About JamesWorks Entertainment

We are proud of our mission, points of pride, values, history, and leadership.

On the set of JamesWorks Entertainment's THE CAR WASH
On the set of JamesWorks Entertainment's THE CAR WASH

 

Our Mission

The mission of JamesWorks Entertainment is to create socially-conscious films that engage our audiences through new media to action in their personal lives, communities, and around the globe.

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Recent Points of Pride

  • Grand Prize Winner (Final Acts), 2011 Gateway Macon Shorts Competition
  • Audience Choice Award (Followed), 2011 National Film Festival for Talented Youth
  • The Indie Award of Merit (Land of Higher Peace), 2011 Indie Competition
  • Best Drama (The Car Wash), 2010 Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival
  • Accolade Award of Merit (Di Passaggio), 2009 Accolade Competition
  • Screeners, 2009 International Documentary Association Distinguished Feature Award
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Our Values

There are seven guiding principles that inform every decision that is made about producing any creative content at JamesWorks, the values upon which we have built our company:

  1. All creative endeavors first must enlighten, educate and entertain. We place equal importance on each of these facets.
  2. We seek to reach untapped audiences around the world in every story we tell.
  3. We must utilize a diverse spectrum of experience in filmmaking to keep ideas fresh.
  4. We will be at the forefront of cutting-edge social networking platforms to pursue discussion with our prospective audience in all stages of production.
  5. We will advance the ideals of independent filmmaking through supporting up-and-coming artists with our time, talents and resources.
  6. With every project, we remember our social responsibility to a global audience.
  7. As we are socially responsible, we also must be charitably responsible to those less fortunate, supporting projects and initiatives that advance the needs of the Third World.
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Our History

JamesWorks Entertainment, LLC was established in 2005 by Co-Chairman James Kicklighter at the age of 16 to be an independent film and television production company. Since this time, JamesWorks has expanded to have successful web development and marketing/public relations divisions. With satisfied clients across the country, the reach of the company continues to expand each year. Though strong today, the origins of JamesWorks are unique.

Beginning at the age of 14, Kicklighter was able to convince his family and thousands of individuals through newspapers and television stations that he was a writer and producer of major motion pictures and television shows; despite evidence online to the contrary. Stemming from the unexpected death of his father, the imaginary world he created to cope with tragedy evolved into reality, as Kicklighter honed the skills he claimed to have. Through the establishment of the company, he was able to move from a purported producer to a legitimate one, first with the feature Western documentary That Guy: the Legacy of Dub Taylor.

Since this time, JamesWorks Entertainment has gone on to shoot multiple award-winning films around the world, with a creative team spanning all parts of the country.

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Our Leadership

James Kicklighter

James Kicklighter, Chairman

James Kicklighter is the Chairman of JamesWorks Entertainment, featured in the Examiner.com "Top CEOs Under 25" series. He was a screener for the 2009 International Documentary Association's Distinguished Feature Award. Mr. Kicklighter earned his B.S. in Public Relations from Georgia Southern University.

A film director and producer, titles include Followed, based on the short story from Hugo-award winning writer Will McIntosh, winner of the Audience Choice Award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth, The Car Wash, winner of Best Drama at the Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival, and Di Passaggio, winner of The Accolade Award of Merit alongside ABC News, USA Today, and Discovery Kids.

He served as the Program Director for the 2010 National Student Leadership Conference on Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of California at Berkeley and 2011 Social Media Coordinator for American University. In 2012, he will administrate the Social Media Campaign for all NSLC sites across America.

Final Acts, his latest film, was the Grand Prize Winner of the Gateway Macon Shorts Competition, part of the Gateway Macon Initiative. Out of entries from Japan, London, Indonesia, Los Angeles, New York, Florida and Kansas, as well as a significant number from filmmakers from within Georgia, the film was judged by Carrie Preston (HBO's "True Blood"), Lisa Sheridan (ABC's "Invasion"), Gabe Wardell (Former Director, Atlanta Film Festival), and Lee Cuthbert (Locations Specialist, Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment).

 

Kasey

Kasey Ray-Stokes, Director of Development

Kasey Ray-Stokes discovered her love for telling stories at a young age and fostered that love through her adolescence by writing angsty journal entries and filming her annual family Christmas pageants. Now that she is an adult, she focuses on telling stories to a broader audience through her position as Director of Development at JamesWorks Entertainment, writing creative nonfiction, and producing films.

When she is not working on films or freelance writing, she is furiously pushing through her last semester of her M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction at Converse College while potty training and singing the theme song to Thomas the Tank Engine.

Kasey's micro-nonfiction piece, "Hearth," was recently published as a part of a collection of flash writing in the 6S Love Book. She resides in Savannah, Georgia with her husband, Mark, and their son, Benjamin.

 

Mark Ezra Stokes

Mark Ezra Stokes, Director of Creative Media

Mark Ezra Stokes is a Special Education Teacher for the Long County School System. He has an M.A. in Screenwriting and Film Studies and an M.F.A. in Screenwriting, both from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA. On occasion, he serves as a film critic for Hollywood Jesus, and he's an award-winning journalist. He's written, produced and directed several films.

In 2010, he established Sustaining Hope, a 501-c3 charity organization dedicated to meeting the needs in developing countries through providing a thriving network of socially-conscious entities.

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