Benediction unfolds during the twilight of dotcom-frenzied San Francisco, where globe-hopping Ben Schmidt, a gay, recovering alcoholic who heads marketing at a trendy software firm, just found out he’s got prostate cancer. Ben’s sleeping with Jake, the sexy artist upstairs, while carrying on a little friends-with-benefits liaison with hot Argentinean Eric. His long-held dream of directing a movie has finally happened, too – and all this while sober. His enviable life takes an unplanned detour with the cancer news while simultaneously, Ben’s work nemesis maneuvers to destroy his reputation and get him fired. Despite being hit with all this, Ben, with his indomitable spirit and darkly skewed sense of humor, learns to navigate the strange reality of cancerworld just as his movie begins its festival tour and the work situation escalates. With the happy outcome of any of these situations far from certain, Ben struggles to figure out what love and friendship really mean as he fights for literal survival – all the while dealing with those who want to give advice, including friends who've passed on – yet can't resist popping back in with words of dubious wisdom.
As a writer, Jim is the author of the feature screenplays Me and Mamie O'Rourke (finalist and Honorable Mention winner, One in Ten Screenplay Contest, 2007), Lovelines (second round finalist, Austin Film Festival 2005), The Lourdes Kelly Story, Kept (finalist and Honorable Mention Winner, One in Ten Screenplay Contest, 2008), and the short film script Hell for the Holidays.
For television, he is the creator of the original drama series and pilot Troll Palace.
Benediction (2009) is his first novel.
Jim is also founder and president of the non-profit corporation Eureka Street Pictures. He directed the critically-acclaimed documentary short Our Brothers, Our Sons, about generational differences around HIV/AIDS in gay men, and is currently in production on the documentary Just Another Day in Paradise, a critical look at the explosive and somewhat unusual growth of the gay community in the California desert resort town of Palm Springs.
Jim has worked extensively as a free-lance journalist and has published in Frontiers, Variety, Prime Health & Fitness and other periodicals and fiction anthologies. He began his career in musical theatre and holds a BA in journalism and film from Marquette University, and has studied film production/writing in the MFA program for Cinema/TV at the University of Southern California, the Writers Program at UCLA, and at Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco.
Additionally, Jim is a veteran entertainment PR executive, having held management positions at both Paramount Pictures and Dolby Laboratories. He currently works as the Los Angeles-based Communications Director for the American Lung Association of California.
Other Useful Information:
Jim's a 4th Generation California Native whose ancestors came for the Gold Rush and stayed despite not finding any! He's also a cancer survivor who has run a marathon and can literally do cartwheels. An unusual talent is that he can rollerblade backwards - and keeps his skates in his car so don't be shy about asking for a demo. A former teenage church organist, Jim now irritates his neighbors playing standards from the American songbook on the piano.
