Sam Longoria
Award-winning Producer / Director / Writer / Editor /Cinematographer / Actor / Speaker
Sam started making Super 8mm movies at the age of fourteen, and five
years later raised and spent $500,000 to make his first 35mm feature film.
His first Hollywood job was shooting 65mm visual effects for two $50 million features.
He has photographed the President of the United States in the White House,
been a successful "Jeopardy" tv contestant, and appears daily onscreen at
Walt Disney World, in a movie with Mel Brooks and Mickey Mouse.
Sam has shot movies in every format, (8mm through IMAX, DV through 24p HD),
owned movie and live improv comedy theatres, worked in every area of moviemaking.
His work graces several Academy-nominated films, and one Oscar-winner.
He is a member of several Guilds, and has directed three features of his own,
many movies and television shows, and one hit radio series.
He is an authority on raising money, designing camera shots for maximum
storytelling, and getting great performances from actors, on any size budget.
Sam's SECRET FILM SCHOOL is here!
Sam Longoria Filmmaking Blog
Your career isn't moving fast enough?
Others can succeed - why not you?
Not enough money?
Fix it, FAST!
Out-of-print and hard-to-find Technical Manuals
for your favorite cameras and projectors.
Sam recommends Uncle Ivan's filmmaking book.
Raise ALL the money you need.
Make your movie NOW!
Sam's newly-revised book
Secrets Of Raising Money For Your Movie
will be shipping soon!
Is your Project looking for Money?
Money For Projects can help you!
World's shortest trading letter
tells you where the money is!
The Market Speaks
FILMMAKING IS CAMPING!
Find rugged outdoor gear at Sam's
rugged outdoor online store
Wilderness Wally's
Sam's favorite Cooking and Recipes.
Knowledge is Power!
Top Secret Info Reports
Sam's Resource Page.
Sam has three feature movies, a television show, a newspaper column,
and two national radio series in production.
Sam Longoria is happy.
Background
Sam was born in the crater of a live volcano, on the planet Mars, at the turn of the century.He has asthma, and enjoys wheezing for hours, to accompany popular tunes on the radio.
He has a balloonist license, and drops bags of flour on the unwary.
If you are outside, and hear music and wheezing above your head, Look Out!
No, really!
Okay, okay. Born Monday, 12 March 1956, at 5:55pm, in Ft. Lawton, Washington,
Sam's home town is Enumclaw, on the slopes of beautiful Mt. Rainier.
He currently lives in Los Angeles, against his better judgement.
Hobbies
Sam Longoria's hobby is collecting bottle caps, of which he has more than six.2007
2006 is HISTORY! We're going deeper into the future!
This is obviously a pivotal year,
but too early to tell if it's a good year.
2006
2006 was a relentless year.
Sam worked on his movies and book revisions, spoke and safaried in Utah,
did pre-production on his funny monster movie, designed new projects,
mourned some beloved friends and relatives, rejoiced when some of the
sick got better, worked on Nils Osmar's and Tony Watkins's movies, did
some film markets and festivals, redesigned his business model,
and finally admitted he's just been stressed too long.
2006 was...intense!
2005
2005 was an "interesting" year.
Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Flood, American Film Market, Directing, Producing,
Writing, writing, writing, and maxillofacial surgery. 2005 had it all!
I won't bad-mouth 2005, but...man!
2004
2004 was a femaelstrom of tragedy and delight.
Sam went to the Academy Awards again, for his seventeenth attendance.
It was leap year, and a leap of faith.
Sam was Director of Photography for
Nils Osmar's sci-fi movie, "Death Planet."
It was a sleep-deprivation experiment that took up
the month of June. It is a good little movie.
Sam Longoria has re-programmed his Unconscious Mind, and is
working more effectively than ever. You can do it too.
2003
2003 was a whirlwind of activity, and suddenly over...
Sam went to the Academy Awards again, for his sixteenth attendance.
It was wartime, and it was brutal.
2002
Christy and Sam spent the year honeymooning. Sam prepped his movies.
Two highlights...
They caught Joshua Bell's super-good performance with the
equally-super Academy of St. Martin In The Fields chamber orchestra.
