Dr Clem Bastow (they/them) is a screenwriter and researcher from Naarm/Melbourne. Clem has a PhD (RMIT, 2023) in something incredibly cool but difficult to explain in the space of an elevator ride. Their thesis, “I can’t describe what I’m feeling”: reframing Autism and Hollywood action towards an Autistic screenwriting practice examined the creative intersections of Autistic experience, screenwriting practice, and Hollywood action movies. Clem works as a screenwriter, story consultant and neurodiversity consultant for film and TV, most recently for Spooky Files (ABC/BBC, 2023). They have contributed chapters to books including Investigating Stranger Things (Palgrave MacMillan, 2021) and ReFocus: The Films Of Elaine May (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). They co-wrote and co-presented the 2017 ABC podcast Behind The Belt, a documentary “deep dive” into professional wrestling, and in 2018 co-produced the first wrestling death match to be held on Tasmanian soil, Night Massacre, for Dark Mofo. Their writing appears regularly in The Guardian. Clem’s debut nonfiction book, Late Bloomer (Hardie Grant Books) was published in July 2021, and they are currently co-editing a collection of Autistic women and gender diverse people’s life writing for UQP with Jo Case. Clem lives and works on Wurundjeri land with their dog, Milly.
How Not To Pronounce “Bastow”: BAR-STOW, BEAR-STAOW, BASE-TOW, BASS-TON (it’s Bas as in “crass”, Tow as in “bestow upon you the honour of my presence”)