James Ward Byrkit

Byrkit and Gore Verbinski started working together when Verbinski was directing commercials, and Byrkit would storyboard for him. Then, when Verbinski started making movies, he would bring Byrkit in and his work expanded.^[2] They worked on Mouse Hunt (1997), The Mexican (2001), and The Ring (2002).^[3]

Byrkit was in the middle of directing a commercial when Verbinski called him about Jerry Bruckheimer making a $100 million version of Pirates of the Caribbean ride,^[3] which became the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, where Byrkit's end roll title is "consultant" for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) and later "conceptual consultant" for Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007).^[4][2] Byrkit was hired right away and found himself on the very first location scout to the Caribbean, where he and Verbinski conceived Jack Sparrow stepping off the sinking boat, the musical introduction to Hector Barbossa's skeleton pirates, and other key moments.^[5] In his three weeks of consultancy work on The Curse of the Black Pearl, Byrkit also drew the very first drawing of the Black Pearl and other ships. In addition to the more than 3,000 storyboards that Byrkit created for the films, he also bounced back and forth between departments, such as production design, props and the pre-visualization team, helping with simplified animatics of the overwhelmingly complex action sequences that were a blueprint for Verbinski on set, and later, for Industrial Light & Magic's visual effects.^[2] Byrkit also directed Tales of the Code: Wedlocked (2011), a short film and an immediate prequel to The Curse of the Black Pearl.^[6]

Byrkit is also known for directing the science fiction thriller Coherence, his debut feature which earned critical and audience praise^{[7][8][9][10]} and garnered attention for his unconventional approach in the making of the film as "proof that inventive filmmakers can do a lot with a little",^[11][12][13] and identifying him as a groundbreaking talent.^[14]

Byrkit's follow-up project, Shatter Belt, is an episodic series in the tradition of Twilight Zone. Production on the first four episodes was completed in 2022, with the world premiere scheduled for the 2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival.

In the Disney+ series Prop Culture, Byrkit made a guest appearance with concept artist Crash McCreery to discuss their work in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.^[15]

• Breakthrough Director (nominated) at the Gotham Independent Film Awards 2014^[16]
• Next Wave Best Screenplay at the Austin Fantastic Fest for Coherence (2013)^[17]
• Maria Award for Best Screenplay at the Sitges Film Festival for Coherence (2013)
• Carnet Jove Jury Award for Best In Competition at the Sitges Film Festival for Coherence (2013)^[18]
• Black Tulip Award for Best Feature Debut at the Imagine Film Festival for Coherence (2014)
• Imagine Movie Zone Award, Special Mention at the Imagine Film Festival for Coherence (2014)
• Annie Award for Writing in a Feature Production for Rango (2011, won, shared with John Logan and Gore Verbinski)^[19]