Samuel Marlow is a writer-director who owns and runs the Lantern Film & Media Festival with his long-term colleague and friend Anthony Jarman. He initially trained as a production designer before realising that the sort of projects he wanted to design came along once in a blue moon.

After deciding to make the move to producing his own ideas, Sam enrolled at West Kent College on their video production course. After graduating he was invited back to teach it.

Sam claims to have over 100 treatments for various projects, and is currently developing a web series based on a true story, as well as several shorts and a feature. He declines to give a favourite film, insisting it “depends on the sort of mood” he is in. He does, however, consider himself a writer first and a director second, calling story-telling “the oldest profession in the world... yes, even older than that one!”

Long-term, Sam’s ambitions are to see a thriving and independent British film industry, and he sees his work with the Lantern Festival as part of that, as well as running a successful production company.

Sam and Scott have been friends for several years. They quickly found that they had writing ambition in common, and it was only a matter of time until they were swapping scripts for the other’s feedback.

The first time they worked together was on Scott’s short A Party Sketch (or Why I Hate You), which Sam edited. After some time both had become frustrated at the lack of work they seemed to be completing. They hit up the solution that Sam would direct a series of Scott’s sketches that would then be screened at the Lantern Film & Media Festival.

This was Sam’s first time working with Larry and Alex, who have remained friends since. The experience has since spawned an idea for a web series that Scott and Sam would develop together, based on a shared love of absurdist theatre.

Sam has said he hopes to work with Scott again on future projects, and has already cast him in his latest project.