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During graduate school at USC, Clay received both the Bush and Kodak Awards for Excellence in Cinematography, earning an apprenticeship with ASC members. He was honored to apprentice with Francis Kenny (2012 ASC President's Award), and went on to learn lighting and camera techniques through on-set observation of Vilmos Zsigmond, Emmanuelle Lubezki, and Dante Spinotti.
After graduation, Clay immediately filmed pilots for every major network, establishing the look of such series as Life of Luxury with Robin Leach (ABC), Gene Simmons: Family Jewels (A&E), Rattlesnake Republic (Animal Planet), and Junk Gypsies (HGTV).
His visual experimentation continued while shooting and directing award-winning music videos, including Nutty: Back in Black and the Grammy-nominated Johnny Cash's America.
He established Martini Crew Booking as a gear and service provider for television and film productions in 2000. While at Martini, Clay filmed the Emmy-winning documentary The Legend of Pancho Barnes and the Happy Bottom Riding Club.
Clay branched into directing with thursday afternoon, which won writing and directing awards while playing on PBS, The Sundance Channel, and in film festivals internationally.
In 2003, Clay formed Imaginaut Entertainment, Inc, producing and directing the award-winning series Storyline Online, featuring such talents as Elijah Wood, Betty White, James Earl Jones, and Al Gore.
Through Imaginaut, Clay recently released the award-winning documentary Popatopolis, and is now producing a heartwarming doc for HBO about a pageant for young disabled girls. Clay's current films include Mr. Twister, a documentary about an autistic young man, produced by Academy Award-winner Mark Harris.
Clay is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences residing in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles with his wife and daughter, and is now in development on multiple documentaries and pilots while writing two feature screenplays.
