Jim Bailey
Film Producer and Director
Sunset Productions
Jim Bailey of Sunset Productions of Houston, Texas, is an award-winning television and film producer who specializes in educational video programs and television documentaries focusing on Texas history, art and lifestyles. As a 30-year veteran, he has written and produced more than one hundred television and video programs.
He has served as president of the board of Texas Foundation for the Arts, and is a member of Harris County Historical Commission, Rice Historical Society and Preservation Houston. He is a third-generation Texan and graduate of Baylor University.
He was co-producer on the recent PBS documentaries “The Golden Age of Texas Courthouses” and “Uncommon Law: The Life and Times of Leon Jaworski.” He recently produced and co-wrote a 60-minute documentary, “In Search of Houston’s History,” for the Friends of the Texas Room and the Houston Public Library. Other recent documentaries include “The Art of Architecture—Houston,” which won a Telly Award, and “The 1910 Harris County Courthouse,” which won the Good Brick Award from Preservation Houston.
In researching for the courthouse series, Bailey visited more than 150 historic county courthouses in Texas. He and a film crew traveled from Marfa to Marshall and Brownsville to Amarillo capturing these landmark buildings and interviewing local residents.
Bailey was co-producer of the HoustonPBS program “Houston Arts Television.” This program featured Houston arts groups and civic art, such as the Gemini II art work in the lobby of Jones Hall, and the galleries at the world famous Menil Collection. It was produced in cooperation with Texas Foundation for the Arts, Houston Arts Alliance and HoustonPBS.
Two other recent PBS documentaries were “Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom,” produced in cooperation with the School of Architecture at Prairie View A&M University; and “Brushstrokes of South Texas,” an interesting profile of the life of Mexican-born artist Daniel Lechon and his murals that were installed in the Kenedy Ranch Museum of South Texas History. The program also featured different murals in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.
“Asia Society Texas Center,” the story of architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s new landmark building in Houston’s Museum District, was produced by Texas Foundation for the Arts and Houston Arts Alliance and aired on HoustonPBS in 2013. Jim Bailey worked on the documentary as co-producer and writer.