ABOUT
A graduate of USC’s prestigious Peter Stark Producing MFA program, Samantha Shear has established herself as an exemplary development executive and producer. She has close to two decades of experience creating and developing character-driven, visual stories in film, television and animation with a heavy focus on IP adaptation.
Samantha Shear has twice been integral in the creation, formation and success of new live action development production companies. Previously in her twelve years as Head of Film and Television Development at Kickstart Entertainment (The Boys, Preacher) and again in 2018 when she joined Emmy-winning global entertainment company Zoic Studios to launch their new content division Zoic Pictures.
With Zoic, Shear is producing several feature film and television projects including, the original screenplay SID at Amazon Studios with Davis Entertainment to be directed by Ahern & Loughman (Extra Ordinary) as well as the animated holiday film The Stocking Stuffer with Mattel Films and in television, the YA Korean fantasy series She Was The First with Sony Television and Rafe Judkins (Wheel of Time) as well as arcane punk comic book series Battle Chasers created by Joe Madureira and to be adapted by Derek Kolstad (John Wick) with Alcon Entertainment.
Shear recently set up her own producing shingle Midnight Hags. Current producing projects include The Blacksmith, with AGC and producers Jon Shestack and Jeremy Stein as well as The Teller, written and to be directed by Ben Ripley (Source Code) with Catchlight Studios (Heretic).
As a producer, Shear previously produced the live action indie films, Shades of Ray and Bounty Killer. In animation, Shear was a Co-Executive Producer on the animated holiday specials Dear Dracula, Frozen in Time, Under Wraps, Abominable Christmas, The Naughty List and Monstrous Holiday.
As a development executive, Shear has set up many projects over the years including television pilots Demo at Syfy Channel, Demonika at MTV, Molly at Lifetime and Hench at NBC, Ward 6 with Cineflix, and Space Trash at FTVS as well as feature films including The Secret Tree at Disney Channel, Kissing Ezra Holtz at Amazon, Crenshaw based on the Katherine Applegate novel at Fox, Monster Attack Network at Disney and the adaptation of the book 1421: The Year China Discovered America with Warner Brothers China & China Film Group co-venture.
Samantha is a produced screenwriter in live action film with such films as the romantic comedy Road Less Traveled, starring country music star Lauren Alaina for CMT, as well as in animation with such holiday specials as Bob’s Broken Sleigh Disney XD and Monsterous Holiday, The Naughty List and Abominable Christmas for Cartoon Network.
Shear has experience in comic book publishing as the editor of indie comic publisher Kickstart Comics, where she oversaw thirty-two unique graphic novel titles from concept to distribution. She has moderated panels at SXSW and San Diego Comic Con on topics such as Women Writing in Genre and the Impact of AI on Creative Industries.
She is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University at an undergraduate and graduate level where she strives to educate and inspire the next generation of storytellers.