Reader & traveler. Film Director of The American Question & The Sound of Identity | Reps: @unitedtalent
Los Angeles, CA
Joined January 2009
- Tweets9.9K
- Following488
- Followers2.1K
- Likes3.1K
Pinned Tweet
Hors d'oeuvres. We didn’t serve “ Hors d'oeuvres”in my hometown of 123 people, we had “appetizers.” So, it was a real shock to my 20-year-old self when I announced “whores de vours” at a fancy occasion. I learned real fast. – at Culver City, CA
The First Read Studio beta is open.
If you make documentaries, independent films or student films, we want you testing it on your own projects before it ships in October. Real projects help most, even small ones.
firstreadstudio.com/beta/
For most of my career, the schedule lived in one app, the budget lived in a spreadsheet somebody had renamed four times, and the releases were PDFs signed on the hood of a car.
So I built First Read Studio: one Mac app for filmmakers, documentarians and creators.
Pitching: The Room shapes the pitch for whoever is across the table, whether that's an investor, an agent or an actor.
The AI is optional. It runs on Apple Intelligence or a model you choose, or a production can turn it off. Nothing rewrites your script, your project on your Mac
Coming to the Mac App Store: $19.99 a month, $149.99 a year, or $295 once. One email when it's out: firstreadstudio.com
If you've been the integration layer on your own production, what would you want it to do next?
There are more important things going on right now, but it’s cool to be on the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy Ballot for the first time! Thanks for your consideration in Outstanding Direction for a Documentary / Nonfiction Program. @TelevisionAcad #emmys
James Kicklighter retweeted
Hey filmmakers here's my experience after 30 plus years. Most people who like your stuff generally don't write anything about it. They don't tweet, they don't post, they just enjoy it and that's it. You have to get used to that. They have other things to think about than you.
James Kicklighter retweeted
We talked with filmmaker James Kicklighter about his new documentary 'The American Question,' political divides, and more.
livinglifefearless.co/2025/p…
You can now watch THE AMERICAN QUESTION on @tubi! I hope you’ll check out our documentary. link.tubi.tv/krin59sMyQb
James Kicklighter retweeted
I don’t hate Donald Trump and I certainly don’t hate his supporters. But I do think he and his ideas are impulsive, erratic, often based in half-truths and outright lies, and profoundly wrong for the country—and some are even dangerous. I think his plans risk plunging the country into crises that may prove irreparable, and I think ultimately Trump cares first and foremost about his own interests. And no margin of electoral victory can change any of these things.
And so, even as we pray for the country’s success, I and others will continue to challenge Trump’s actions and plans where they distract from and erode the essence of what we believe America has been and should be.
Dissent against those in power is the lifeblood of our republic and offering a competing vision for the country is part of what it means to be a citizen. That’s the chief task of every American today: citizenship. Help your neighbors. Care about your country. Define its future. Because it belongs to all of us—not just him.
James Kicklighter retweeted
Democrats still believe the type of attention you get is the most important thing.
Republicans now understand that the volume of attention you get is the most important thing.
Absolutely loved this conversation with @chrislhayes.
James Kicklighter retweeted
It's wonderful to hear all the tributes to President Carter today, but some of it feels like lip service. Carter cared deeply about Middle East peace (and used to nudge me to write about Gaza even before the war), yet children in Gaza continue to die from US weaponry dispatched without restriction. Carter cared deeply about Sudan, yet it suffers famine and genocide with little effort to end the suffering. He worried about inequality in America and lack of health care, yet these persist. So by all means let's celebrate Carter with words, but even better would be actions to try to further the causes to which he devoted himself.
