Following the advice of Jack Warner, Jim bought a motion picture camera and rented it out, offering his own services as operator and DP for free.
He worked steadily thereafter, including heading the American splinter unit for Return of The Jedi (1983), as DP for all the desert and forest scenes (uncredited).
Glennon also worked as director of photography on a number of other television movies and program series, such as The West Wing, along with Carnivàle and Big Love for HBO.
For example, to help people living in middle America, or anyone with arsenic in their well water, he found that as iron rusted, it would take the dangerous metal out of suspension.
As a hobbyist / self-taught engineer, he could guild people through a cost effective way of making drinking water safer using simple tools anyone can afford -- like a handful of iron nails.
He farmed clams in the Pacific Northwest, owned a boar hunting ranch, restored old cars, and trained parrots.