J.B. SUGAR

J.B. Sugar currently works as a director, writer and producer at the Vancouver-based production company, No Equal Entertainment. His most recent credits include directing an episode of The Haunting Hour for The Hub, directing 2 episodes of The Troop for Nickelodeon (which earned him the 2010 Leo Award for Best Director) as well as writing and directing the documentary Wood If for Bravo! (which earned him the award for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the 2010 CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival).

J.B., however, is hardly “emerging”; he was an executive producer, showrunner, and director on the CBC one-hour dramedy series, jPod, based on the best-selling novel by Douglas Coupland.  jPod was nominated for Best Dramatic Series at the 2008 Monte Carlo International Television Festival as well as the 2008 Leo Awards, where J.B. also earned nominations for his writing and directing efforts.  Just prior to his work on jPod, J.B. directed an episode of Painkiller Jane for SyFy and Global TV. 

After relocating to Vancouver in 2003, J.B. spent three seasons on the one-hour drama, The Collector, where he directed 8 episodes and produced 40 for Chum/CityTV.  In 2005, J.B. received the Leo Award for Best Director for an episode of The Collector called “The Historian” and his producing efforts were honored at the 2006 Monte Carlo International Television Festival when The Collector was nominated for Best Dramatic Series.

Between shooting the first two seasons of The Collector in 2004, J.B. co-wrote and directed VH1’s pilot for the half-hour mockumentary series, Human Safari.

In 2003, J.B. produced an adaptation of John Knowles’ classic novel, A Separate Peace, for Paramount and Showtime.  The film went on to earn J.B. an Emmy Nomination.

In 2002, J.B. collaborated with Henry Winkler when he co-created and executive produced 40 episodes of the game show, Wintuition for Sony Television/GSN. 

J.B.’s career in production began while studying communication at Tulane University, where he worked as a production liaison for the New Orleans Film Commission. He went on to earn an MFA from The American Film Institute (AFI) where his thesis film, John, received AFI’s most prestigious honor, the Franklin J. Schaffner Award before screening at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.  John went on to win J.B. a student Academy Award. 

After graduating from the AFI, J.B. and his brother Michael formed Sugar Brothers Entertainment in Los Angeles, and managed to build an impressive slate of projects and a profitable management business.  J.B. produced A Separate Peace and Wintuition under the Sugar Brother’s banner before relocating to Vancouver.

J.B. is currently a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada and member of the DGC and WGC.

Director/Writer/Producer