James Ward Byrkit (also known as James Byrkit or Jim Byrkit) is an American filmmaker. Byrkit is perhaps best known for his collaborations with director

Gore Verbinski Gregor Justin "Gore" Verbinski (born March 16, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for directing ''Mouse Hunt'', '' The Ring'', the first 3 ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' films, and '' Rango''. For '' ...

, working together on films like ''

Mouse Hunt ''Mouse Hunt'' is a 1997 American slapstick black comedy film written by Adam Rifkin and directed by Gore Verbinski in his feature film directorial debut. It stars Nathan Lane, Lee Evans, Maury Chaykin, and Christopher Walken. The film fol ...

'' and '' Rango''. For ''Rango'', Byrkit co-wrote the script and starred as several characters, most notably Waffles, a horned lizard. Byrkit was hired by Verbinski as the conceptual consultant for the first three ''

Pirates of the Caribbean ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' is a Disney media franchise encompassing numerous theme park rides, a series of films, and spin-off novels, as well as a number of related video games and other media publications. The franchise originated with Wa ...

'' films. He did three weeks of consultancy work on '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' (2003), the ''Black Pearl'' and other ships. In addition to the more than 3,000 storyboards that Byrkit created for ''

Dead Man's Chest "Dead Man's Chest" (also known as "Fifteen Men on the Dead Man's Chest" or "Yo, Ho, Ho (And a Bottle of Rum)") is a fictional''Fictional sea-song'' - in this sense means a sea-song that first appeared in a work of fiction, and not an authentic sea ...

'' (2006) and '' At World's End'' (2007), he also bounced back and forth between departments, such as production design, props and the pre-visualization team, helping with simplified animatics of the overwhelmingly complex action sequences that were a blueprint for Verbinski on set, and later, for

Industrial Light & Magic Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American Film, motion picture visual effects, computer animation and stereo conversion digital studio founded by George Lucas on May 26, 1975. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lu ...

's visual effects. Byrkit also directed ''Tales of the Code: Wedlocked'' (2011), a short film and an immediate

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

to ''The Curse of the Black Pearl''. Byrkit is also known for directing the science fiction thriller ''Coherence'', his debut feature which earned critical and audience praise and garnered attention for his unconventional approach in the making of the film as "proof that inventive filmmakers can do a lot with a little", and identifying him as a groundbreaking talent. Byrkit's follow-up project,
Shatter Belt
', is an episodic series in the tradition of '' Twilight Zone.'' Production on the first four episodes was completed in 2022, with the world premiere scheduled for 2023 at th
SXSW Film & TV Festival
In the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

series '' Prop Culture'', Byrkit made a guest appearance with concept artist Crash McCreery to discuss their work in '' Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl''.

Awards

*'' Breakthrough Director'' (nominated) at the

Gotham Independent Film Awards 2014 The 24th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, were held on December 1, 2014. The nominees were announced on October 23, 2014. The ceremony was hosted by Uma Thurman. Winners and nominees Specia ...

*''Next Wave Best Screenplay'' at the Austin Fantastic Fest for ''

Coherence Coherence is, in general, a state or situation in which all the parts or ideas fit together well so that they form a united whole. More specifically, coherence, coherency, or coherent may refer to the following: Physics * Coherence (physics ...

'' (2013) *'' Maria Award for Best Screenplay'' at the

Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...

for ''Coherence'' (2013) *''Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best In Competition'' at the Sitges Film Festival for ''Coherence'' (2013) *''Black Tulip Award for Best Feature Debut'' at the

Imagine Film Festival The Imagine Film Festival, formerly Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival, also known as Imagine Fantastic Film Festival or simply Imagine, is an annual film festival in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The festival was created in 1991 with a focus mainly on ...

for ''Coherence'' (2014) *''Imagine Movie Zone Award, Special Mention'' at the Imagine Film Festival for ''Coherence'' (2014) *''

Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (Malayalam actress) (born 1975), Indian actress who works in Malayalam-language films * ...

'' for ''Rango'' (2011, won, shared with John Logan and

)

Filmography

Feature film Short film Television Video game

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrkit, James Ward Living people American directors American male screenwriters Annie Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)