[7] She began her career at Threshold Entertainment, where she oversaw the development and production of projects based on well-known properties for both the company's film and television slates.

[8] Downey held the dual posts of co-president of Dark Castle Entertainment and Executive Vice President of Production at Silver Pictures.

Joining Silver Pictures in 1999, she oversaw the development and production of feature films released under both banners, including Thirteen Ghosts and Swordfish.

She was also an executive producer on the Hughes brothers' post-apocalyptic drama The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.

It was the couple's most financially successful joint venture to date,[12] and netted Robert Downey Jr. his third Golden Globe Award, his first for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

[14] Columbia Pictures announced on October 20 it had obtained the rights to Neil Strauss' non-fiction 2009 bestseller Emergency!

[15] The Downeys are also developing a musical project for Warner Bros. from a pitch by "Next to Normal" composers Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt.

[18] Susan Levin's first full-credit producer job was for the 2003 thriller Gothika, starring Halle Berry and Levin's future husband, actor Robert Downey Jr. Downey – who was in the process of divorcing his first wife, Deborah Falconer[19] — has said that his most memorable recollection about shooting Gothika was "romancing the producer";[20] Levin stated to James Lipton on Inside the Actors Studio that while she thought Downey was "an amazing actor that we were lucky to have in our movie",[20] her first impression of him was that he was "weird.

"[20] The two quietly struck up a romance – though she turned down his romantic advances twice for fear that their relationship would not last through the completion of shooting because "he's an actor; I have a real job."