventures, an Anthem Sports & Entertainment Company will release The American Question on Tuesday, October 29th on all streaming on demand platforms (including Apple TV, Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube TV and all…
Bobby Zarem knew two people in this world: a great friend and a fucking piece of shit meshuggeneh cunt, may G-d strike him/her dead. You were one or the other, there was…
Award-Winning Filmmaker James Kicklighter Directs Documentary “The Sound of Identity,” Coming to Digital and On Demand in North America on June 1.
In the midst of our COVID-19 pandemic, we have been lucky to bring The Sound of Identity to select audiences across the United States. But in 2021, I’m thrilled to bring it…
I was notified by a Google Alert that Desires of the Heart is now streaming on Amazon Prime. In 2012, I was given the opportunity to direct this film, and I have…
We’ve found terrific landing spots for The Sound of Identity at the 2020 OUTShine Film Festival and Macon Film Festival.
I was honored to speak with Fontys University students Tringa Hasaj and Tijmen Schauwaert about the influence of coronavirus on the film industry.
I had a great time doing a fun interview for a change with my friend, comedian Adam Carr, with AfterBuzz TV’s Horrible Hollywood Single.
It is amazing how trite and trivial these things that are important become in a time of crisis. At risk people are dying, healthy people are carrying the illness to them, and…
It has come to my attention this morning that messages are being sent from “James Kicklighter,” stating that I am hiring a production assistant. This is a hiring scam.
Film Courage: One of the things we always talk about with film or acting or whatever is when it rains, it pours. And when it dries up, it really dries up. It…
This year, we did 2 films, The Sound of Identity and just finished another round of shooting on The American Question, both of which will be released in 2020.
What are the biggest mistakes film directors make on day one, and for you, that you’ve made on the first day of shooting?
One of the toughest lessons to learn in making a film, perhaps life in general, is processing notes and feedback.
Here is your first look at my Lucia Lucas documentary, The Sound of Identity, profiling her historic performance as Don Giovanni at the 2019 Tulsa Opera.
How do you avoid being a screwball filmmaker? Do you think it’s easier to work on your own or to have collaborators?
The 5 rules that I think have changed and evolved for me in some way have a lot to do with preparation process more than being on set.
if you want your first film to be made, unless you are independently wealthy, being a child of teachers, I had to figure out the money to do it.
Director James Kicklighter and I meet for coffee and I briefly tell him, I’m Axel Rockham, my journey as an actor, the challenges I’ve had, and what I’d like to do next.…
There is something beautiful in failure, passion that has been reignited amongst the complacent, who forget our history and its repetitions.
Don’t let anyone tell you that America isn’t great; vote for the best of what we represent, not the vast darkness.
Upon word of Miley Cyrus’s arrival, throngs of college students gathered outside the dorm, along with paparazzi, screaming & acting like generally crazy people.
Around her 4th call, I extended my hand and said, “I’m James, the weird guy in the corner randomly filming you.” Madeleine Albright laughed and proceeded calling.
On Saturday, we planned to film a nice, in-depth interview with Bellamy Young at the Arlington Field Office at 10 AM. That time was wrong.
In front of a New York Magazine reporter, who was following her for a profile, Michelle Kwan said my interview was like 20/20.
The most striking story was from a Ugandan refugee, Sgt. Jimmy Ochan, who fled to the U.S. and enrolled as a Marine.
In today’s digital world, when you can create a film on your iPhone, anybody can take a risk and be a film director. However, not everyone can tell a story; that’s what…
It’s ironic that most big decisions in America are made on the coasts where I work. In this vast between, perhaps if more of us left our urban bubbles, we’d see.
As my former professors and department chair would tell you, I never intended to practice public relations in my life; just use it in film.
I have plenty times left to fail and learn, and believe me, I certainly don’t have all the answers.
In this interview with Film Courage, I discuss how to make a living as a filmmaker as a film school grad. Film School doesn’t usually teach you that lesson.
Spending too much money on your first short is a big mistake. I know filmmakers who spent $50K on their first short film and it ruined them.
Featured on No Film School, director James Kicklighter discusses what he feels it takes to be a filmmaker – professionally.
In dying, I realized that life is shorter than I ever thought. Worse still, I had spent all of my time thinking about doing great things.
Our son Caleb’s continued stomach pains led him to having a CAT scan a month later. Much to our dismay, the diagnosis was stage four lymphoma, and it took several days to…
As soon as I heard the words, “Cancer” and “Burkitt’s Lymphoma,” my whole world crumbled inside. It was as if I was in a horrible dream and could not wake up!
Medicine and treatment has luckily come a long way in thirty year. In 1988, when my younger sister had a birth defect in her stomach that nearly killed her.
My father died of cancer when I was four years old, my grandfather died of cancer when I was in high school, and my grandmother is a breast cancer survivor.
As time marched on, as many relationships do, slowly, the interconnectedness became broken into isolated strands, and my fraternity brother was dying of Burkitt’s Lymphoma.
While filming in the heat of Rajasthan, India for 1 month, I was able to focus on the creative; while my local co-director was able to focus on executing logistics & cultural…
From my first film (The Car Wash) to my first feature film, Desires of the Heart, actor Edith Ivey (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has been with me.
