Sam Ciurdar has joined the directorial roster of Seed, continuing a tradition not only for the company but its owner/EP Roy Skillicorn who over the years is known for marketing and helping photographers successfully settle into the director’s chair. As a photographers’ representative in the 1980s, Skillicorn took two photographers to prominence in the directing world by securing Graham Henman’s and Michael Karbelnikoff’s first live-action jobs and representing them for over a decade (at HKM). While still representing production entities but seeking his own production company, Skillicorn founded Backyard Productions with another renowned photographer, Tony D’Orio. After selling Backyard in 2011, Skillicorn founded Seed Media Arts where again, several photographers are part of the roster. He has since been hired back at Backyard as managing director and now markets both companies.
Skillicorn assessed that Ciurdar (pronounced See-You-Dar) “has an artist’s eye for beautiful imagery that blends perfectly with his vision as a director and his interest in compelling storytelling. A true visual thinker and focused artist, he is the right fit for us. His films capture emotion within the reality of a moment whether on location or in the studio. Sam’s work has an interesting consistency as he often scales his visuals, staging small subjects in grand locations. While focusing on a cinematic style, his intuitive choice of lens, his camera placement and movements, he manages to capture images with strong impacts.”
Ciurdar is the immigrant son of parents who fled communist Romania. He related, “My parents’ huge work ethic allowed them to build a good life from almost nothing. I echo their principles and it inspires me to work hard toward achieving my own goals and dreams. Roy hearkens from the same value system and has achieved his own goals and dreams. This mutual code of values, if you will, is also shared by his son, (rep) Nathan Skillicorn, who helped us all bond strongly and quickly.”
As a young man Ciurdar was sponsored by Samsung to further develop his style as a photographer and filmmaker. These years gave him the structured education necessary to cross into bigger content and commercials. His work today has drawn an audience on Instagram with over 145,000 followers. Well traveled, Ciurdar captures an emotion within his client’s message and its surroundings. His photographer’s eye identifies nuances necessary for evoking these emotions. His clients include Google, Amazon, Starbucks, Infiniti, Mazda, Sony, and Bose.
Headquartered in Chicago with an office in L.A., Seed’s directorial lineup includes Ciurdar, Hans Emanuel, Erin Sax, Anthony Pietromonaco, Rick Wayne, Corey Rich, Gabriel Borgetto, Jeffrey DeChausse, and Mat Fuller.
