About Me
Award-winning filmmaker and editor James Grisom is an LA-based storyteller from Lynwood, California. A USC School of Cinematic Arts MFA graduate and George Lucas Scholar, he brings a filmmaker’s sensibility to every edit. He shapes both scripted and unscripted material into stories rooted in the sincere complexity of the human experience.
With over nine years of editing experience, his work spans narrative film, documentary, branded content, and social media. He currently serves as a Narrative Video Editor at Chris Collins Inc. (Syndicate X Library), leading post-production across a high volume slate of long and short form content. He is also editing the independent narrative feature The Last Night in Tehran, set during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and previously spent five years cutting the feature documentary Still I Rise The Film where he earned a Future Filmmaker nomination at the WaterSprite Film Festival.
His editing instincts are grounded in his work as a writer and director. He wrote for Village Roadshow & USC’s feature adaptation of New York Times best-selling author Don Yaeger’s Turning of the Tide: How One Game Changed the South. His short film Eye for an i streamed on American Airlines Inflight Entertainment, premiered at the American Black Film Festival, and won multiple awards including the First Place Gold Circle Award from the Caucus Foundation and Best Narrative Short at the Sights + Sound Film Festival. His ballet short Bobby has screened at festivals including Black Harvest and New Filmmaker LA and streams on KANOPY.
This same instinct extends to audio. He sound designed the Tribeca-nominated, HBO MAX acquired The Cypher and BAFTA-shortlisted Izzy's Demons, and has composed music for documentaries, narrative shorts, and branded content. He brings a full post-production understanding to every project he touches.
Outside of filmmaking, he’s an autodidact with a deep passion for learning, especially the intersections of philosophy, religion, and science. He loves anime, sports, hip hop, animated films and TV, narrative-driven video games, and expressing himself through the piano. Inspired by his community and loved ones, he finds purpose in sharing sincere stories about humanity through a lens of reflection and empathy.
