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Biography
James McNamara is an Associate Professor of Teaching in Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara and a creator and showrunner for television. McNamara is the creator of the critically-acclaimed television series, THE ARTFUL DODGER, for Disney+ and Hulu. He is also the creator of COOPER, an international television drama for Goalpost Pictures and Quizzical Pictures, which was selected for France’s premier television festival. Previous creative practice includes executive producing new scripted drama for Disney+, writing and directing for Audible, and television writers’ rooms for the Academy Award-winning See Saw Films, Matchbox Pictures / NBC Universal, Foxtel, ABC, and Endemol Shine. McNamara has consulted on feature films for Porchlight Films, Icon Film Distribution, and Fox Searchlight Pictures, and has twice been named an “international rising star” by BAFTA LA.
A practitioner-scholar, McNamara’s creative practice, teaching, and research focus on adaptation studies, with a particular interest in screen adaptations of Shakespeare and other Renaissance drama. McNamara also works on the classical and Renaissance dramaturgical influences on contemporary screenwriting. He is affiliated faculty in UCSB’s Early Modern Center within the Department of English and a former Guest Artist in dramatic writing in UCSB’s Department of Theater and Dance. In 2022-23, McNamara held a Visiting Fellowship in the Department of English at the University of Sydney. McNamara’s public facing cultural criticism has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement, and Australian Book Review, where he is a past member of the editorial advisory board.
Prior to commencing his career in creative practice and scholarship, McNamara was a trial lawyer specializing in international dispute resolution at a top-tier US law firm.