Clare Downs began her career in the film business as co-director of the Association of Independent Producers (1978-1980), and Director of International Creative Affairs for the Ladd Company/Warner Bros (1981-1983). PRODUCING
She produced the BAFTA award winning short, THE DRESS (1985), also winning the Gold Plaque, Chicago; the feature, HIGH SEASON, which won the award for the best screenplay at the San Sebastian Film Festival in 1987, and co-produced the Greek film, BORDERLINE, (Best Director, International Film Critics Prize, Thessaloniki Film Festival) in 1993. Her other production work in this period was as Associate Producer on
Richard Eyre’s BEGGAR’S OPERA, and she developed the award winning screenpla, (BAFTA, Cannes), A WORLD APART. TRAINING
In 1989 she set up, and was director of, FIRST FILM EUROPE, to select and fund first feature screenplays in each of the EU member countries. She also joined in that year the EU’s MEDIA producer training programme, EAVE, as a founder member of the script analysis team. She was Joint Head of Studies of the Scottish/Irish EAVE Regional programme in 1993, the EAVE Greek Regional programme in 1994 and script analyst of the EAVE Plus TIES THAT BIND workshop 2009-11; MOSCOW CO PROD FORUM workshop 2010 and the GEORGIAN FILM CENTRE workshop 2011. From 2000 – 2005, she was Joint Head of Studies of the Southern African Producer training programme, AVEA. In 2006 she joined IFA-SC, the Independent Filmmakers Association – South Caucasus Training programme as its script trainer & consultant, and as the Content
Trainer launched the new MEDIA INTERNATIONAL project, TrainEASTFilm – involving Turkey and the ex CIS countries around the Black to the Caspian Seas. In addition, she is a Visiting Tutor in Script Development /Producing at the National Film and Television School, and the MA scriptwriting course at de Montford University. SCRIPT CONSULTING/MASTERCLASSES
She has delivered numerous script-writing workshops, and Master classes in Screenwriting and in Development Strategies, internationally. She has her own Script Development consultancy, writing reports and working on individual projects with both film funds and filmmakers throughout the world. WRITING
She rewrote INDEPENDENT PEOPLE for Pegasus Pictures (2003). The co-writer on THE IMMORTALS (2004), for Samsa Film, Luxembourg; TENDERBOY PIE (2010) for MagicHour Film, DK; VOLIERA ROMANCE for Tank Productions, Poland (2011). She wrote for DOR FILM in Austria, TAKEN IN TWILIGHT (2008).
Clare is on the Advisory Board of SCRIPTWRITER magazine/12 point.
