Spartan Profiles: Laura & Rob Sams
SISBRO PRODUCTIONS
They are siblings, they both studied zoology at MSU, and now they have an Okemos-based company, Sisbro Studios LLC, that produces nature films for children. Their most recent film, Lost in the Woods, won a Panda Award at the Wildscreen Festival in Bristol, England—the Oscar equivalent of the wildlife and environmental film industry. “We’re super excited,” says Laura Sams, ’00, M.S. ’03. “The award has been called the Green Oscar.”
Adds brother Rob Sams, ’03, “We were chosen by children, our audience. That’s special.” They beat out such competitors as National Geographic, Discovery and the BBC.
The children of an Air Force general, Ronald Sams, ’72, who returns to MSU every to play in the alumni marching band, Laura and Rob grew up liking each other. “We’re an oddity in that we never fought much,” recalls Rob. Adds Laura, “Our ideas tend to match and we sort of feed off of each other.” They write their own music and do their own filming, and they also do presentations to elementary schools throughout Michigan.
Although they lived all over the map, each chose to attend MSU, where they met great mentors. Laura cites Kay Holekamp, with whom she went to Africa to study hyenas. Rob cites zoologist Dick Hill, who “was really supportive and went out of his way to help me.”
The duo’s next project is an underwater movie, supported by a grant from the Save Our Seas Foundation. They spent months filming baby sea turtles in Florida, and are headed to Hawaii in January to film tidepool critters and other life on coral reefs.
Says Laura, “We’re lucky to be able to blend all our interests like this.” Adds Rob, “We love the same sense of humor that you see with Jim Henson’s muppets. Kermit was my lifetime hero. When I met him at the Homecoming Parade, oh my goodness, that was a dream come true.”