Born in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA. Clay started acting as a kid and quickly became obsessed with filmmaking. Attended film school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After college, Jeter went on tour with the Brooklyn-based rock band The Hold Steady to direct the documentary A Positive Rage and traveled to Africa as the co-director of photography on Bouncing Cats, a feature-length documentary about break-dancing in Uganda. He returned home to the family tobacco farm in Western Kentucky to direct his first narrative feature film, JESS + MOSS.