Jim Gilliam is a pioneer in using film, technology, and the internet to further the progressive movement. He built Brave New Films, and helped produce Robert Greenwald's documentaries: Uncovered, Outfoxed, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, and Iraq for Sale. He created Brave New Theaters, the people-powered movie distribution platform, and raised over $260,000 from 3000 people online to fund Iraq for Sale, the first, and most successful such effort of its kind. His online video campaigns like FOX Attacks and the War on Greed reached over 11 million viewers in 2007.

In the wake of 9/11, Gilliam left his position as chief technology officer of high-profile search engine Business.com to fight to end the war. In 2003, he hooked up with veteran filmmaker Robert Greenwald to research and help produce the groundbreaking documentary, "Uncovered: The War on Iraq" about the faulty intelligence that led the U.S. to war. Bringing together the worlds of film, politics, and the internet, "Uncovered" defined a new generation of films -- the grassroots political documentary. Gilliam then co-produced Greenwald's next film, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," an unprecedented look at the propaganda techniques of FOX News, one of the key cheerleaders for war against Iraq. The success of those two documentaries led to the creation of Brave New Films in the fall of 2004.

Prior to Business.com, Gilliam was the chief architect at eCompanies, a venture capital firm and incubator in Santa Monica, and a software engineer at Lycos, one of the first internet search engines.

He survived cancer twice, had a bone marrow transplant in 1997, and a double lung transplant in 2007 -- leaving him with 3 different DNAs. So in 2008, he formed 3DNA, a small incubator of ideas, technology and media for social change.

He blogs at Brave New Films occasionally, and you can see archives of his personal blog from 1999-2007 here.

His Fans Greenlight the Project
Washington Post, 8.20.2006
Jim Gilliam is only 28 years old. In a previous incarnation, he was a venture capitalist and a chief technology officer. Now his voice is a old man's rasp and he does not have the strength to cook his own food. He is waiting for a double lung transplant. But sick in his bedroom, Gilliam had a revolutionary idea: Why not get the audience to pay for a movie before it gets made? He calls it "People Powered Film." It could be the start of something.

Brave New Filmmaker
Matt Coker, OC Weekly, 6.8.2006
Jim Gilliam sits with his back board-stiff against the headrest of his bed, his legs dangling off the end. That's life when you're 6-foot-9. He has no hair, and he's about as white as they make white guys. He's not making a fashion statement, not trying to replace the lead singer of Midnight Oil. The breathing tube under his nose might have been your first clue.

Creative Commons is Rewriting Rules of Copyright
Washington Post, 3.15.2005
Hollywood producers Robert Greenwald and Jim Gilliam are among those challenging such assumptions. [...] Just weeks after [Outfoxed] was released in theaters, the producers posted 48 minutes of original interviews from the work online. Gilliam credits the Internet with boosting interest in the movie because it reached a wider audience than it could in theaters alone. "This isn't necessarily just some altruistic thing," Gilliam said. "You can make money off of this, too."

Can O'Reilly Rebound?
Access Hollywood, 10.19.2004
"When the sexual harassment allegations came out I was like, 'People have to see this.' This fits into the pattern that he has been showing if you just watch his show," explained Gilliam. In watching hours of O'Reilly's show, Gilliam said a disturbing pattern emerges. In taking numerous clips of his shows that deal with sexual topics, he said that O'Reilly's choice of subject matter is not always topical. "It's not like all of a sudden in the news everyone's talking about the wet T-shirt contest in Florida. It's not interesting to a lot of people but yet he deliberately seeks them out," Gilliam told Access.

Much at stake in O'Reilly empire -- Los Angeles Times, 10.18.2004
The [O'Reilly sex] scandal "really destroys his credibility of what he claims to be," said Jim Gilliam [...] "He certainly can't be giving advice to kids." On Friday, Gilliam's website posted a five-minute video, "The O'Sexxxy Factor," that edited together excerpts of O'Reilly segments on collegiate wet T-shirt contests and other salacious material, which the filmmaker said showed the host's "obsession" with sex.

Introducing 'The O'Sexxxy Factor'
Bill Berkowitz column, 10.27.04
"Gilliam's "The O'Sexxxy Factor", is a hysterically funny five-minute video montage of O'Reilly's testosterone-laced commentary blended with clips from the television talk-show host's interviews with porn stars, prostitutes and naked college web cam queens."

Movement Seeks Copyright Alternatives
Associated Press, 10.10.2004
"Uncovered" associate producer Jim Gilliam said he wants to help future filmmakers avoid having to navigate the legal terrain. [...] Gilliam welcomes any reuse - even for moneymaking projects that don't pay him a dime. "Every time someone takes a clip from `Outfoxed,' they have to attribute it," he said. "That serves as a marketing vehicle."

How to Make a Guerilla Documentary
Robert S. Boynton, New York Times Magazine, 7.11.2004
Jim Gilliam, a 26-year-old former dot-com executive and a producer of "Outfoxed," is enthusiastic about the way Greenwald's projects meld grass-roots politics with the culture of the Internet. He predicts a future -- augured by events like MoveOn's competition for the best 30-second anti-Bush advertisement -- in which young political filmmakers will be as likely to wield a camera phone as a digital camera. "It won't be long before people will be shooting and editing short documentaries that they'll stream from their blogs," he says.

The Eparty's Over
Forbes, 12.11.2000
"Business.com had trouble even before its launch in June, beginning with the search engine at the heart of the site. The job was entrusted to US Interactive, the teetering Internet consulting outfit. But US Interactive botched the job, and a desperate Winebaum turned at the last minute to 23-year-old James Gilliam, a techie who joined Ecompanies from Lycos. Gilliam put in several round-the-clock days to patch together the search engine."

Master Builder
Red Herring, 12.4.2000
"If Business.com becomes the Yahoo of the business world, much of the credit will go to Mr. Gilliam. Before joining eCompanies, the Internet incubator behind Business.com, he designed information accessing systems now used in two dozen Lycos properties."

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