Jim McKay is a filmmaker and co-founder, along with Michael Stipe, of C-Hundred Film Corp. He has produced and directed a full-length documentary, Lighthearted Nation; a feature-length concert film, R.E.M.’s Tourfilm; numerous music videos; and an award-winning series of public service announcements called Direct Effect.
McKay co-wrote, directed, and co-produced Girls Town, his first feature film in 1995. Girls Town received the Filmmakers Trophy and a Special Jury Prize for Collaboration at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. The film was released in August, 1996 in the U.S. by October Films.
His second feature as a writer/director was Our Song (1999), which premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, played at New Directors/New Films in 2000, and was distributed theatrically in the U.S. by IFC Films.
McKay’s third feature, Everyday People (2004), was selected as the Opening Night Film of New Directors/New Films 2004 and played at festivals around the U.S. before showing on HBO.
His fourth feature, Angel Rodriguez, co-written with Hannah Weyer, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, 2005, had its U.S. premiere at MoMA and on HBO in Fall, 2006.
McKay’s fifth feature, En el Septimo Dia (On the Seventh Day) had its World Premiere at BAMcinemaFest in June, 2017 and its European Premiere at Locarno Festival in August, 2017.
McKay was a co-writer of Nelson George’s Golden Globe Award-winning HBO Film, Life Support, starring Queen Latifah.
McKay has directed numerous tv shows, including The Wire, Big Love, Law and Order, In Treatment, Treme, Mr Robot, The Americans, The Good Wife, Boss, Breaking Bad, Rectify, Power, BrainDead, The Good Fight, Home Before Dark, and Better Call Saul.
McKay served as a producer on American Movie, (Chris Smith), Tree Shade (Lisa Collins), The Sleepy Time Gal (Christopher Munch), Benjamin Smoke (Jem Cohen), Spring Forward (Tom Gilroy), Stranger Inside (Cheryl Dunye), La Boda and Escuela (Hannah Weyer), Brother to Brother (Rodney Evans), Hostage (Walid Raad), Room and Fourplay (Kyle Henry), Johnny Berlin (Dominic DeJoseph), Memorial Day (Josh Fox), and Mosquita Y Mari (Aurora Guerrero).
McKay was a Rockefeller Fellow in 2003 and a Guggenheim Fellow in 2004. In 2005, he was a recipient of the Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award.
His haiku have been published in The Haiku Year (Soft Skull Press, NY, 1998); Snapshots 12 (Snapshots Press, Liverpool, 2006); Noon – Journal of the Short Poem (Noon Press, Tokyo, 2006); Haiku, Not Bombs (Booklyn Press, NY 2008), Rensselaerville Festival of Writers Haiku Project, Special Edition,2013. The Haiku Year received the Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults award from the Young Adult Library Services Association in 2001.