Sam Shapson is a writer, director, producer focused on character-driven stories that explore cerebral and unsettling themes and is currently enrolled in USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program. Before returning for grad school, Sam was a DGA 1st & 2nd Assistant Director on features, commercials, and music videos. His projects as AD have premiered at Sundance, Tribeca, & SXSW, and includes Hulu Originals CONTROL FREAK (2025) and CLOCK (2023). His short films have played internationally at Austin, Fantasia, San Jose, DeadCENTER, FilmQuest, Ojai, BendFilm, as well as featured on Short of the Week and Omeleto. In 2015, his short film REFUGE was acknowledged as the world's first narrative film lit exclusively by natural moonlight in articles by Gizmodo, Indiewire, Vice, Nerdist, & No Film School.