JAMES “SÉAMUS” BEARHART
347.525.50189 | jamesbearhart@gmail.com I Resume
James, or Séamus in his native Irish, is an LA-based independent filmmaker and recent graduate of AFI (SCR 2022).
A Sloan screenplay winner and fellow for his script 'Kokoro' about a dysfunctional Irish family, he also won a Sloan grant through the prestigious SFFilm Development Fund for his pitch 'Visible' on the life-changing discovery a scientist makes when she comes across a frog that can turn invisible. As a Sloan fellow, he has been invited to many events, including the National Academy of Sciences writers-retreat, where he was paired with a Quantum physicist (and consultant for Ant-Man) to develop a script in real-time.
His directorial debut, 'Woman's Best Friend', a silent comedy about a woman's consistent bad taste in men, won several awards. He has also written a musical, 'The Singing Revolution,' a love story told against the backdrop of the Soviet Union's occupation of Estonia, which debuted in 2022 to rave reviews and is currently scheduled for performances in the West End later this year.
HONORS
Recipient of SFFilm Sloan Stories of Science in Cinema Development Fund 2023
Recipient of 2020-2022 AFI Sloan Fellowship
Recipient of 2020-2022 George Moore Fellowship
2022 AFI Sloan Screenwriting Prize Winner
2022 AFI Telluride Film Lab Fellow
2022 Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Semi-finalist
SCRIPTS
FIVE POINTS (fka Freedom*) - ONE-HOUR PERIOD DRAMA
Academy Nicholl top 10% finalist 2021, Humanitas semi-finalist 2022
In the 1840s, in Five Points, New York, the love affair between an Irish immigrant and a Black freeman is pressured as their communities are slowly pitted against each other.
THE TRINITY KNOT (fka Kokoro) - FAMILY DRAMA - FEATURE
Sloan AFI prize winner 2022, Sloan Student Screenplay Finalist 2022
An AI engineer must return to his childhood home, so he can work together with his psychiatrist sister to diagnose their estranged doctor father, who has developed a mysterious illness.
OTHER SCRIPTS AVAILABLE
SCRAWL - HORROR - FEATURE
A widower must learn to become a father to his son in the midst of trying to survive in the Bronx, having long overstayed his migrant visa. Survival takes on a new meaning when his deceased wife is made real by his son’s drawings. View the pitch
SUGAR - DARK COMEDY - FEATURE
When a gay construction worker and his straight best friend blow all their money to live like the 1% for a weekend at Cannes, the two men decide to find sugar daddies to stay in the lifestyle they’ve come to love.
SMALL G - HALF-HOUR COMEDY
‘Small g’ is a half-hour comedy about a down-and-out potbellied loser called JESÚS, a lowly mail room employee, who is, in reality, the immortal but powerless former Greek god Zeus.
SHORT FILMS
POWER PLAY - DARK COMEDY - SHORT
An emotionally abusive maid-employee relationship is revealed to be part of a sub-dom roleplay between a sex-worker and her elderly client. Read the script
ACADEMY - DRAMA - SHORT
An injured footballer recalls the series of events that might destroy his career. Read the script
SENSORIUM - SCI-FI - SHORT
In a society addicted to technology, a father is confronted with ‘the real world’. Read the script
KOKORO - FAMILY DRAMA - SHORT
A family of scientists wrestles with the after-life when their father is diagnosed with cancer. Adapted from the Sloan feature screenplay. Read the script
WOMAN’S BEST FRIEND - SILENT COMEDY - SHORT
A woman discovers her taste in dogs is just as bad as her taste in men. Read the script