Today in the adult industry it seems like there are dozens of talent agencies and agents. Starting an agency is almost as popular as becoming an actual porn star. But in any industry there always has to be a trailblazer, and concerning adult talent agents, Jim South was that guy.

South sold insurance in Dallas for a few years and moved to Los Angeles in 1968. He opened a fashion modeling agency first, then later formed the World Modeling Talent Agency in Sherman Oaks, California in 1976. The agency represented many performers and models who worked in adult movies and magazines.

World Modeling has represented adult stars such as Shauna Grant, Marc Wallice, Ginger Lynn, Gina Ryder, Savannah, Katie Gold and Christy Canyon.

The agency became infamous for unknowingly representing a then under aged Traci Lords. Through South's agency, 15-year-old Lords started nude modeling under the stage name Kristie Elizabeth Nussman. Lords became the September 1984 Penthouse "Pet of the Month", for which she earned $5000, and made her debut in adult movies in October of 1984.

Following the May 1986 revelations that most of Lords' porn work was illegal, South was arrested on March 4, 1987, and was among those later charged by the U.S. government with pandering and child pornography. The charges were eventually dismissed after the discovery that the government issued Lords a passport under the name Kristi Nussman.

In an interview South said, "The only reason that (the charges were) dropped was that the federal government that saw the very same ID I saw gave Traci a passport to go to Europe to make an X-rated movie." That movie, Traci, I Love You, was made in Cannes soon after Lords' 18th birthday. It is her only legal porn film in the United States.

In interviews and her book, Lords held him in perpetual contempt for what she sees as his (and others') unapologetic role in her sexual exploitation. She stated that she named him "Tim North" in her autobiography not for legal reasons, but as a means to protect people from him, and not to give him and his company any publicity, which could draw young women to the sex industry. Lords wrote that South gave her cocaine and champagne during her first nude photo shoot at World Modeling. Christy Canyon, a supporter of South, disagrees with this claim, and said that Lords lied a lot in her book.

In 1991, porn producers discovered that Alexandra Quinn, a World Modeling talent, entered porn in 1990 at age 17. Quinn pretended that she was born in 1968, the same year as Traci Lords' birth. Unlike the Lords case, Quinn did not generate a scandal with media coverage, nor did anyone face legal action.

South has appeared in several documentaries about the porn industry. He has two sons, James South Jr., who worked with him at the agency, and Dallas South. He is the uncle of performer Aspen Stevens.

World Modeling shut down in November 2006 because of falling profits. Over a year later on December 5, 2007, South announced the reopening of World Modeling with a change of direction as well as intent to reduce the number of young women he represents.