With two decades of experience as a film editor and being named by Playback as One to Watch, Samantha MacAdam is a Guyanese-Canadian director and award-winning screenwriter.
Sam's career began in film editing, where she honed her skill for timing and pacing—an invaluable asset in her directing work. Over the past decade, Sam has directed numerous pilots, television series, films, and commercials. Her credits include CTV and Crave’s Shelved, a comedy from showrunner Anthony Q. Farrell (The Office), produced by Colin Brunton (Schitt's Creek). She also directed four record-breaking episodes of the Canadian classic comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Fashionably in Love, a romantic comedy TV movie (Reel One Entertainment), which earned her a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Direction. Most recently, she directed a thriller/drama TV movie for A&E and Lifetime and a romantic comedy book adaptation, Savvy Sheldon, with Neshama Entertainment, Bell Media, Centinel, The CW, and Fox Studios.
Some of her comedic work includes her CBC Juno Awards commercial campaign starring Simu Liu, which she co-wrote and directed. The commercials received two PROMAX Award nominations (Best Director/Best in Live Events). Other comedic work includes her highly successful short film Prom Night, which she wrote, co-edited, and directed. It premiered at Just For Laughs in Kevin Hart's LOL Showcase, where it was a top-five finalist out of 650 films and won Audience Favorite. Sam is currently developing Prom Night into a feature film. And, one of Sam’s first comedic career highlights was writing the story for the third installment of the animated feature film franchise The Nut Job, starring Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl, and Maya Rudolph.
Some of Sam's more dramatic work includes The Horrible History of Harriet Jones, a psychological thriller/horror short film based on true crime events in Guyana, which she wrote and directed. The film was acquired by Terror Films for an anthology series and will be screened at the iconic TCL Theatres in Hollywood as part of HollyShorts’ monthly series. Sam is currently developing it into a feature film. A story consultant on the project—is Jeff Howard (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Oculus, I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot).
Sam’s work has received numerous spotlights, and she is an alumna of programs such as Women In the Director's Chair: Story & Leadership, the Toronto International Film Festival’s Big Pitch event, the Netflix Banff Diversity of Voices, Blood in the Snow showcase, CaribbeanTales Film Festival, and Warner Bros. Access and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's prestigious Director’s Roster.
Sam has always been a fan of popcorn and blockbuster movies and continues to follow her passion for writing and directing commercially viable stories with universal themes and messages.
