He formed his own production company in partnership with Jon Schorstein and produced television commercials, documentaries, children's feature films and low budget dramas, and in 1978 production managed Bertrand Tavernier's "Deathwatch" starring Romy Schneider and Harvey Keitel.

He went on to line produce a variety of films for David Puttnam including Roland Joffe's "The Killing Fields" starring Sam Waterston and Haing Ngor, and Roland Joffe's "The Mission" starring Robert de Niro and Jeremy Irons.

In 1987 he formed Applecross Productions and went on to co-produce severeal films, including Richard Marquand's "Hearts of Fire" starring Bob Dylan and Rupert Everett. In 1994 he co-produced Stephen Frears' "Mary Reilly" starring Julia Roberts and John Malkovich, followed by Luc Besson's "The Fifth Element".

He then produced Jean-Jacques Annaud's "Seven Years in Tibet" starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis. After this he executive produced Tony Scott's "Spy Game" for Universal Pictures which starred Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, followed by Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain" for Miramax starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renee Zelwegger. He went on to produce Oliver Stone's "Alexander" for Intermedia starring Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie followed by producing Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain" for New Regency/Warner Bros. starring Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn, and Alfonso Cuaron's "Children of Men" for Strike Entertainment/Universal Pictures, and Timur Bekmambetrov's "Wanted" for Universal Pictures.

In 2005 he was awarded a BAFTA for Outstanding Achievement in Film and was made an OBE by the Queen in the 2008 New Year's Honours List for services to film. Currently, Iain Smith is a patron of the London Film School, Chair of the Film Skills Council, and is a director of the Children's Film and Television Foundation. He is Chair of the UK Film Industry Training Board, and is Chair of the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

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