Name: James Bentley
Graduation Year: 2020
Feature Track or TV Track: Feature
Contact Email: jameswbentley@gmail.com
Bio: James Bentley’s feature script, THE PIRATES OF FELLOWSHIP, MAINE, is a Humanitas award finalist and a winner in the Launch Million Dollar Screenplay Competition. He is a Cannes Storytelling Institute Fellow and is currently adapting FIRE IN THE BLOOD, a crime noir novel set to be published by Random House in August 2020.
Originally from coastal New England, James currently resides in Los Angeles and works as a storyboard supervisor for major Hollywood directors including Jon Favreau, Charlie Bean and Rob Marshall. He is a graduate of Bennington College and is will soon have his MFA degree in screenwriting from the UCLA school of theater, film and television.
He is represented by Bellevue Management.
Short Artist Statement: I like to write about scary things – the supernatural, societal ills, the danger that lurks in the ordinary, and the scariest of all, politics. My writing sample, THE PIRATES OF FELLOWSHIP, MAINE is about a Somali refugee combating climate change while also trying to come to terms with his violent past and reconnect with his estranged daughter. My current feature screenplay THE CHILDREN OF CANAAN is about a woman raised in a cult, trying to overcome her worst fears – her memory. These scripts both aim to entertain and to make the reader think about the world. Hopefully they succeed.
Logline #1: BIODYNAMIC - FEATURE - Romantic Dramedy - When a know-it-all sommelier loses his job at New York’s finest restaurant during a viral pandemic, his entire life comes crashing down and he’s forced to move in with his eccentric minister father on Long Island. But when a hippie organic farmer needs a hired hand in her vineyard, the somm will have to relearn the meaning of a days work – and human connection – through her tutelage.
Logline #2: MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY - TV PILOT - Supernatural Thriller - A Great War veteran teams up with a brilliant female professor to uncover the truth behind her vanished father. But as the investigation surrounding his disappearance turns up links to an ancient supernatural cult, what lays beneath the surface may be best undisturbed. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Logline #3: FIRE IN THE BLOOD - FEATURE - Crime Noir / Adaptation - When a young soldier in Afghanistan discovers his wife has been killed in the Bronx under mysterious circumstances, he must go AWOL and navigate the criminal underbelly of the Albanian mob to seek revenge. Adapted from the novel.
Name three movies or TV shows that inspire you: Sideways, True Detective, Call Me By Your Name
Graduation Year: 2020
Feature Track or TV Track: Feature
Contact Email: jameswbentley@gmail.com
Bio: James Bentley’s feature script, THE PIRATES OF FELLOWSHIP, MAINE, is a Humanitas award finalist and a winner in the Launch Million Dollar Screenplay Competition. He is a Cannes Storytelling Institute Fellow and is currently adapting FIRE IN THE BLOOD, a crime noir novel set to be published by Random House in August 2020.
Originally from coastal New England, James currently resides in Los Angeles and works as a storyboard supervisor for major Hollywood directors including Jon Favreau, Charlie Bean and Rob Marshall. He is a graduate of Bennington College and is will soon have his MFA degree in screenwriting from the UCLA school of theater, film and television.
He is represented by Bellevue Management.
Short Artist Statement: I like to write about scary things – the supernatural, societal ills, the danger that lurks in the ordinary, and the scariest of all, politics. My writing sample, THE PIRATES OF FELLOWSHIP, MAINE is about a Somali refugee combating climate change while also trying to come to terms with his violent past and reconnect with his estranged daughter. My current feature screenplay THE CHILDREN OF CANAAN is about a woman raised in a cult, trying to overcome her worst fears – her memory. These scripts both aim to entertain and to make the reader think about the world. Hopefully they succeed.
Logline #1: BIODYNAMIC - FEATURE - Romantic Dramedy - When a know-it-all sommelier loses his job at New York’s finest restaurant during a viral pandemic, his entire life comes crashing down and he’s forced to move in with his eccentric minister father on Long Island. But when a hippie organic farmer needs a hired hand in her vineyard, the somm will have to relearn the meaning of a days work – and human connection – through her tutelage.
Logline #2: MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY - TV PILOT - Supernatural Thriller - A Great War veteran teams up with a brilliant female professor to uncover the truth behind her vanished father. But as the investigation surrounding his disappearance turns up links to an ancient supernatural cult, what lays beneath the surface may be best undisturbed. Inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft.
Logline #3: FIRE IN THE BLOOD - FEATURE - Crime Noir / Adaptation - When a young soldier in Afghanistan discovers his wife has been killed in the Bronx under mysterious circumstances, he must go AWOL and navigate the criminal underbelly of the Albanian mob to seek revenge. Adapted from the novel.
Name three movies or TV shows that inspire you: Sideways, True Detective, Call Me By Your Name