Samantha K. Tan is a Los Angeles-based Vietnamese-Chinese-American writer, producer and photographer.
Born in Massachusetts and raised in Pennsylvania, Samantha graduated at Temple University with a Bachelors of Arts in Film and Media Arts and a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovative Management. She discovered her passion for producing during her sophomore year at Temple University and within six months, she produced a variety of different projects including music videos, documentaries, shorts, and three web series. Samantha’s professional work consists of music videos for Fearless Records, howsaboutNOW Records, an immigrant rights documentary called Expanding Sanctuary that was featured on 6abc news, and also worked as a Line Producer's Assistant on Max’s The Flight Attendant Season 2 and The Sex Lives of College Girls Season 2.
As an Asian-American filmmaker, Samantha is devoted to writing and producing narratives that showcase the beauty and complexity of BIPOC histories and voices, specifically the AAPI community, all while challenging society norms and empowering female and LGBTQ perspectives.
In December 2021, Samantha’s dramedy TV series, Ambitious, partnered with 3 Left Handed Women and El Ride Productions to rewrite and reshoot the series. Featured on Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, IndieWire, and Variety, Ambitious was also accepted into the 2022 Sundance and The Asian American Foundation Fellowship & Scholarship program. Ambitious is now in production for their reboot and is actively fundraising to complete the six-episode 30 minute series.
More exciting projects she wrote and produced include Megan Lee’s En Pointe which premiered at the Academy Awards and BAFTA Qualifying LA Shorts International Film Festival in July 2023. This short was executive produced by Tommy Lynch (Nickelodeon, Make It Pop) and Arden Cho (Netflix, Partner Track).
Samantha also produced AJ Starzak’s My Monster and I, which won Best Sci-Fi Short at the 2023 Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and at the San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival.
She also co-produced an animated short called Tree’s Blood, starring Ayo Edebiri and Rose Byrne, that partnered with Nickelodeon, Paramount and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The short film premiered at the Nickelodeon lot in December 2023.
As an aspiring Showrunner, Samantha aims to not only create representative and authentic tales but to also craft stories where BIPOC individuals are simply just people. They are not necessarily defined by the way they look, the way they talk or where they came from, but they’re living life to the fullest, embracing the lovely and messy parts of themselves and are naturally serving the themes and stories I want to tell.
Samantha has written drama-comedies and a mockumentary pilot. She is currently exploring other TV genres such as action, horror and adventure.
Contact -
samanthaktan@gmail.com