He then completed two seasons as consulting producer on The Shield. He developed, produced, and wrote the pilot of Dexter, the Showtime drama series which lasted 8 seasons. He was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for best dramatic series for his work on the first season of Dexter.
Manos recently was the Executive Producer for 7 episodes of Ice for Direct TV and E-One Entertainment and executive produced the 8-episode order of South of Hell for Sonar Entertainment and WeTv. He wrote and sold the half-hour series "Staying Brown" about two Puerto Rican ladies from the barrio on the lamb in Europe to Amazon as well as the one-hour comedy "The Slow and Complete Decompensation of Jim Manos" to TNT. He wrote "Chess" for the writer/producers David McFadzean and Matt Williams and "Brand" a series about the world of counterfeiting high end merchandise.
He wrote an independent feature film "I Am Lupe," about La Lupe, an incredible Afro-Cuban entertainer. Lauren Velez will star under direction by Manos himself. Arturo Sandoval is slated to score the film. Manos also wrote "The Ladies" for HBO's producer, Joe Pichirallo and a one-hour series "Crossroads" for Graham King.
He also produced the critically acclaimed Apollo 11 and The Ditchdigger's Daughters.
A trained theater director, James received a degree from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York in English/Theater and studied as a director at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England. James also studied acting and later taught acting classes in New York. He has directed numerous plays regionally and in New York, including Inge's The Disposal, Mrozek's Vatzlav, Ionesco's The Lesson, Molière's The Doctor in Spite of Himself, and Arthur Miller's Some Kind of Love Story.
He also just completed a one-man Off-Broadway show "In the Pocket" which tells the life of Mark Rivera, a virtuoso musician who has always been a "sideman" but now he wants to stand in the limelight. He also wrote the black comedy, The Misconception which is being developed with the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City for an Off-Broadway run.
Manos is also a novelist having written "Little Ellie Claus" published by Simon Schuster and "Marked", a cop franchise as a graphic novel for Graphic India, the Sharad Devarajan, and Gotham Chopra imprint.
He is represented by Michael Van Dyke at Inspired Entertainment and Alan Grodin at Weintraub, Tobin, Chediak, Coleman, and Grodin.
