Mark Clayman
Mark Clayman is the film producer who originated and initiated development of Sony's much-talked-about feature, Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith.
Clayman's work as a producer of both feature film and television projects follows a successful career as an actor in film and television. Clayman has appeared in numerous national commercials, working with some of the top directors in the field. His commercial work includes campaigns for "McDonalds," "Wendy's," "Burger King," "United Airlines," "Coca-Cola," "Mountain Dew," "Denny's" and "KFC", among many others.
Clayman earned his first role in a television show when he starred at age 18 in "A Thanksgiving Promise," a Disney special two-hour movie directed by Beau Bridges. He subsequently appeared in numerous television programs such as "A Different World," "Married with Children," "Step by Step," "Who's the Boss?", "Coach," "Mr. Belvedre" and "Chicago Hope". He also appeared in recurring roles on "Alf" and the original "Saved by the Bell" series as well as in feature films.
Clayman then expanded his career, teaming with Roland Mesa, the director of "Revenge of the Nerds III," with whom he created, wrote and sold a feature film entitled, "The Sunday Night Murder of the Week".
With an eye toward producing film and television, Mark took a job with Brillstein-Grey, a major management and production company, where he climbed the production ladder to participate in numerous television shows and pilots, ultimately as an associate producer. While working on these various shows, Clayman began to secure rights to novels, scripts and life rights, developing his own slate of projects to produce.
Clayman's career as a feature film producer began fortuitously. One night, while watching "20/20", Clayman was struck by the story of Chris Gardner, a one-time homeless man living on the streets with his son who, through hard work and a series of miracles, became a millionaire. Clayman moved quickly to secure the life story and literary rights and set the film up at Sony studios. The film was shot and wrapped at the end of 2005 and is scheduled to be released December 15, 2006. Clayman produced the film with Steve Tisch, the Oscar-winning producer of "Forrest Gump" as well as several other prominent producers. The film stars Will Smith, Thandie Newton and Jaden Smith, Will's real life son, who plays the actor's son on screen.
As head of Veralux Media's West coast operations, Clayman has prominent feature projects in development at several studios and is currently pitching to major television networks several series that he has packaged in collaboration with an Emmy award-winning show runner.
Married for nearly thirteen years, Mark Clayman lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Marlene, and their two children.