James Scurlock

In a previous life, James Scurlock, 34, attended the Wharton School and published a highly successful investment newsletter. Four years ago, Scurlock turned his focus to filmmaking and writing. His first non-fiction film, Parents of the Year, was purchased by HBO in 2004 and won numerous awards.

For his first feature film, Maxed Out, Scurlock returned to his college roots in finance and took what has been called both a "scathing" (Newsweek) and "unusually entertaining" (Variety) look at why Americans can't seem to shake their addiction to debt. Maxed Out will be released theatrically in March 2007, with a book from Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, to be published shortly before the film's release.

Scurlock has already attracted the attention of media from The Oprah Winfrey Show to 20/20 to the Washington Post, because he has demonstrated an ability to take an academic subject, such as consumer finance, and break it down into a highly entertaining narrative that the layperson can easily relate to. While not an academic, Scurlock does possess a uniquely academic understanding of what has become the country's number one issue (getting out of debt is the most mentioned New Year's Resolution).

Combining this understanding with stories from the two years he spent scouring the country and interviewing people, from the reality show pioneer Robin Leach to a severely retarded Mississippi man living in the heart of the deep south, Scurlock is able to paint a unique and panoramic portrait of American culture, circa 2007.

Maxed Out takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American debt-style, where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Maxed Out shows how the modern financial industry really works, explains the true definition of "preferred customer" and tells us why the poor are getting poorer and the rich getting richer. By turns hilarious and profoundly disturbing, Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.