When Writer/Director PAUL DURAN returned to Hollywood, where he was born, to attend UCLA, he asked his sister to recommend an “easy” class to help round out his heavy college course load. She suggested “Italian Cinema” and shortly thereafter Paul gave up his idea of becoming an architect and began to dream in film.

Starting out as an assistant cameraman and special effects coordinator on low-budget horror films during school, Duran went on to work at Cannon Films as an editor and producer in their trailer department. Afterwards, he continued his film education as an art director on music videos and commercials. In addition, Paul has worked as a book editor, a journalist, a tour guide, and a salesman (once selling accordion lessons door to door).

All these skills only helped prepare him for his first directing job, the super-low-budget indie cult fave Flesh Suitcase. Hailed as “a shotgun wedding of early-Pinter austerity and Jim Thompson nihilism” (Washington City Paper), and “a Cassavetes-style improv in moody paranoia between two heroin dealers locked in a hotel room” (Film Threat), Flesh played a year on the festival circuit, with stops at Slamdance, Berlin, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Houston, and Fort Lauderdale. Picked up by Kushner-Locke, the film opened theatrically in Los Angeles before enjoying a long run on cable.

Paul has also written several screenplays, including O’Keeffe and Stieglitz for director Roger Spottiswoode, based on the tumultuous life and love affair of two of this century’s greatest American artists and provocateurs. He also co-wrote the NASCAR inspired comedy, Pedal to the Metal, for producer Catalaine Knell and cTonic Flikz. Duran has also taught screenwriting in the United States, Europe, and Cuba. His next project will be Antarctica, an intricate dissection of modern American mores and the murder they inspire.

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