Share

Having successfully marketed numerous still photographers into live-action directors, Roy Skillicorn, owner and EP of Seed, envisions Sam Ciurdarmaking it big.

As a photographer’s representative in the 80’s, Roy took two photographers to the very top of the directing world by securing Graham Henman's and Michael Karbelnikoff's first jobs and representing them for over a decade (HKM). While still representing production entities but seeking his own production company, Roy founded Backyard Productions with another renowned photographer, Tony D’Orio. After selling Backyard in 2011, Roy founded Seed Media Arts where again, several photographers are part of the roster. He was been hired back at Backyard as Managing Director and markets both companies.

“Sam has an artist's eye for beautiful imagery that blends perfectly with his vision as a director and his interest in compelling storytelling. A true visual thinker and focused artist, he is the right fit for us. His films capture emotion within the reality of a moment whether on location or in the studio,” says Skillicorn.

Sam’s work has an interesting consistency as he often scales his visuals, staging small subjects in grand locations.  While focusing on a cinematic style, his intuitive choice of lens, his camera placement and movements, he manages to capture images with strong impacts.  

Ciurdar, pronounced SEE-YOU-DAR, is the immigrant son of parents who fled communist Romania. He relates “My parents’ huge work ethic allowed them to build a good life from almost nothing. I echo their principles and it inspires me to work hard toward achieving my own goals and dreams. Roy heartens from the same value system and has achieved his own goals and dreams. This mutual code of values, if you will, is also shared by his son, Nathan Skillicorn, who helped us all bond strongly and quickly.”  

As a young man Sam was sponsored by Samsung to further develop his style as a photographer and filmmaker. These years gave him the structured education necessary to cross into bigger content and commercials. His work today has created a big audience on Instagram with over 145k followers. Well traveled, Sam captures an emotion within his client’s message and its surroundings. His photographer’s eye identifies nuances necessary for evoking these emotions. His clients, Google, Amazon, Starbucks, Infiniti, Mazda, Sony, and Bose all agree.

Share