Software engineer.
World builder.

Engineering. Intelligent. Action.

View the work Watch the process

Currently building: Genlock Studio

Illustrative laboratory instruments connected to a software workstation
Instruments → data → action

Introduction

I'm James. I build custom software for specialized workflows — connecting laboratory instruments, structuring data, and automating handoffs. I also build tools for live production, campaigns, and original stories.

Built around the real world.
Broadcast signal-flow schematic, from inputs through processing to output buses
From input to output.

The builder

Engineering meets
imagination.

For 15 years I've developed software around real people and specialized work — with a particular focus on bespoke laboratory solutions: custom applications that connect instruments, structure data, reduce friction, and fit the way a team actually operates.

That practice is informed by ten years in live broadcast for WWE, NBC, ABC, HBO, and ESPN — and 25 years creating worlds through 3D, animation, campaigns, and original storytelling.

25 Years creating worlds

15 Years developing software

10 Years live broadcast

00 Broadcast engineering experience
Broadcast & entertainment · 10 yrs

Ten years in live broadcast engineering, with work spanning productions for WWE, NBC, HBO, and ESPN.

A Bespoke solutions
Solution-driven design

Custom software. Built around your work.

Solution-driven design means the workflow comes first: the instruments, the data, the handoffs, the pressure. Every system here was engineered around a specific team's reality — never adapted from someone else's product.

Problem / 01

Instruments that don't talk.

The build

Integration layers and data pipelines that connect hardware, LIMS, and the people reading the results.

Problem / 02

Data that has to be right.

The build

Capture instrument data in structured records, with validation checks and an audit trail to make data easier to check and changes easier to trace.

Problem / 03

A show with no second take.

The build

Live production tooling and control surfaces engineered to hold at showtime — because there is no retry.

Problem / 04

A process no product fits.

The build

Ground-up custom applications shaped to the way your team actually operates — and owned by you.

Instrument integrationData pipelinesWorkflow automationLive production toolingValidated captureAudit trailsCampaign systems
B Selected work
01–04

I built a proprietary laboratory system that uses AI to automate review tasks and reduce data review time. The public projects below cover software, open formats, and original series.

01 Building in public Desktop application

Genlock Studio

A local-first desktop studio for AI film and series production — one environment carrying a project from script through structure, generation, review, and final cut.

Project notes

Eight workspaces connect planning, generation, and editing. Project files are stored on your disk in open formats. Cloud generation runs through external providers using your own API keys and requires an internet connection; local generators are also supported.

Platform
Windows + macOS · local-first
Workspaces
Skeleton, Director, The Brain, Showrunner, Boneyard, Studio, Backlot, Safelight
Generators
Higgsfield · OpenArt · fal · local — your keys, no markup
Audit
Capability matrix, decision log, cost ledger, resumable runs
Licence
One-time · Ed25519-signed, verified offline · ships with “The Last Frequency,” a 12-shot sample production
Local-firstBYO providerSequencing UIReview workflowNo lock-in
genlockstudio.com
02 v2.10 · MIT Open specification

Skeleton

SKEL — Story Keyframe Extensible Layout: the open, machine-readable story format underneath Genlock Studio. Screenplays, storyboards, and visual narratives as flat, relational data.

Project notes

Structured like a relational database rather than a nested tree, extended by two plugin layers — BONE carries swappable provider and prompt contracts, MUSCLE adds validated behaviour on lifecycle hooks. Published openly, so creative structure survives the app it was made in.

Files
.skel (YAML) · .skel.json (export & interchange)
Model
Flat relational — acts, scenes, shots linked by ID
Plugins
BONE (generator contracts) · MUSCLE (behaviour)
Validation
JSON Schema Draft 7 · error catalogue · conformance corpus
Package
@openskeleton/spec v2.10.1 — schemas, types, CLI · MIT · Brandflowr AI LLC

npx @openskeleton/cli validate story.skel

Open specYAML + JSONSchema-validatedTool-independentGit-friendly
openskeleton.dev @openskeleton/spec GitHub
03 In development Original series

Nightmare Seed

An original dark anthology grown from unsettling ideas, strange systems, and things better left dormant.

Project notes

Standalone stories on one root system — each episode grown from a single unsettling seed and engineered to bloom in the dark.

AnthologyWorldbuildingHorror
04 In development Original series · Animation

AntigenX

An animated world where identity, biology, and technology stop respecting their boundaries.

Project notes

Character, biology, and machine design built as one continuous system — the same discipline behind the lab software, pointed at fiction.

AnimationSci-fiSeries design
D Operating method
01 → 03

Map the work. Build the system. Prove it under load.

  1. 01

    Understand the real workflow

    Map the instruments, data, decisions, handoffs, and constraints that generic software misses.

  2. 02

    Develop the bespoke solution

    Turn that understanding into dependable custom software, clear interfaces, useful automation, and durable data structures.

  3. 03

    Make it work in the world

    Carry the system through launch — supporting a laboratory, powering a campaign, running a live show, or opening a new world.

C How it connects
A small, deliberate ecosystem
The builder JjamesS

Engineering, systems thinking, and 25 years of craft.

The studio BrandFlowr

The company the work ships through.

The output Genlock + Skeleton

Nightmare Seed · AntigenX · campaigns · live shows

The Nightmare Engineer is my workshop for horror, animation, and the systems behind them — with making-of videos, story archives, and production audio. Explore the workshop ↗

The Midnight Jellyfish documents the whole process — from architecture and production to the uncomfortable first draft. WATCH ↗

F Open channel
Response < 48h

Let's talk about your workflow.

Tell me about your workflow: the tools you use, where work gets stuck, and what you need to change.

Email James about your project hello@jjamess.com
Custom applications Laboratory solutions Marketing campaigns Live show production