Christy's pic of Sam and Josh.
The Firesign Theatre's latest comedy CD "Bride Of Firesign" was
nominated for a Grammy Award, for Best Comedy Album!
Sam rooted for them at the Grammys! Go guys!
2001
I can't believe it! We're in the year 2001! We're in the FUTURE!
Where's my flying car, my rocket-pants?
Why can't I have lunch at the moonbase?
Why are humans still fighting with each other?
The future isn't what it used to be.
The TWENTIETH CENTURY is OVER! Now it's Century Twenty-One!
Sam went to the Academy Awards again, for his fifteenth attendance.
What he saw SHOCKED him! He may keep it locked in his heart forever.
The Firesign Theatre did their first tv special "Weirdly Cool," for PBS.
Phil Austin asked Sam to select the camera angle for
Brian Westley's 360-degree pan shot for their website.
Sam had the 4 or 5 Crazee Guys run in and out of the shot at the proper time,
so they could be in two places at once, when they were really just at CBS.
Sam can be seen in the theatre aisle, dressed fashionably in black leather.
(Which is REALLY HOT at 360 Degrees!)
Sam and Christy GOT MARRIED in a
beautiful little chapel in the woods!
Wish them well!
2000
We hit the double-zero! This was the year Oh-oh!
2000 was a year of transitions.
A hard year, and not easily forgotten.
Hmm...What was I saying?
Oh, yes...
Sam met the 2000 New Year with old friends around a bonfire in the
Washington woods, eagerly awaiting the Y2K end of the world.
(Sadly, the world didn't end, but New Year was still good.
If anyone wants to buy canned goods, his garage is full.)
Sam's friend Bozo decided she liked the woods so much, she ran away
when Sam packed the Cadillac for the trip back to the desert.
Bozo is now what Sam loves to be - wild in the woods.
Sam went to the Academy Awards again, for his fourteenth attendance.
A report of danger, adventure, romance!
Sam's grandmother passed away in May, but Sam can still feel her love.
Sam spoke at many places this year.
Sam and Christy scouted Western locations.
Sam Longoria is working hard, bringing his western feature "Surreal West" to the big screen.
1999
Countdown: Penultimate millennial odometric zero-reset!
1999: An action-packed year.
Sam went to the Academy Awards again,
for his lucky thirteenth attendance.
Sam went to the Grammy Awards as well. Sam was backstage.
(Waiting for the Electrician, or someone like him.)
Sam Longoria met Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy Magazine,
at a Hollywood Grammy party. Here is how the meeting went:
SAM
You've brought a lot of happiness into my life.
HEF
Mine, too.
Sam posed for a picture, with Hef and a Playmate.
Sam Longoria managed to be on hand for most of the Firesign '99 tour,
in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.
Sam went to Seattle to care for his ill grandmother (who got better),
visit friends and speak.
Sam met a new friend, whom he likes so much, he took her home with him.
Her name is Bozo.
Sam spoke at Mensa's Convention "The Big One," in Long Beach on the Fourth of July.
(Industrial Light + Magic, the Great Phil Austin, and Legendary Doctor Demento also spoke there.)
Sam's Enormous Red Buick is restored, and lookin' good.
So is Toronado, his big Honda CB750K, even after two spectacular crashes.
Sam helped out in the studio on the new Firesign Theatre DVD, work-titled
"You Don't Get It, Do I?" and finally titled "Boom Dot Bust."
Sam can be heard on the CD, and is credited as "Nuts and Berries!"
In the fall, Sam's beloved Aunt Betty passed away, taking her
wonderful mother's-love and beautiful contralto voice with her.
In November, Sam net-reconnected with Christy, about whom
he has had recurring dreams for the past decade or so.
Sometimes it takes twenty-seven years to hook up with the girl of your dreams.
The first movie Sam saw in a theatre was "Fantasia."
(Aunt Betty took him there in 1970).
Sam and Mickey at the Fantasia 2000 premiere.
Sam traded in Max, the amazing 260,000-mile Oldsmobile,
for Silver, his trusty white Caddy.
Sam worked hard, writing with John Halvorson,
and doing preproduction on his western feature "Surreal West."
