Clarke M. Smith has officially been making films since 1985, which started with clay animation as far back as 1979. In college he studied film and television. Post-graduation, to date he has directed 19 short films, a few music videos, and a feature film called “The Ethereal Plane”. It had success in film festivals (winner at the Big MiniDV Film Festival) and foreign distribution in Asia.

Notable films include "Crazy Joe" (nominated for best actor at the 2013 San Diego Film Awards) and "Stover Hill" (2nd place winner at the 2014 San Diego Fall Film Festival). Also, his 1985 student film "The Lurking" won Best Oldie But Goodie at the 2016 San Diego Film Week. Another recent directorial effort “The Loyal Remnant” was made for the 168 Film Project and received nominations at the 2017 San Diego Film Awards for makeup and costume. Rounding out the year, Clarke edited one of the True San Diego Film projects, “Coming and Going in Vegas”.

In 2018, he re-teamed with Randy Davison for a short called "You Are Me", which deals with cloning and terminal illness. The film also features Annie Willett and Larry Poole. Amongst its film festival run, it took home the Best Drama Short award from the 2018 Silicon Film Festival, and the Producer's Choice award at the 2019 Showlow Film Festival.

Smith's second feature "Mystery Highway", featuring many San Diego local actors, is having success on many streaming platforms such as Amazon Video and Tubi. The film got an Honorary Mention at the 2021 San Diego Movie Awards, as well as a nomination for Best Narrative Feature at the 2022 San Diego Film Awards.

Lastly, a new sci-fi comedy short set in the same universe as You Are Me, called "Greyson 2.0", is about to start its film festival circuit.