James A. Smith is a documentary producer and co-founder of Deep Cut Media. His producing credits include some of the most acclaimed documentary films of the past decade.
He served as supervising producer on Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (HBO Max, 2026), which received six Emmy nominations.
He also served as supervising producer on George Carlin's American Dream (HBO, 2022), which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special and the ACE Eddie Award for Best Edited Non-Theatrical Documentary, with five Emmy nominations in total.
Earlier credits include Jane (National Geographic, 2017), which won him the Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures along with numerous other honors, and Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (HBO, 2015).
In 2025, he co-directed David Carradine's Mata Hari with Joe Beshenkovsky — their feature directorial debut — which won the Venezia Classici Award for Best Documentary on Cinema at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. His other recent credits include Ron Delsener Presents (2025), about the legendary New York concert promoter, and The Big Cheese (2025), which premiered at DOC NYC.