Jim’s interests lie in community exhibition and audience research, although professional experience extends wider to include film and media education, project evaluation and film market analysis. Since 2006 Jim has undertaken a wide range of commissions through his consultancy, Bigger Picture Research, delivering quantitative and qualitative research, project evaluation, training and strategic and business planning advice.
Clients have included the British Board of Film Classification, British Federation of Film Societies, British Film Institute, BOP Consulting, Creative Skillset, Department for Children, Schools and Families, European Audiovisual Observatory, Film Agency for Wales, First Light, Irish Film Censor’s Office, Office of Communications, Screen England, Screen East and the UK Film Council. Jim is also founding Chair of Llancarfan Community Cinema, an award-winning, volunteer-run exhibitor in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Jim has worked in the creative industries for nearly two decades. Prior to establishing Bigger Picture Research he was Head of Research & Statistics at the UK Film Council, Head of Policy at the Advertising Standards Authority and a Film and Video Examiner at the British Board of Film Classification. Jim chaired the UK Film Research Network and was instrumental in setting up the European Film Agencies Research Network. From 2004 to 2007 Jim served on the BBFC’s Advisory Panel on Children’s Viewing, holds a PhD, funded by the British Film Institute, is a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and sits on the Board of Media Education Wales.
Jim has written widely on film subjects in magazines, journals and online, and his book about Peter Jackson’s debut feature film, Bad Taste (1988), was published by Wallflower Press/Columbia University Press in December 2008.
