Two weeks after taking the photograph that would win him the prestigious Canadian Press Photographer of the Year Award in 1992, James left photojournalism. With five completed screenplays in hand, he set off for Los Angeles where he attended classes at UCLA's film school and networked.

The following year, James was chosen over dozens of applicants to study at the Canadian Film Centre where he wrote, produced, and directed his first short, The Red Car.

Between 1992 and 1997, James worked as a film industry story consultant, while finding the time to complete nine feature length screenplays, two television dramas and the screenplay for You've Got The Key, a searing drama produced by Rhino Productions.

In ’97 James wrote, produced and directed The Painter, a hard-hitting social drama shot on location in Los Angeles.

Early in 2001, James produced four, thirty-minute films, shot with twenty actors and a combined crew of thirty-seven.

In 2018, James incorporated MANKS Motion Picture Studios whose goal is to "Produce great stories, well-told." MANKS has four feature films in development:

• CUSTODY DENIED! - an Erin Brockovich-style drama set in the world of the corrupt family court system.
• BUFFALO BLACQUE - a story of a young, naive, NYC bookkeeper who is sent by his hero, Marcus Garvey, to frontier Canada to manage a bison ranch. (Principal set to take place in Alberta, Canada)
• THE RELUCTANT WITCH - a hard hitting drama about a teenaged girl who is kidnapped by human traffickers. She uses her fledgling magic skill to free herself and her fellow prisoners.
• HAPPY FATHER'S DAY - the story of a loving father who is compelled by his conscience to hunt down his serial killer son in the hope of preventing his boy from harming another living soul.  (principal set to take place in Amsterdam)

These four screenplays, along with twenty-four other feature film screenplays, three TV pilots and four novels were written by James.