Meet Sam Buchanan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Buchanan.

Sam, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a native Angeleno and artist. I am an actor and in recent years have been producing my own work to share via Instagram (sambuchanan_). I felt there was a gap in the content I was seeing on TV and film. A piece missing from childhood, a kindness and vulnerability that connects us and makes us feel safe.

Once I allowed myself to tune into that feeling, the work flowed naturally and I was able to create things that moved people in ways they sometimes could not articulate. I created a series called TEXTYS which follows a space traveling gameshow host from the 1970’s and another series called Dreamys Coming Truey for Youey.com, a playful riff on self-help gurus. The common thread between TEXTYS and Dreamys is the creation of a world which one can exist in for a brief time, that is free of judgment and inhibition. A safe space to have a brain break in your day to laugh, wonder and hopefully feel something. Through Instagram, I have been fortunate enough to meet people from around the world who have been curious about this sort of content.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I find the collaborative process to be so tremendously rewarding and I feel so lucky to have met the people I have. I was fortunate enough to have an incredible team behind me for TEXTYS including: April Lamb (producer), Pete March (editor) and Maggie Kaiser (wardrobe). The spark of TEXTYS was really created by the faith and trust the four of us had in each other. I somehow landed in the middle of this talented team and I can only hope the joy we had in creating this series is reflected in the work. We are currently trying to pitch the series as short form content and trying to find the best home we can. It is not a traditional narrative and is quite offbeat to say the least, which has created some struggle but we are pressing on!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I am the product of two extremely hardworking and ambitious people who I would be nothing without. My mother is Armenian and fled her home in Iran in the 1960’s while my father grew up in poverty in the mountains of West Virginia. An unlikely pair to say the least! They met as teenagers here in Los Angeles, both working at the Pantages theater when it was still playing films. My father was the manager at 16 and my mother sold concessions. A true Hollywood romance. I am lucky to have inherited my mother’s grit and my father’s sense of humor.

Contact info: 

• Email: DreamysComingTrueyforYouey.com

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