§ I — Bio

Theproducerbehind
the stories.

Fig. I — Chloe Darnaud · FR / US · b. Paris
Chloe Darnaud — bilingual French-American development producer, portrait
§ II — Profile
Chloe Darnaud
Bilingual French-American Development Producer
  • Paris ↔ Sevilla · Remote worldwide
  • Français · English · Español
  • Documentary · Investigative · Archives

I'm a bilingual French-American development producer working at the intersection of fiction, documentary, investigative journalism and archival research.

I develop fiction and documentary projects with filmmakers, production companies, NGOs and mission-driven organisations — bringing story architecture, archival research and pitch materials that move projects from the first spark to green-light. My work sits between the editor's desk and the field: reading treatments in Paris one week, coordinating archives in New York the next, tracking a source through a Spanish port city the week after.

I've had the chance to contribute to features and documentaries premiered at Venice, Sundance, Tribeca and Hot Docs, and to long-form investigative work published with The New Yorker and The Guardian. Whatever the format, the job is the same: help a powerful story find the frame, the funders and the audience it deserves.

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§ II·5 — Philosophy

"Alwaysrememberthatthereasonthatyouinitiallystartedworkingwasthattherewassomethinginsideyourselfthatyoufeltthatifyoucouldmanifestitinsomeway,youwouldunderstandmoreaboutyourselfandhowyoucoexistwiththerestofsociety."

David Bowie
§ III — Path

A decade between the page and the screen.

  1. Chloe Darnaud behind a broadcast camera — journalism years
    2014–2017City, University of London · London

    Bachelor of Journalism : Chasing the Story

    Learned to chase a story and get it right.

  2. Stack of French literature paperbacks — Duras, Zola, Rilke, Pirandello
    2017–2019Sorbonne Nouvelle · Cergy Pontoise · Paris

    Bachelor of Literature & Master's in Creative Writing: Falling back in love with fiction

    A return to fiction because I believe a well-made story can reach deeper than the facts alone.

  3. Chloe Darnaud on set with the slate on Dina Amer's You Resemble Me
    2019–2021Dina Amer's You Resemble Me · Paris → Venice

    First film experience: We made it to Venice!

    On Dina Amer's You Resemble Me I wore many hats — from assistant writer to assistant director — following the film from the first rehearsal shoots all the way to its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and learning, up close, how a film actually gets made.

  4. Still from JR's Paper & Glue
    2021–2024Remote

    Going Freelance: Into the archive, into the deep

    Started working remotely on research, investigative journalism and archival research — The Outlaw Ocean Project, JR's Paper & Glue, My Name is Gitta, and The Shepheard and the Bear.

  5. Cain, Abel & the Cowgirl pitch deck slide
    2024 — PresentFreelance

    Now Development Producer: Shaping stories across borders

    From pitch decks to full rewrites — shaping scripts, coaching writers, and getting projects across the finish line. Projects include Sam André's Mary's Way on FGM in Kenya, Dina Amer's Cain & Abel fiction, and Frontline for Peace, a documentary on Kharkiv.

§ IV — Principles

Four ideas I keep coming back to.

01 — Depth

Dig until I hit the real reason.

Before anything else, I take the time to know a project inside out — the intention behind it, the director's true reason for telling it, the question underneath the question. I read every draft, every note, every source until I understand why this story has to exist, and only then start shaping how it should reach the world.

02 — Resonance

Choose stories that actually mean something.

I work on projects that resonate — with a moment, with an audience, with the people who lived them. Fiction or documentary, feature or series, the test is the same: does this story leave a mark, and is it being told with the care its subjects deserve? If yes, I'm in.

03 — Craft

The pitch deck is already the film.

A pitch deck isn't a summary — it's the first cut. Type, image, rhythm, silence. Long before a frame is shot, funders, actors and partners fall in love with a document. I treat every treatment, deck and director's statement as a piece of the film itself, designed and edited with the same care.

04 — Travel

Send stories out into the world — properly.

A story doesn't belong to one language or one territory. Bilingual French-American, based between Paris and Sevilla, I work on localisation, adaptation and cultural translation — not just words swapped one-for-one, but rhythm, humour, reference and register reshaped so a film lands as intended, wherever it plays.

§ V — Coordinates

Based between three places. Ready to fly.

Bases
  • Paris
    France
  • Sevilla
    Spain
  • Tangier
    Morocco
Languages
  • French
    NATIVE
  • English
    NATIVE
  • Spanish
    CONVERSATIONAL
§ VI — Colophon

If your story deserves real depth, let's talk.