Biography

JAMES EL PATTERSON - BIO AND FILMOLOGY James El Patterson is a screenwriter and filmmaker from Saint Petersburg, Florida. He studied filmmaking at Miami-Dade School of Film and Video in Florida. After film school, he moved to Los Angeles, California.

There, James appeared in several films, notably, Ava DuVernay's, "Middle Of Nowhere", where he portrayed a Correctional Officer. He also played in a film directed by Kadeem Hardison- ("A Different World", Panther", etc.)- titled, "The Dark Party". While living in Los Angeles, James also worked as an 'Audience Enhancer' on court TV shows, Judge Joe Brown and Divorce Court. Subsequent to living in Los Angeles for fifteen years, in 2012, Patterson returned to St. Petersburg. That same year he made a cameo appearance in a local production, a short film titled, "S.O.L."- a film produced from a script that he wrote. Since then, two award-winning sequels have been made from the first S.O.L. film , which is now a series. All three S.O.L. films were produced to compete in the annual Tampa Bay Action Film Challenge, a contest hosted by the Florida Film Network. James has been notably active in the Tampa Bay film community since his return to Florida. He has performed as an actor in a local production titled, "AGENT X", an action spy thriller.

In 2019, James El Patterson made his theatrical debut. He was Playwright and Co-director of a stage play that was performed at The Palladium Theater (St. Petersburg, Florida), titled, "DREAM FOR AMERICA", which received tremendous reviews. Actor, Lamman Rucker of, "Greenleaf", "Why Did I Get Married (1&2)", was cast in the leading role. In that stage production that he penned, James performed a brilliant portrayal of Oscar Micheaux, the first African-American filmmaker in America. Patterson has conducted several screenwriter workshops. He also taught screenwriting and filmmaking at a youth summer camp for disadvantaged teens at Gibbs High School. The six week event at the school was presented and hosted by a local organization known as, ACT- (Arts Conservatory for Teens). Working there, James assembled a group of teens to be the CAST and FILM CREW of a project. He inspired them to produce a short film from a script that he co-penned with one of the students titled, "You Should've Been Nice", a film about school bullying.

James' most recent film work("Dozier School For Boys")- a script he wrote for a short film- was produced and screened in the SUNSHINE CITY FILM FESTIVAL (2022), an annual seven day event held in St. Petersburg, Florida at Sundial AMC Theaters. He was also Co-producer and Co-director of that film.

Coextensively, James is one of the board members who execute the planning and organizing of the annual Sunshine City Film Festival where his film was screened. Next year (2023) will be Sunshine City Film Festival's fifth year of existence. James El Patterson is involved and working on several Pre and Post Production film projects.
- IMDb mini biography by: Lisa Simpson - Agent