Simon Fields is a native of London and received his education at Stowe School. After graduation, he worked his way through the television commercial production ranks in London to become production manager for the Moving Picture Company. In 1978, Fields became a producer for Jon Roseman Productions and moved to L.A. within a year to join its U.S. division. He, producer Paul Flattery and director Bruce Gowers. soon left to form Gowers, Fields, Flattery. In 1982, Gowers Fields Flattery started representing director Steve Barron, of the UK company Limelight in the U.S. In 1983 Fields left Gowers, Fields, Flattery with Barron to form the US version of Limelight, a company focused on music video, commercial and feature film production, with operations in Los Angeles and London. As president and CEO, Fields oversaw a television commercial division whose accounts included Calvin Klein, Nike and Budweiser, as well as producing the feature film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Limelight also became distinguished as a leader in music video production, working on projects with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Peter Gabriel, A-ha, David Bowie and others.
Toward the end of his twelve-year tenure with Limelight, Fields teamed with director Peter Chelsom in developing and producing feature films. Together they shepherded the Ned Beatty romantic comedy Hear My Song, the Buena Vista distributed Funny Bones starring Oliver Platt and Jerry Lewis (which earned Fields and Chelsom a London Critics Circle Film Award for British Producer of the Year),The Mighty starring Elden Henson, Kieran Culkin and Sharon Stone, Miramax’s romantic comedy Serendipity starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, and the romantic comedy Shall We Dance, starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Jennifer Lopez.