James Greer is an American novelist, screenwriter, director, musician, and critic. As a screenwriter, he is known for writing the 2018 thriller Unsane directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple, as well as the 2026 horror/thrillers Twisted starring Djimon Hounsou and Lauren LaVera and The Cure starring David Dastmalchian and Ashley Greene. Previously, Greer co-wrote the family comedies Max Keeble's Big Move, Just My Luck and The Spy Next Door. He lives in Los Angeles.
Career
Music and music criticism Greer was senior editor and senior writer at Spin magazine in New York City in the early 1990s, during which time he helped define the generational cohort that became later widely-known as Generation X.
He wrote and performed all instruments/vocals on the song "Trendspotter Acrobat" on the EP Sunfish Holy Breakfast by Guided By Voices. He was the bassist in the band from 1994 to 1996.
Greer started a band in 2012 with musician Lola G. called DTCV. Pronounced "detective", it was an indie rock duo from Joshua Tree, California. The band released a double album called Hilarious Heaven in 2013 on Xemu Records, followed by a compilation of their early singles and EPs, The Early Year. The duo released their second studio album, Uptime!, in 2015. In April 2016 the band released its third and final studio album, entitled Confusion Moderne, on Xemu Records.
Novelist Greer has published three novels: Artificial Light (Little House on the Bowery/Akashic, 2006), The Failure (Akashic, 2010). Artificial Light won a California Book Award Silver Medal for First Fiction.Official California Book Awards Site and Bad Eminence (And Other Stories, 2022), which Andrew Gallix in The Irish Times called "this year's cult classic," writing that the novel was "hilarious, exhilarating and mind-blowing".
In 2013 Greer released his first book of short fiction, titled Everything Flows, via Curbside Splendor. Publishers Weekly said of the book "Halfway between the mind of God and a vivid dream, Everything Flows is proof that there remain new places to go, both on paper and in the known universe."
Screenwriter Greer has written or co-written several movies, including Max Keeble's Big Move (Disney, 2001), Just My Luck (20th Century Fox, 2006) starring Lindsay Lohan, the Jackie Chan vehicle The Spy Next Door (Lions Gate, 2010) and Unsane, directed by Steven Soderbergh, and starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple (Fingerprint Releasing, Bleecker Street, Regency, 2018). In February 2018, Deadline Hollywood reported that Greer was set to write a script called Planet Kill for Soderbergh to produce. He also has adapted the John Barth novel The Sot-Weed Factor for a projected series from Soderbergh. In 2026 two horror/thriller projects co-written by Greer and his long-time writing partner Jonathan Bernstein were released. One is titled Twisted directed by Darren Bousman starring Djimon Hounsou and Lauren LaVera The film was released by Paramount's Republic Pictures on February 6, 2026. The other is titled The Cure, directed by Nancy Leopardi and starring David Dastmalchian and Ashley Greene and was released in March 2026 by Vertical Entertainment.
Bibliography Fiction Artificial Light (2006) The Failure (2010) The Speed Chronicles (2011) Everything Flows (2013) Bad Eminence (2022)
Non-Fiction R.E.M.: Behind the Mask (1992) Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll (2005)
Discography
Guided By Voices Alien Lanes (1995) Sunfish Holy Breakfast (1996) Under The Bushes, Under The Stars (1996)
DTCV Hilarious Heaven (2013) Uptime! (2015) Confusion Moderne (2016)
Filmography
Film Year Title Director Writer Notes 2001 Max Keeble's Big Move No Yes Screenplay and story 2006 Mimesis Yes Yes Short film 2006 Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft Yes Yes Video short 2006 Just My Luck No Yes Story 2006 Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector No Yes 2008 Diegesis Yes Yes Short film 2008 La femme qui n'était rien Yes Yes Short film 2008 Bait Shop No Yes Direct-to-video; teleplay 2010 The Spy Next Door No Yes Screenplay and story 2015 Miley Cyrus Wins the Race Yes No Video short 2016 Bourgeois Pop Yes No Video short 2017 A Walk Across the Human Bridge Yes No Video short 2018 Unsane No Yes 2023 Mirror Moves Yes Yes Feature directorial debut 2026 Twisted No Yes 2026 The Cure No Yes
References
External links
Akashic Books page for Greer's novel Artificial Light Akashic Books page for Greer's novel The Failure And Other Stories page for Greer's novel "Bad Eminence IMDB page for Unsane