The Chicago native landed his first producing gig on the NBC series Midnight Caller starring Gary Cole. He next served as a producer Co-Producer of the acclaimed NBC series Reasonable Doubts, a one hour drama starring Mark Harmon and Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin.

For three seasons beginning in 1993, Michaels was Co-Producer of the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The hit show starred Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher as the title characters.

Some of Michaels' other producing credits include Charlie Grace, a one-hour ABC detective drama starring Mark Harmon as a private detective raising a 12 year old LeeLee Sobieski. Michaels also produced Escape From Atlantis, a two-hour cable movie for Starz/Encore.

Jim's next project was the CBS series, Turks, starring William Devane followed by Cover Me: Based on the True Life of an FBI Family series for the USA Network. Michaels subsequently produced The Guardian pilot for CBS, the Odyssey 5 series for Showtime followed by Dr. Vegas for CBS.

Jim produced the Golden Globe nominated Chris Rock inspired series Everybody Hates Chris. This Show set the record for highest rated comedy ever to air on the UPN/CW network.

With Everybody Hates Chris not getting renewed after 88 episodes, Jim joined the Producing team at Supernatural at the beginning of season 5 for Warner Bros. Television where he has finished the final season #15!

Jim, along with Sean Astin and Mark Marshall, just completed a documentary, Remember the Sultana, with the help of over 930 Kickstarter contributors about the largest maritime disaster to ever happen in America.

Jim's been a featured keynote speaker all over the United States for various organizations including the AFCI and many Universities including UCLA, Academy of Art University and NYU. He is a longtime member of the Producer's Guild of America (PGA). Jim is also a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmy's) as well as Screen Actor's Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Director's Guild of America (DGA).

He has produced projects that have filmed in 9 different US States and 2 Canadian provinces. Illinois, Hawaii, California, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Florida, Ontario, British Columbia and Utah.