Howdy 👋 I’m Sam.
I make stuff about people that make stuff.
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Before we talk shop…
I’m the son of Moldovan-Ukrainian immigrants who taught me to love Seinfeld, tofu, and fuzzy comforters. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of other things taking up my mental real estate: my cat named corn, holiday market donuts , New York Magazine, the collective works of Ayo Edibiri, the galleries at MoMA, losing sleep over the NYT Connections.
These days, I’m directing & editing at Whimsy, an EMMY Award-winning creative studio I founded to celebrate game-changers and culture shifters in the world of art & design. Like this commercial about your favorite drag queen’s costume designer or this documentary about the madcap artist behind one of America’s most iconic homes.
Working across the brand and editorial spaces, I wrote & directed this film about a pastry chef who left the Michelin world for a quieter life, directed this trailer for the x2 Peabody-nominated podcast Scene on Radio, and directed & edited this doc about a painter processing an unexpected diagnosis.
I fell in love with my craft watching behind-the-scenes documentaries from the set of A New Hope. I wanted to offer the same inside look into the most exciting nonfiction storytelling being done today, so I partnered with The Video Consortium on an original digital series, The Playback. Episodes featured the New York Times Visuals Investigations Unit, the Vice President’s video team, and the creators behind the Washington Post’s infamous TikTok account, among others.
Since 2021, I have directed nine episodes of PBS’s State of the Arts, including the one about a radical new play about borders, robots and capitalism and the one about one of the largest public art commissions since the days of FDR.
I love helping fellow filmmakers & nonprofits amplify their work through trailers & teasers. Here’s some recent work for The New Yorker’s Nina & Irene, the Skoll Foundation, the Video Consortium.
Prior to starting Whimsy, I was the Creative Marketing Director at the Academy Award-winning Breakwater Studios. I oversaw our digital presence and ran two Oscar campaigns for New York Times Op-Docs The Best Chef in the World and MINK! I cut teasers, produced behind-the-scenes featurettes, and organized a Capitol Hill screening with Nancy Pelosi, Naomi Osaka & Wendy Mink .
In a previous incarnation, I worked in the photo department at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where I curated 200 photographs in the museum’s new American wing. I also served on the education team at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and helped lead archaeology and museum program classes at the Dalton School.
Say Howdy
Email
sam@wearewhimsy.com