Jones was born in
San Antonio, Texas, and graduated from
New York University's
Tisch School of the Arts for film. He began his career as an entertainment journalist working as
Filmmaker Magazines Managing Editor and
IndieWire's Executive Editor. His first screenplay,
EvenHand, was produced in 2001 and screened at the
AFI Film Festival,
Tribeca Film Festival, and
South by Southwest. Jones did an uncredited rewrite of
City of Ghosts, directed by
Matt Dillon, and has since written scripts for
Columbia Pictures,
United Artists,
HBO,
Warner Bros. Pictures,
Sony Pictures Animation,
Searchlight Pictures, and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. During the
2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike he became the Managing Editor of Film Festivals for
Variety, where he covered the film festival and independent film beats in
Variety,
Daily Variety, and in a blog called The Circuit. In 2011, his script
In the Event of a Moon Disaster was featured on
The Black List and optioned by
FilmNation Entertainment. In 2013–2014, Jones wrote the English adaptations of
Studio Ghibli films
The Wind Rises and
The Tale of Princess Kaguya, as well as a feature adaptation of
Sesame Street. In
2026, he was unsuccessfully nominated for a
Children's and Family Emmy for Outstanding Animated Series for his work as an executive producer on
Dream Productions and a Children's and Family Emmy for Outstanding Directing for an Animated Series for his work as a director on
Dream Productions.
Filmography • 2002:
Evenhand - writer • 2013:
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya - writer (English version) • 2013:
The Wind Rises - writer (English version) • 2020:
Soul - writer • 2021:
Luca - writer • 2024:
Dream Productions - writer, director, showrunner • 2025:
Elio - writer
Senior creative team • 2017:
Coco • 2018:
Incredibles 2 • 2019:
Toy Story 4 • 2022:
Turning Red • 2022:
Lightyear • 2023:
Elemental • 2024:
Inside Out 2 ==References==