Sam Balcomb - writer, director, producer

Sam Balcomb writes, directs, and produces feature films, shorts, music videos and commercials. Growing up in Los Angeles, and spending much of his time on studio backlots, he became enamored early on with the magic of filmmaking.

He graduated from Art Center College of Design's prestigious film program in 2002, and immediately began working on production and graphic design for commercials and music videos. Realizing he could never afford the kind of visual effects he desired for his projects, he took to learning industry-standard software for modeling, animation and compositing. These tools became handy when, in 2004, he became the lead Visual Effects Producer for Burbank-based L2 Digital. At this company, he worked on jobs for Nelly, Switchfoot, Amerie, Stevie Wonder, Disney, Joe Satriani, and Celine Dion. He also created original shots for The Chronicles of Narnia, and helped produce Shakira's award-winning concert Blu-Ray.

In 2003, Sam was flown to Toronto for a presentation on his fantasy feature Ancanar, with co-director Raiya Corsiglia and star Gregory Lee Kenyon. In addition to the presentation, Sam sat on a J.R.R. Tolkien panel alongside artist Ted Nasmith and author Michael Drout.

In 2005, he wrote and directed the short film Texas Fortune with Rainfall co-founder Jesse Soff. The film won first place at that year's DVXfest, and is currently being developed into a feature film. Sam and Jesse also produced The Ore, a science fiction short, which won a Telly Award in 2007 and was featured by the Sci-Fi Channel.

Sam has participated in three Elevate Film Festivals, winning an Outstanding Achievement Award, and a Best Music Video award for Missy Higgins' Steer.

Most recently, Sam shot The Legend of Zelda april fool's trailer for IGN Entertainment, which has become their most-watched video of all time.