Sue Bruce Smith

Susan Claire Bruce-Smith (1957/582 May 2020) was a British film producer. Variety described her as an "industry titan". She spent most of her career with Film4, and was serving as its deputy director at the time of her death. She specialised in financial and marketing strategy for distribution.

An influential producer, she is described by the industry as being encouraging but not imposing, and a key figure in the success of many British and independent films. She financed and/or produced multiple films for directors including Lenny Abrahamson, Danny Boyle, Sarah Gavron, Derek Jarman, Asif Kapadia, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mike Leigh, Steve McQueen, and Ben Wheatley. Among her over 100 films are several Academy Award winners, including 12 Years a Slave, The Favourite, Room, Slumdog Millionaire and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Early life Bruce-Smith was born in Birmingham to Maureen (née Sinclair) and James Bruce-Smith. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a GP. She attended King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, and then studied French at the University of Kent. In the late 1970s, she spent some time studying in Paris with future colleague Amanda Nevill.

Career 1985–2004: Career beginnings and progression In 1985, Bruce-Smith took a temporary job at Palace Pictures, Still, she said that she "was incredibly lucky to land at Palace [because] everyone was hugely inventive and questioning of the orthodoxy, which made it a dynamic and pretty anarchic environment, filled with highly creative people".

2004–2020: Return to Film4 and acclaim

Ben Wheatley, with whom Bruce-Smith worked on four films. She described him as "undoubtedly one of our boldest, brightest and most audience savvy filmmakers". In 2013, Bruce-Smith distributed Ben Wheatley's film A Field in England. It was reported as the first time that a film utilised complete simultaneous release, being released in cinemas, on home media, video on demand, and free to TV at the same time. Wheatley also gave his voice to the importance of the cinema,

In the 2015/16 award season, Film4 (under director David Kosse) had 581 nominations from eleven films, most of which Bruce-Smith was involved with, including fifteen Academy Award and 22 BAFTA nominees; within these were three of the five Academy Best Actress nominees and eventual winner (Brie Larson for Lenny Abrahamson's Room). Bruce-Smith called the Oscar wins inspirational. Bruce-Smith was promoted to deputy director in 2017 by new director Daniel Battsek. Another is Abrahamson, who, when interviewed in anticipation of the 2015/16 award season in relation to Room, said that he goes to Film4 first with new projects: "they are supportive of the directors they work with, and there is no other agenda other than to help you make the film you want to make [...] the early stages of a project are when it is at its most delicate [...] it is so important that anybody you let into that part of the process is carefully chosen". Bruce-Smith concurred, saying that she liked to get involved from the start of a project, and always put the filmmaker first.

Bruce-Smith hosted the British industry's emerging female talent dinner in 2017, and is said to have gone out of her way to encourage both new and female talent in all aspects of the industry. and, after Frances McDormand referenced the inclusion rider in her 2018 Academy Best Actress speech (for the Bruce-Smith backed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), explained the concept of the inclusion rider and said that McDormand was "throwing down the gauntlet to the industry" with her public mention.

Personal life and death She married Irish celebrity chef and journalist Hugo Arnold in 1992, and they had two children. The couple owned houses in Dublin and Tuscany, Italy, and would often have friends staying at both. Bruce-Smith was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, described as "long and hard" but which she faced with good humour. McQueen dedicated the premiere of their fourth film together, Widows, to her after the diagnosis. She died at home in Dublin on 2 May 2020, at the age of 62. with Nick James saying that in January 2019, when she walked into a BAFTA screening theatre for an event in tribute to her, he "experienced such a joyous, instant explosion of applause" as he never had witnessed before. 1986 Critters Stephen Herek 1995 Persuasion Roger Michell 1997 I Went Down Paddy Breathnach 2004 In My Father's Den Brad McGann Executive producer 2011 The Iron Lady Phyllida Lloyd 2011 Wuthering Heights Andrea Arnold 2012 Seven Psychopaths Martin McDonagh 2013 The Double Richard Ayoade 2013 The Look of Love Michael Winterbottom 2014 Ex Machina Alex Garland 2014 Mr. Turner Mike Leigh 2015 The Lobster Yorgos Lanthimos 2015 Room Lenny Abrahamson Executive producer 2015 Slow West John Maclean 2016 American Honey Andrea Arnold 2017 The Killing of a Sacred Deer Yorgos Lanthimos 2019 Calm with Horses Nick Rowland Executive producer 2019 The Day Shall Come Chris Morris Executive producer 2019 Dirt Music Gregor Jordan Executive producer 2019 How to Build a Girl Coky Giedroyc Executive producer 2019 The Personal History of David Copperfield Armando Iannucci 2019 True History of the Kelly Gang Justin Kurzel Executive producer 2020 Dream Horse Euros Lyn Executive producer