I was born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I learned to use creativity as a coping mechanism for life’s difficulties. My early relationship to the arts set the foundation for a life devoted to exploring the human condition through storytelling. I earned my BA and MFA in acting from Clemson University and UNC Greensboro before gracefully making my exit from the Southeast.
After years of performing on stage and editing a nauseating number of self-tapes, I decided to follow my instincts and dip my artistic toe into the world of screenwriting.
My work focuses on paradoxical female characters and explores themes of vengeance, loneliness, and the loss of identity. With a tendency to hide heartbreak in hilarity, I like to craft stories that leave audiences unsure whether to laugh, cry, or do both at the same time. I lovingly refer to myself as a “screenwriting sadist,” delighting in putting my characters through the most outlandish situations imaginable and watching them squirm. It is in these chasms of chaos that I find my characters’ truest selves: raw, messy, and relatably flawed.
I recently earned a second round placement in the 2025 Austin Film Festival Script Competition for my first piece/television pilot, Black Sheep. I’m currently writing an hour-long pilot for a television series about topics that make me smile: vampires, metaphorical cannibalism, and nefarious girl-bossing. Equal parts campy, sexy, and cathartic, the show will be a twisted investigation into consumerism and the lengths people will go to in order to achieve success.
Now based in New York City, I feel right at home among the brazen rats and derpy pigeons. When not writing, I enjoy being tall, critiquing espresso martinis like Simon Cowell, and caring for my diabetic dog, Bonny.
Claire St. James 