Sam R. Balcomb

Who is Sam R. Balcomb?

Sam R. Balcomb writes, directs, and produces feature films, shorts, music videos and commercials. Growing up in Los Angeles, and spending much of his time on studio backlots, he became enamored early on with the magic of filmmaking.

He is best known for directing the The Legend of Zelda April Fools trailer, released by IGN Entertainment. The trailer premiered on IGN.com on April 1, 2008 to huge reaction from the internet. It became the 18th most Googled term in the world that day, was written about in Variety magazine, and made the list of Wikipedia's well-known pranks. On April 2, after it was viewed over 2 million times, it was revealed by IGN that the trailer was a hoax.

A lifelong artist, Sam developed early-on a talent for illustration, which has proven invaluable for the ability to storyboard his own projects. He was heavily influenced by the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, and in 2000, wrote a feature film called Ancanar inspired by his works.

Sam has recently shot music videos for Missy Higgins and Lisbeth Scott through his film production company, Rainfall Films.