Starting over can be frightening, especially after dedicating years to an established career.
But for Samantha Levenshus, it was necessary.
“I haven’t looked back,” Levenshus says. The 32-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, attended the California Institute of the Arts for her undergraduate studies, where she majored in theatre with the hopes of becoming an actress one day.
“I had a great manager and agent team,” Levenshus recalls. “I was getting auditions and I found myself in a job at a publishing company for plays and musicals. Through that job came a career that I hadn’t planned on.”
Levenshus, then an eager, determined woman in her mid-20s, found herself thrust into the opportunity of a lifetime: producing a show in New York City.
“I love producing,” Levenshus says. “And I had found myself not enjoying going on auditions. I was also writing as a hobby. So, I took a moment and sat down and thought, ‘What do I actually want to do with my life?’”
After some self-reflection, Levenshus tossed her original plan to become an actress.
“I decided to merge the two worlds I really enjoyed, which led me to TV writing,” Levenshus says. Wanting to immerse herself in the world of writing, she enrolled in UCLA’s writing program and wrote three pilot scripts. At the time, Levenshus was working as a managing director at a publishing company. She stepped down from her role to a more part-time position, and even took on two unpaid internships.
“It was a moment of having to go, ‘I’m interning with people who are a decade younger than me,’” Levenshus recalls. “It was a hard pill to swallow. But the longer I’ve been in this, the more people I meet who have the exact same story.”
And eventually, all of the hard-work and internships led Levenshus to an assistant job on a lit desk at Elevate Entertainment.
“I got to read a lot of scripts on that desk, as well as learn the ins and outs of how the industry works,” Levenshus says. During that time, she also attended every networking event possible, hoping to meet people and form relationships that would help her land a gig in a writers’ room.
Her assertiveness paid off: in 2017, she landed the writing PA role on the Syfy show Nightflyers.
“It was an amazing experience,” Levenshus says. “We had a wonderful room.” Besides her normal writer PA duties, Levenshus says she also got to pitch story ideas. The experience helped her learn how to speak up and find her voice in a writers’ room. Eventually, she was given the opportunity to help write a virtual reality companion episode, something that would help prepare her for the continued journey.
And a busy, varied journey it’s been. Levenshus has been taking general meetings, creating a comic book—produced in part by musician and DJ Steve Aoki—and booking an open writing assignment (the details of which are protected under an NDA). She even has a pilot set up with New Mandate, for which Levenshus recently submitted a rewrite.
“It’s based on when I was acting. Specifically, my first acting job out of college,” she says. “That job was about a faith-based Christian tour for teenage girls—and I’m Jewish, so it was a very bizarre experience. I learned about Christian counter culture and identity, while trying to find who you are in a different environment.”
Ultimately, this driven, go-getter hopes to end up in the writers’ room of a sci-fi show, like her all-time favorite, Battlestar Galactica.
“The hope is to get paid to do this thing that I love,” Levenshus admits. “I love it, and so few people get the opportunity to live this dream—and I really hope I’m one of them.”