Keith Samples

Keith Samples
Born1955 or 1956 (age 68–69)[1]
OccupationFilmmaker
Years active1975–present
EmployerRysher Entertainment (1991-1999)
Style

Keith Samples (born 1955 or 1956[1]) is an American filmmaker and former syndication executive.[2][3][4]

He graduated in 1977 at the Texas Tech University and pursued a sports career.[2]

He was founder of the film and television production company Rysher Entertainment. He was originally senior vice president of Lorimar-Telepictures, before landing a job at Warner Bros. Television and Walt Disney Television to help them develop projects for syndication.[1]

During his time at Rysher Entertainment, he grew the company developing their own movie projects.[5] On May 27, 1997, he resigned from Rysher Entertainment and pursue his own projects.[6] He went on to be a movie maker/television director/producer after leaving Rysher, starting his own production company to develop motion pictures and television shows.[7]

For a short period of time, in 2008, he worked at Media Rights Capital's television division.[8] He infamously developed The CW's own Sunday night programming block under a time-lease agreement, but it flopped after a few viewings and poor ratings.[9][10] He was fired after only a few months working at MRC.[11]

  1. ^ a b c Eller, Claudia (September 24, 1996). "It's Not Always Smooth Sailing". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "BIO & RESUME". Keith Samples. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Brennan, Sandra. "Keith Samples – Full Biography". The New York Times. AllMovie. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2008.
  4. ^ Finke, Nikki (October 22, 2008). "Who's To Blame For MRC's CW Debacle?". Deadline.
  5. ^ "Rysher Sets To Make Splash Into Pic Pool". Variety. March 6, 1995. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  6. ^ Busch, Anita M. (May 27, 1997). "Samples ankles Rysher post". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  7. ^ Hindes, Andrew (June 10, 1997). "Par, MTV give Payne window for 'Election'". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  8. ^ Schneider, Michael (October 23, 2008). "MRC TV president resigns". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  9. ^ Schneider, Michael (May 9, 2008). "CW outsources Sunday to MRC". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  10. ^ Schneider, Michael (November 20, 2008). "CW ends time-buy deal with MRC". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  11. ^ Finke, Nikki (October 23, 2008). "Knives Out For Fired MRC Prez Samples". Deadline. Retrieved December 15, 2021.