above: Claire Ayoub
Screenwriter Claire Ayoub’s Unconventional Breakthrough in Cinema
Award-winning filmmaker and New Canaan native Claire Ayoub knows the culture of hard work and high achievement that comes with growing up in Fairfield County. From an early age, students seem to excel and follow a well-defined path to success. Ayoub, however, has built her career by embracing the unexpected. A champion of unconventional paths, she believes success doesn’t have to be linear. In fact, the acclaimed screenwriter—whose work has earned honors at film festivals including Seattle International, Coney Island and Sedona International—never even attended film school.
As a passionate teenager with wide-ranging interests, Ayoub wasn’t sure what she wanted to study in college. Her father suggested she get a liberal arts education, as it would allow her the freedom to embark on a journey of knowledge and passion without locking into one career from the outset. To this day, she still considers this best advice she has ever received. She went on to attend Wellesley College, where she majored in Middle Eastern Studies and minored, she jokes, in “everything else”.
After college, Ayoub still didn’t have a clear plan. As a graduation gift, her parents gave her sketch comedy classes, which reignited her creative spark and eventually inspired a move to New York City to purse a career in the entertainment industry. Building a creative career wasn’t always easy. To support herself while navigating New York City’s comedy scene, Ayoubjuggled copywriting and advertising jobs—even babysitting—to make ends meet. She maintained this hustle for over a decade, steadily building the foundation for the career she has today.
One of Ayoub’s guiding philosophies was to move away from the daunting question of “Who am I” and instead focus on the more empowering questions, like “What can I do?” and “What can I make?” That mindset inspired her to write the script for a feature-length movie—a project far more ambitious than anything she had attempted before. Drawing on the determination she built during her New Canaan Public Schools education and resilience she learned from living in New York, Ayoub ultimately secured a multi-million-dollar deal for her debut film, Empire Waist.
Nearly two years have passed since Empire Waist opened in theaters nationwide, including hometown screenings at New Canaan Playhouse and the New Canaan Library. Today Ayoub is expanding her creative horizons, working on a young adult fantasy novel while continuing to to inspire the next generation of storytellers. This past summer, she launched weeklong directing camps to complement her existing screenwriting and creative writing programs for Fairfield County students in grades 4-7.
The camps are both a tribute to her younger self and a celebration of the community that fostered her creativity—first during her childhood and again when she returned as an adult.
Ayoub has always loved working with children and watching their ideas come to life through writing. “A big core of my classes is empowering students to realize that they can make whatever is in their heads,” she says. “Sharing drafts is scary. A lot of it is being vulnerable with the students and letting them know that being a creative is about embracing being different. I want them to bring their full selves to class.”
That philosophy—learning to “try anyway,” even if a dream seems intimidating—has shaped Ayoub’s own creative journey. It became such a central part of her work that she named her production company Try Anyway Productions. Through Try Anyway, Ayoub offers camps and year-round classes in writing and creativity for both children and adults, encouraging students to take risks, find their voices and bring their ideas to life.
While Ayoub did not major in filmmaking, study child education or ever expect to write a novel, she has transformed each of these dreams into reality by following her curiosity, embracing uncertainty and taking action.
“We always feel like we have to ‘make it’ in life right away. But what is ‘making it’? Focus less on making it and focus more on making something. It’s okay to scribble in the beginning without comparing yourself to Monet,” Ayoub advises.
Her journey is a reminder that taking the scenic route can lead not only to success, but to a deeper sense of fulfillment, creativity and joy.