Catherine Clinch graduated college at the age of 19 and completed her master's degree in one year. She has been actively employed in the entertainment industry since 1978, when she was accepted into the Director's Guild Training Program on her first application. By 1980 she had segued into a career as a screenwriter, quickly accumulating 17 produced credits in successful network television series including HUNTER, JAKE & THE FATMAN, KNIGHT RIDER, THE LOVE BOAT, HART TO HART, FOUL PLAY, TRUE CONFESSIONS and SEARCH FOR TOMORROW. It is interesting to note that on 9 of those 17 episodes, Catherine's first draft was put right into production without any notes or rewrites.
In 1981, Catherine met Bernie Clinch. She was immediately fascinated by the fact that he had been raised in a nuclear family in Peoria, Illinois. Having been bitten by the production bug, Bernie had come to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a director.
Early on, Bernie and Catherine realized they shared a mutual desire to make independent films that focused on the positive elements of humanity. They also realized they shared a strong personal attraction. Wisely, they spent three months getting to know each other as friends before choosing to become romantically involved. In 1984, they married with the intent of starting their family. Catherine became pregnant while she and Bernie were raising funds to make their first film. They put that project on hold. But neither of them could have imagined the challenges they would face when Matthew, their first son, was injured at birth by medical malpractice and spent 5-1/2 months on life support.
Suddenly, Bernie and Catherine were thrust into a nightmare of medicine, disabilities and advocacy. They put their personal dreams and career goals on hold as they supported Matthew through the crucial early years of his life. During that time, Catherine gave birth to two more sons, Brian and Joey. In order to provide a consistent means of support (including the comprehensive health insurance that was essential to Matthew's continued survival) Bernie sought employment that was not subject to the fluctuations and unpredictability of the entertainment industry.
Bernie accepted a position as a Senior Producer/Director and Coordinator of Media Production at California State University Dominguez Hills, where he helped developed educational programming in the emerging field of Distance Learning. While he produced, directed and edited hundreds of hours of educational programming and documentaries, he worked within the unit that has produced over 80,000 hours of live interactive educational programming, Bernie earned a number of awards including five Telly's, an Aegis and an Omni Inter-Media. In the year 2000, Bernie had the honor and distinction of being selected by Producer Magazine as one of "The Top 100 Media Producers" in the country. In recent years, Bernie has also pioneered the field of programming video billboards, emphasizing the importance of their role to universities.
Opting to be a stay-at-home mom (SAHM), Catherine limited her outside activities to things that could be accomplished in the hours while her sons were at school. She became an activist on behalf of special-needs children and victims of medical malpractice, and maintained her involvement in the entertainment industry by being elected to and serving a two-year term on the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America west. She taught screenwriting, advanced video production, mass communications and media theory at several Los Angeles universities and became the Associate Publisher of Creative Screenwriting magazine. It was during this time that Catherine formulated the idea for Nuclear Family Films.
Bernie and Catherine Clinch bring a number of unique elements to Nuclear Family Films:
▀ They have repeatedly demonstrated an ability to face and resolve seemingly insurmountable challenges without being defeated by them.
▀ They embrace the importance of honesty, integrity, responsibility and reliability in all of their professional dealings.
▀ As advocates of the theory of lifelong learning, they constantly update their professional skills.
▀ They treat their personal commitment to each other with respect and devotion.
Most important of all, they have created and maintain a positive demonstration of a Nuclear Family.