In this video blog, we say farewell to actor Alicia Minshew on her last day of filming in Savannah.
While filming Desires of the Heart in Bonaventure Cemetery, I sat down with my longtime collaborator, set photographer Maryann Bates, to discuss her love of photography.
Shooting an overnight sequence, we brought in some bigger pieces of equipment to make it rain and thunder for a fantasy sequence that will be seen in the film. My apologies to…
Desires of the Heart made film history today in Savannah, Georgia; the first film ever to shoot inside the terminal at the Savannah International Airport.
In this video blog, created entirely on an Apple iPad, Desires of the Heart director James Kicklighter shows some moments from location scouting in Savannah, Georgia.
A group of eager Girl Scouts and their mothers, Troop 3520, from North Carolina were on location today. We did pictures and autographs after shooting.
From a very young age, Nana Dot instilled the value of community through the Brooklet Peanut Festival in Bulloch County, Georgia and old cemeteries – often in the context of its historical…
If I had not spent all those early years learning how to run a fake business on Steve Jobs Apple II, I seriously doubt that I would be experiencing my nominal success today.
Followed is a movie directed by 22 year old James Kicklighter of Savannah, opening at the NFFTY, National Film Festival for Talented Youth.
Since 2005, I learned quickly that filmmaking and persistence is not only about producing one project, but being prepared to produce many.
At Georgia Southern, someone else will live where we lived, as others before. But for an all too brief moment in time, these walls were ours, moments we shared.
The activities that exclusively involved my friends would be adjusted to creating my career, slowly breaking away from my social life and leadership in Delta Tau Delta.
Somewhere around February of Sophomore year, we realized the end of the academic year would mark the halfway point in our college career. It didn’t seem right or fair to make so…
Collecting my things into the orange bins, I realized things were going to be different than in my hometown of Bellville, Georgia, population 123.
Since Dixie Carter didn’t want us to go hungry, she sent us with Pimento Cheese and Pineapple sandwiches and two gallons of Sweet Tea to get us going through the ride.
In November and December, I directed a short film called The Car Wash with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s Edith Ivey.
It was the turn of the century, turn of the millennium, and perhaps, one of the scariest points in my life up to that point. Y2K was coming! And now, a new…
As I began to clean, there were programs, newspapers, pictures, and magazines from years gone past, and I wondered if it meant anything, or if they were just things that had begun…
Some of my best friends are graduating in a week, leaving the 30460 forever. This is the great tragedy of life, I suppose. We have a short time to really become a…
At the 2009 NAB Show, one message is clear; if you’re not ready to take your productions to mobile platforms, very shortly, your content will become obsolete.
The project was sponsored by Georgia Southern University and kicks off a decade-long celebration of radio for the Broadcast Education Association.
Di Passaggio would have not happened if it wasn’t for the tireless dedication of this team, and for that, I am deeply grateful.
Originally written as a Facebook note to all of my friends and family, revealing lies told through 2008, this has been edited slightly for content in 2019, but the truth found within…
It is not enough to visit a place and stay there, even if it seems that it could be done forever. You have to take the experience with you to make the…
It has been a wonderful study abroad trip to Italy, and I’m encouraged about the direction my film Di Passaggio has been taking.
Pisa is fun, but when you see the leaning tower, it’s easy to ask yourself — that’s it? When we see pictures, they’re normally photoshopped.
Though I support Hillary Clinton, I plan to do everything I can to get involved and ensure that Sen. Barack Obama will be our next President.
I have been instructed to quit using “amazing,” “awesome,” and “incredible” in my blogs describing study abroad. Currently, I’m in the Amalfi Coast.
When I say there are “people-who-don’t-deserve-to-be-here” in Italy, I’m referring to the people who don’t appreciate the landmarks and experiences that they can be exploring.
If I’m not qualified to do a job, I don’t mind someone else getting it. But if someone purposefully cuts you, as a game strategy, this is cheating.
We were treated to a special wine tasting at one of the local wineries on Wednesday. This ended up being less of a tasting and more of a drunk-ing for most people.
I have to run, but here are 4 quick pictures of the view from my Montepulciano, Italy apartment while I am here on Study Abroad.
I received some sad newsl; a lady at my church died, someone who had been very kind to me all my life. I wonder if she got to experience anything like this.
All 8,068 miles were very long. I was awake a grand total of 34 hours by the time I got to sleep at my Apartment here in Montepulciano.
“Di Passaggio,” which is the name of this personal/production blog for my film and trip to Italy over the course of May 16 – June 23rd, 2008.
Today marks the 13th anniversary of Dub Taylor’s death, which really, marks a celebration of his life.
We don’t have distribution yet, because frankly, we’re not at the point where we’re ready to present the project yet. The Taylor Family has seen the rough cut and we’re encouraged by…
We’re interviewing John Mellencamp, who worked with Dub Taylor on the film Falling from Grace
People remember not who Dub Taylor was or what he looked like, but that he contributed to some of the best memories of people’s lives.
We had an hour of sleep on Thursday Night en route to Oklahoma City, and left for Jacksonville at 4:00 am.
You might be wondering who the heck Dub Taylor is and why the heck anyone might want to make a feature documentary about him.
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