Hi again friendly reader, and a bit more about me
Hello again friendly reader,
I’m so happy to be in touch. First off, I promise not to flood you with emails or spam you. Hate spam.
Second, a bit about me
I started out as an actor in the late 80s after training in the theatre performance program at Toronto’s York University. Here’s my first headshot in 1983, with my maiden name, a very 80s haircut and very 80s dangly earrings.
I made it through about a decade of being an actor, appearing in two large parts in CBC TV movies, a few bit parts on shows like Street Legal (remember Street Legal?), a handful of plays and exactly three beer commercials. While other actors pursued catering and waitering as their side hustle, I did freelance publicity and marketing, writing press releases, press kits and synopses for VHS (yes, VHS—it was the 80s, remember) movie jackets. A great training ground for writing.
It took me a while to realize I was a closet writer trapped in an actor’s body, so I finally got my act together and, in 1996, I was accepted into the Canadian Film Centre (founded by one of Canada’s great filmmaking icons, Norman Jewison) and became one of 5 writer residents that year from across the country. I was both excited and terrified (often how I roll).
I got my first TV writing job before I finished at the CFC (fun fact: it was co-writing a couple of episodes of The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon, for which my husband, Kirk Dunn, played Dudley himself, in an eight-foot tall full-body dragon outfit).
I’ve been writing for film and TV ever since on such shows as Degrassi the Next Generation, Little Mosque on the Prairie, and Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series.
In the last few years, I’ve written rom com movies, including Love at Look Lodge (aka Falling for Look Lodge) for Hallmark, Cupids on Beacon Street for City TV, and the story for An Ice Wine Christmas (Lifetime).
My first novel, a coming-of-age small town complex romance, At Last Count, came out in 2022 via the wonderful Invisible Publishing, and was a Globe and Mail Best Book of 2022, a Toronto Star summer pick and a Zoomer Magazine CanLit Collection pick.
By the way, I was awarded funding to adapt At Last Count into a romantic drama series for TV, so stay tuned for news on that.
I also write for the theatre—the show I co-wrote with Kirk for him to perform is called The Knitting Pilgrim (this has also become his moniker—he’s a big knitter of unusual things—you can check him out at www.kirkdunn.com, on IG, FB, and Ravelry). The Knitting Pilgrim has already toured across Canada, to Austria and Germany, and the United States. We co-created a companion podcast and digital series called The Knitting Pilgrim Talks, and it’s available on YouTube and all the podcast places. Kirk and I have two new plays coming up, and I’ll tell you about those shows in the newsletter installments to come.
My writing
I love writing. Everything about it. Seriously.
Reading great books, watching great tv, movies, and theatre, and figuring out how they were written. I love reading about, discussing and implementing elements of the writer’s craft, and all things about the artist’s process.
I love writing about the ordinary human who is terrified of taking the leap but jumps anyway, and (usually) succeeds.
I like gentle, grounded humour and fast, quippy dialogue and try to bring both to everything I write, even the more dramatic material.
And I like the hope and enjoyment that comes from writing (and reading) well-written romance.
What’s next
I continue to work happily in film and TV, but I’m also in the process of writing a new romantic novel, Lost in France. I’ll be sending it out to beta readers soon, and I’m hoping to add a book 2 and 3 to that series, which I’m outlining now.
So keep your eye out for more!
I look forward to being in touch.
Claire
90 King Street, Picton, ON, Canada