1998
What an amazing year!Sam went to the Academy Awards again,
his twelfth attendance.
Betsy was on Oscar's Big Screen,
in answer to a prayer.
Some Dreams Come True...
Sam Longoria spent March and April in the
recording studio with his comedy idols, The Firesign Theatre,
who were far from graven.
It was a month-and-a-half of hysterical laughter,
which Sam needed more than he knew,
after half-a-year going without.
Sam helped out with the
newest and funniest Firesign Theatre CD recording,
"Give Me Immortality, Or Give Me Death."
They let Sam play with them on "Immortality."
He's heard on the CD, and credited as "Official Production Mascot!"
Sam's feature western "Surreal West," with Sam's
favorite Hollywood stars, was mentioned on-air by the great
Doctor Demento on his syndicated radio program.
(Sam Longoria has been proudly winding up his radio as a Dementoid since 1971.)
"Immortality" is a Rhino Records release, and is selling well.
How well, only time Will Tell.
You can help, Dear Friend. Go buy one, and listen to it
many times. Then buy ten and give them out as presents.
Then buy a hundred, and...well you get the idea.
It is wholesome (it has a whole in the middle),
and decent (decent into madness).
"Frog And Wombat," which Sam edited last year with Chris Leong,
is playing at film festivals, and has found domestic and foreign distribution.
Sam is Producing and Directing two movies, and Writing four
others. He is Speaking and Touring, and also Touring and Speaking
1997
Sam edited "Frog and Wombat" for Pigtail Productions. (Cutting in the same room, and on thesame big old 35mm KEM editing table, which was there for "The English Patient," which won 9
Oscars, so no pressure Sam.) It was rather intense working around-the-clock for three months
straight, but it was a good little movie with a good tall director, and Sam got to meet his idol, the
brilliant Walter Murch, again. There was jolly fun and all-night ping-pong at the Saul Zaentz Film
Center in Berkeley, with the guys of "Boogie Nights," "The Apostle," and
"Good Will Hunting," just down the hall.
Sam did visual effects for "Dante's Peak."
In "Dante's Peak," Sam helped wash away a bridge, and blow up a
dam, which he so rarely gets to do in private life.
Sam Longoria was in People magazine, USA Today, the LA Times, The LA Daily News, and many
radio and tv shows, for buying a joke at the Academy Awards from Dana Snow..
The joke was performed by Billy Crystal on the Oscar telecast.
Sam is making the joke into a movie. Really.
Sam teaches Producing and Directing, and has Speaking Engagements all over.
As though he had time, Sam had two big motorcycle accidents, on his big Honda CB750K.
Sam is grateful to Dr. Ivan Raimi, ("Spider-man" Director
Sam Raimi's brother), who sewed up his shoulder.
Here's a controversial letter Sam wrote, which proves that even a solid knowledge
of physics doesn't prevent one from becoming a projectile.
1996
Sam Longoria produced and edited four 35mm feature movies,ranging in budget from $20k (made in four weeks, on a bet)
to just under $1M.
Before That
It's all a blur."Ghostbusters," and "2010," and "Captain Eo," and "Search For The Gods?,"
"The Adventures of Mark Twain," "Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase,"
"The Abyss," "Die Hard," "Spaceballs," "This is Folino,"
Blowing Super 8mm and Digital Video up to 35mm and shooting cartoons in IMAX
and building cameras and shooting shots and borrowing money on too many movies to be
described, and a thousand violins explode in my mind!
Other Interests
Sam loves Editing
movies more than anything, including several biological functions.Then he likes to Direct, Produce, Write, and Act in movies, in that order. Sam is a Filmmaker.
He's also an Engineer, Inventor, and Precision Machinist,
which is all pretty much the same thing. Got a technical question?
The rest of the time he's an Improv Comedy Producer, Director, and Player at
Sam created and played with the original Hollywood casts of
"SIMUL TREK" and "The WILD SIDE Radio Show."
Sam arranges English words into random patterns, to amuse himself.
Some of these become books, songs, stories, and screenplays.
This is a web page with a purpose.
The purpose is a sea-going mammal, often mistaken for a dolphin.
Email: sam@longoria.com