James L. Bills, Born in Clintwood, VA in 1962. Attended Texas A&I University in Kingsville, TX, currently maintains a residence and office in Los Angeles, CA as well as a home next to the Screen Gem Studios in Wilmington, NC. James and his wife of 23 years have 3 children ages 12, 7 and 2. A veteran of Indie film, commercial production and graphic design, James was Inspired by motion picture legends Alfred Hitchcock, Ray Harryhausen, and John Carpenter. In 1976 James finally got his hands on his first motion picture camera, promptly re-creating his favorite scenes from King Kong and other notable classics.

James first studio film experience was in the 80's classic "The Legend of Billie Jean", assisting Dianna Mitzner with the local casting as well as playing several bit parts on screen.

By the mid 90's he had relocated from his childhood hometown of Kingsville, TX to Austin where he joined the Austin Cinemaker Co-op - a group of indie directors who shared ideas, crews and equipment. At the Co-op, one of his shorts was even selected as one of the top Texas indie films in 1998. It was also at the Co-op where he was first introduced to digital editing (having become quite used to the cutting and splicing of fragile movie film). This digital editing process convinced him to cut out the "middleman" and shoot everything straight from video.

Moving to New Orleans in early 2001, James helped form a small production company to work on the horror films he had always wanted to create. The 30 minute "City of the Dead" was the very first film the new venture completed, Directed by Bills, its success convinced him to move up to a Hi Definition for his next project. James continued to also work on other shows such as Gene Simmons' Family Jewels and The Dukes of Hazzard movie, but continued with the goal toward his next film.

Fast forward to August 27, 2005 his production company was in prep for a new feature, "Tao of M" which James wrote as was directing for Isis Films when Hurricane Katrina moved into the Gulf of Mexico.


James and his family had some hard decisions to make. Was Katrina going to hit New Orleans? They had evacuated for Ivan a year earlier and all that did was break them for 2 months. Just weeks earlier, tropical storm Cindy had become a Cat 1 hurricane when it hit the Crescent city and all they suffered was a week without power. The decision to stay was made easier by the lack of opened gas stations and the clogged highways leading out of the city. Given that, the family moved to higher ground, as this was a Cat 5 and the house would fare much worse than with Cindy. At the last minute with no more room in his truck, James decided to leave his Macintosh computer at the house and instead take his Sony Hi Def video camera. The resulting historical footage has since been used in Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke, Brook Lapping's Surviving Katrina, The History Channel's Mega Disasters, The BBC's Prisoners of Katrina and virtually every other Katrina Documentary that was produced this past year, the gem being James' own Refuge of Last Resort.

A bit of trivia, when "Refuge" was shot, Bills had no idea of the magnitude of the hurricane and made the decision to use the many tapes from his "Tao of M" music video shoot completed just a week before the storm.

After spending some time back in Texas to regroup, James helped start a new production company in Los Angeles through his production contact Al Gomez, moving to Wilmington, NC to develop and film "Privateer" with Gomez. While keeping the office and location in LA, North Carolina is where Bills writes, edits his projects and even works on indie films such as the 2009 Kat Von D thriller "The Bleeding".


When Frank Capra Jr. passed away, Screen Gems Studios and the Capra family asked James to produce the memorial video presentation in his remembrance, "Frank was a true gentleman who lived for the craft of film making. His inspiration to all of us is his real legacy". James L. Bills, "Remembering Frank".

In 2008/2009 James Wrote, Directed and served as DP and Editor on several television pilots for Donna Smith's Film West production company including the "Date Night" and "The Dog Show" pilots which are currently at CAA in the never-ending process of development.

James continues the well rounded production ritual with Principle Cinematography on the feature film "Double Tap", Prop design and Marketing on "Sinatra Club" and development on several scripts including "The Bollywood Boys", "Way of the Vampire" and "Harvest" which Bills has Written and will Direct.

Revolution: Enemies of the State (TV mini-series) (colorist: dailies - 2013)

2013 Pastor Shirley (post-production coordinator)

2013 Sox (post-production coordinator)

2012-2013 Revolution (TV series) (dailies technician - 19 episodes)
– The Dark Tower (2013) (dailies technician - uncredited)
– Children of Men (2013) (dailies technician - uncredited)
– Clue (2013) (dailies technician - uncredited)
– The Longest Day (2013) (dailies technician - uncredited)
– The Love Boat (2013) (dailies technician - uncredited)
See all 19 episodes »

2009 Shelter: A Monster Movie (assistant editor)

2008 Edges of Darkness (video) (assistant editor)

2013 Deceitful (visual effects supervisor)

2012 Monsters in the Woods (digital effects)

2011 Monster of the House (TV movie) (visual effects supervisor)

2010 Trap (visual effects)

2010 Butchered (video) (visual effects)

2009 The Bleeding (visual effects artist)

2009 Shelter: A Monster Movie (visual effects)

2008 Edges of Darkness (video) (visual effects supervisor)

2009 The Bleeding (epk director)

2008 Trouble the Water (documentary) (footage provider)

2008 The American Standards (epk director)

2006 Refuge of Last Resort (video documentary) (epk director)

2006 Down in New Orleans (epk producer)

2005 The Dukes of Hazzard (production assistant)

2014 Playin' for Love (graphic designer) (post-production)

2012 Smashed (additional artwork - uncredited)

2011 Goldberg - P.I. (graphics artist)

2010 Sinatra Club (prop designer)

2009 The Tomb (props maker)

2011 Double Tap (camera operator: a)

2010 Trap (camera operator)

2008 Undoing Time (camera operator)

2006 Gene Simmons: Family Jewels (TV series) (camera operator)

2010 Butchered (video)

2009 Baby Wake Up (video short)

2006 Refuge of Last Resort (video documentary)

2004 Slayer Zed and the City of the Dead (short)

2009 Baby Wake Up (video short)

2008 Edges of Darkness (video)

2006 Refuge of Last Resort (video documentary)

2004 Slayer Zed and the City of the Dead (short)

2009 Baby Wake Up (video short)

2006 Refuge of Last Resort (video documentary)

2004 Slayer Zed and the City of the Dead (short)

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