We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Wolf recently and have shared our conversation below.
Samantha, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
My production company is called Wildwood Lane Productions. It’s named after the street my late aunt lived on. My aunt Karen was a cartographer, photographer, documentarian, painter, musician and spiritual healer. She traveled often, returning with incredible stories and art pieces from places like Croatia, Zimbabwe, and Morroco. Even after her death, she continues to be a large creative inspiration for me. She approached every aspect of life with an openness and genuine curiosity that was absolutely magnetic. She cherished her life on Wildwood Lane, in a cabin-style house right next to a creek, filled with art and, often, guests.
Every time I see the name of our company, I think of her and the creativity she brought to me and my family every day. One of her daughters sends out a custom-designed calendar every Christmas featuring photos Karen took. I love being surrounded by reminders of her warmth and talent.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an independent content producer in Los Angeles, so I work in production for a variety of media projects! I like working in production because you get to see the vision come together in real time, from script development to filming to editing and sending to festivals. Set life is hard, with 12+-hour days, but the friendships you make and the satisfaction of the end product are unparalleled. I love being a producer because I get to work directly with all departments and facilitate collaboration between incredibly talented people. It really takes a village to make a movie. To me, it’s like assembling a superhero squad: you have a lofty mission, and you have to find the best people to get the job done with the resources available. After graduating college, I co-founded the company Wildwood Lane Productions with my husband to house all of the projects we work on with our friends. We have three award-winning short films and one feature film, with several other projects in development to be released later this year.
I grew up in a suburb near Portland, Oregon, and moved to Los Angeles to study Communication and film at UCLA. As soon as I got here, I fell in love with the city. I loved its diversity, its liveliness, and the ambitious community of people. It feels like everyone here is an artist in some way! I always wanted to work in film and have been making short films practically since elementary school. When I moved to LA, I realized that not only was I surrounded by people who loved movies as much as I did, but that this was something I could really make a career out of. I love working in this industry and am constantly searching for ways to make it more efficient, inclusive, innovative and meaningful.
On the day-to-day, I work as a production coordinator at a performance-driven digital marketing agency, as well as a freelance producer/production manager/creative director on short films, music videos, social media content, commercials and more. While my first love will always be film, I truly enjoy using my Communications degree in the advertising space to make really innovative content that captures audiences for a wide host of clients. In my production company, I aim to tell really unique stories from up-and-coming filmmakers. My worst fear is having a studio shoot down an idea because it’s not “marketable,” so my goal is to uplift filmmakers from diverse and under-represented backgrounds and let them tell stories exactly how they want to. That’s what I love most about the independent film world in general.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Julia Cameron, the author of the creative guide The Artist’s Way, has this great quote: “we deprive no one with our abundance.” She means that there is an abundance of success, of money, of creativity, and of love in the world and taking our fill deprives no one else of it. Not everything has to be a competition.
Women in particular are often pitted against each other, as if there can only be ONE successful woman in a given situation. I love Cameron’s reframing because for a really long time, I felt that if others had success, it meant there was no room for me. Or conversely, if I had success, I would be taking it from others who are more deserving. But you don’t have to step on people in order to get ahead. I lean on my peers, my family, and my friends in order to build a mutual support system. We all want to see each others’ successes. We all want to share in each others’ abundance. And that’s the most beautiful way to live, and the most effortless way to get ahead – to lead with love and gratitude.
My friends and I have a saying about “riding the rocketship” to the top, where we find success and glory in our chosen creative path. We talk a lot about how we are all so grateful to be aboard each others’ rocketships. I have a little pin of a rocketship that I found in a thrift store that I like to wear when I’m on set that reminds me to keep moving forward and to work to bring as many people as possible along with me. I think it’s important to set a positive example in this industry and admire everyone’s value as much as your own. I encourage you to think – who’s on your rocketship? Who is going to take it with you all the way to the top, and who is going to weigh you down?
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I love being a producer because I get to interact with every person in every department. It’s a big management role and requires a lot of delegation, mediation and communication. I really like to position myself as a cheerleader: I have a routine to follow and a practice to maintain, but at the end of the day, I’m really here to encourage people to be their best.
Home by Sunday, the feature film that Wildwood Lane produced last year, was a doozy. We were shut down for COVID twice, one of our actors broke his leg during the shoot, we filmed in 100-degree valley weather with no air conditioning, and our assistant director left halfway through for another job. For most people, this would be an absolute nightmare. And don’t get me wrong, it was incredibly tough and all of us had our resolve tested. But at the end of the day, it was an exceptionally fun set experience, and all of us who worked on that film are still friends. Do you know why? Because we’re all good people. We laughed off the mistakes. We forgave each other when needed. We never cast blame for things outside of our control. And in the end, we had the best time shooting the film and an even better time enjoying the final product, knowing what it took to get there. To me, the biggest leadership advice I have is to remember how easy it is to be nice. Especially on the production team, I think a lot of people feel that they have to be intimidating, or the smartest in the room, or condescending in order to gain respect and power. But I feel that the opposite is even more true, that honest communication and collaboration when disputes arise, or when trying to maintain morale on day 10 of a 21-day shoot, is vital. We’re here to make movies, not save the world. Why not have a little fun?!
For every success story, there are 3 stories of “hell shoots” where egos, impatience and inflexibility clash to wreak havoc on the creative process. Film production is a high-stress environment that involves an incredible amount of interdependence, on long days, with sleep deprivation, and every mistake costing money or time (or both). Sometimes you see the worst of people. So it means a lot when you’re in that kind of situation and people remain kind and understanding despite the odds.
Contact Info:
- Website: sampeggywolf.com
- Instagram: @sampeggywolf
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/sampeggywolf
- Other: wildwoodlaneproductions.com @wildwoodlaneproductions on Instagram