Biography
Jim Barrett is an American producer, director, and editor. He began his career in local, then network TV promotion at CBS, NBC, and ABC. He and his company EDGE Creative Inc. helped launch Undercover Boss (2010), The West Wing (1999), Law & Order: SVU (1999), Alias (2001) and Lost (2004). Born in Houston, Barrett was passionate about photography (especially trick photography) from an early age - creating action scenes with his model cars, airplanes, and spacecraft.
After his mother unexpectedly passed away, his family moved to Memphis, TN during his middle school years. Shortly after, he took his craft up a notch, shooting his first Super 8 film in the 8th grade. His father remarried, and his adoptive stepmom bought the family their first video camera. Young Barrett borrowed it frequently to shoot short videos, and his first 30-minute sci-fi drama during his sophomore year. His favorite high school teacher Frank Bluestein paved the way for a brand new student-run television station to be installed in the school the summer before his senior year. Barrett learned to shoot, live direct, and edit TV shows before he turned 18 and was named the station's first General Manager.
He moved on to college at Memphis State University (now University of Memphis), and continued making short films there. While still a student, he got a job at the Memphis NBC affiliate WMC-TV, where he worked on the local news shows, commercial production and even a weekly Live wrestling show. While working late nights, Barrett began to fine tune his producing and editing crafts and was eventually named the station's Director of News Promotion while still attending university. He partnered with one of station's news reporters in editing a series and also documentary special called Back from Beyond, about people who experienced glimpses of the afterlife, while on the brink of dying.
Barrett went on to CBS affiliate KDKA-TV 2 in Pittsburgh, continuing his career in News and Sports promotion and also became a feature story producer for Evening Magazine. He had the honor of working with local television heroes there, as well as sports stars like hockey champ Mario Lemieux and Steeler legend Lynn Swan. He went on to complete his degree at the University of Pittsburgh, then a few months later landed a spot in the promo department at the CBS network in Los Angeles.
Barrett produced & directed the award-winning indie documentary "100 Visions" (1998) and "Remembering the Dream", (2020). He also wrote, produced and directed the award-winning indie drama short "Different Places" (2001), and has edited dozens of episodes of television including Earthx's reality/docu-series "Killer Bee Catcher", also VH1's "Behind the Music", MSNBC's "LockUp", Youtube's "Bear Witness, Take Action 3", and the Fox Business reality series "My Dream Car". He's also edited custom content for "The Voice", "Parenthood" and three Olympic Games. Barrett is an avid photographer, hiker, and sci-fi fanatic.
