James V. Hart (J.V.)

James V. Hart was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up on Drive-In Movies and Saturday Matinees in Ft. Worth Texas. Soon after graduating from SMU in Dallas (class of '69), he began producing films. His first feature film, Summer Run, opened the USA Film Festival at SMU in 1972.

Hart settled in New York City with his wife, son and daughter, and began his screenwriting career. His writing/producing credits include: Hook, directed by Steven Spielberg, based on an idea by Hart's then six year-old son; Bram Stoker's Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola; Muppet Treasure Island, directed by Brian Henson; Contact, directed by Robert Zemeckis; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, directed by Kenneth Branagh, as producer with Coppola and John Veitch; Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story, also directed by Brian Henson, a Jim Henson/CBS mini-series; and Tuck Everlasting, directed by Jay Russell for Disney, with Sir Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek and William Hurt.

Hart's first novel, Captain Hook Adventures of a Notorious Youth, about the early days of James Hook at Eton before his adventures with Peter Pan, was published by Laura Geringer Books for Harper Collins in the fall of 2005. The novel was named one of the "Top Ten Young Adult Books" in 2006 by the American Library Association, and is due out in Germany in April, 2007. Hart is writing the sequel, Captain Hook Pirate King, for a 2009 release.

He adapted Clive Cussler's best selling novel, Sahara, for Paramount Pictures and Baldwin Entertainment — starring Penelope Cruz and fellow Texans, Matthew McConaughey and Steve Zahn. Hart also contributed to Lara Croft - Tomb Raider II, also for Paramount and Lawrence Gordon Productions.

The Snow Goose, Hart's adaptation of the Paul Gallico novel, is being directed by Christian Alvart, which Hart will also produce. He is currently adapting Ayn Rand's classic and massive novel, Atlas Shrugged, for Baldwin Entertainment, starring Angelina Jolie.

J.V. is currently writing and producing his first animated spectacle with children's book illustrator, home town friend and fellow SMU graduate, William Joyce, and the director-animator Chris Wedge who created Ice Age and Robots with Joyce. The new animated epic for 20th Century Fox, based on ancient faerie legends, will also be a series of books by Hart and Joyce beginning in 2009.