We were lucky to catch up with Sam Platizky recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sam thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

There have been so many meaningful projects at this point, but the first, Blaming George Romero, will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first time I had ever attempted anything close to this before. I had only ever acted and written before… But self-producing a feature length film? In hindsight, it was insane to even try, but I am so glad we did. We learned so much from the experience, and forged so many great relationships. Without it, there would be no Narrow Bridge Films.

And I would be remiss not to mention how meaningful our most recent project is to me. Along with the Brazen Giant Ensemble of NYC, Narrow Bridge Films is producing it’s first ever play – a hysterical comedy written by my brother Isaac called “That’s Showbiz, Baby!” I got my start on the stage, so to bring everything full circle with such an amazing play, is so incredible.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started acting in a JCC production of Oliver when I was in the 7th grade. I loved it immediately and continued acting wherever and whenever I could through my time at Bayonne High School, then at Rutgers University with the Livingston Theatre Company, and then on the stage at New Jersey City University where I got my BA in English with a Concentration in Theater. I loved it so much that I decided I was going to make a go at it. After College, I really made the attempt to “be a professional, working actor.” I got cast in some plays (Off-Off-Broadway) and did some indie work, some student films, and some extra work… but the auditions that I was getting weren’t what I wanted. They weren’t as fulfilling as I wanted them to be. At the same time, I had been experimenting with screenwriting for a little while, so in the summer of 2009, I decided that I would try to write a part for me that I felt would be that fulfilling role that I wasn’t getting auditions for… and produce the movie myself.

First, because I was an actor, I knew mainly actors so I reached out to a few almost a year before I planned to produce the movie to see if they were interested. They were, which was great, but I had no idea how to actually film a movie on my own, so I started asking around. I spent the rest of that year meeting friends and friends of friends who had other behind the scenes areas of expertise and gathered them together. Crowdfunding was starting to become a major way of financing indie films, and I had a friend who had just done that who gave me tips, so we launched a crowdfunding campaign so that the entire financial load didn’t fall on me.

And then, on June 14, 2010, we had our first ever day of filming on my screenplay Blaming George Romero. That entire shoot was a major learning experience, and we took everything we learned and tried to improve on that with our next feature… And since then, we have 5 features, 15 short films, 2 webseries, and 2 sizzle reels under our belts.

At Narrow Bridge, we make the highest quality independent films that we can… from comedy, to horror, to rom-coms, and all genres in between. We put story and character first, and can make the most of even the smallest budget.

We are one of the only independent film production companies that is crazy enough to tackle as many features length films as we have. The “film family” that started with our first movie has changed and evolved over the years, but the core group (my brother Isaac Platizky, Actor/Writer Dan Gregory, and Director/Sound Guy/Lighting Guy/Editor Joey Mosca) remains the same. Our passion for film and filmmaking has kept us going, and in such a difficult industry, I am proud that we haven’t given up.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal is to entertain. It can be such a bleak world at times, that we want to be able to take people away from all of that for a little while… To make them laugh and forget their troubles for even a few minutes is so important. There needs to be more sources of light in the world, and we would like to be one of them. The thing we are always trying to accomplish is to also make that goal our primary source of income. It hasn’t happened yet, but we keep trying, and with each project we get a little better.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I’ll give you the origin stories of the core members of Narrow Bridge Films that I mentioned earlier. Well, my writing and producing partner at this point in time is my older brother, Isaac Platizky. I believe we met shortly after I was born. He got his start in acting before me, and I followed him into that. Then, I started writing and he followed me into that. And now, we are working together to bring our dreams to life.

I met Dan Gregory at Bayonne High School. We had a few mutual friends, but we only really bonded when we were playing volleyball, which we took way too seriously at the time. A few years after High School, I heard he got into acting, and we reconnected. After working with him on an indie that never got finished, I was so impressed with his improv skills, that I asked him to be in my first movie. Since then, we have worked together as actors, writers, and producers.

Joey Mosca was a recommendation from a friend of a friend. He was only supposed to be on set for a few days of our first movie, but wound up being there every day of the shoot, and on every project since in so many roles. We met that first day of production at my house where we were filming, and to this day we joke about how each of us thought the other was going to be a murderer. And we are both still alive!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.SamPlatizky.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SPlatizky
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/splatizky/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-platizky-16839638/
• Twitter: https://x.com/SPlatizky
• Other: https://www.NarrowBridgeFilms.com