Sam Harper
American film director, screenwriter and producer
title: "Sam Harper" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["place-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "year-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "living-people", "film-directors-from-illinois", "film-producers-from-illinois"] description: "American film director, screenwriter and producer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Harper" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American film director, screenwriter and producer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Sam Harper |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | United States |
| death_date | |
| occupation | Screenwriter, film director, producer |
| years_active | 1993–present |
| notableworks | Just Married{{cite news |
| author | Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer |
| title | 'Just Married,' just cute |
| newspaper | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
| quote | The romantic comedy "Just Married" was inspired by screenwriter Sam Harper's less-than-idyllic honeymoon in Italy 15 years ago. ... |
| date | January 10, 2003 |
| url | http://www.post-gazette.com/movies/20030110justmarried9.asp |
| accessdate | July 27, 2011 |
| children | 3 |
| relatives | Jessica Harper |
| William Harper | |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Sam Harper | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = United States | death_date = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Screenwriter, film director, producer | years_active = 1993–present | notableworks = Just Married{{cite news |author= Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette Staff Writer |title= 'Just Married,' just cute |newspaper= Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |quote= The romantic comedy "Just Married" was inspired by screenwriter Sam Harper's less-than-idyllic honeymoon in Italy 15 years ago. ... |date= January 10, 2003 |url= http://www.post-gazette.com/movies/20030110justmarried9.asp |accessdate= July 27, 2011 | spouse = | partner = | children = 3 | parents = | relatives = Jessica Harper William Harper | awards = | signature = | website =
Sam Harper is an American filmmaker.{{cite news |title= Filmography – Sam Harper |url= https://movies.nytimes.com/person/167944/Sam-Harper/filmography |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121104190031/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/167944/Sam-Harper/filmography |url-status= dead |archive-date= November 4, 2012 |department= Movies & TV Dept. |work= The New York Times |publisher= Baseline & All Movie Guide |date= 2012 |accessdate= July 27, 2011
Career
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Blue_lagoon1.JPG" caption="Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Harper performed here as a youth."] ::
Harper was born into an artistic family with a father who was a painter and a mother who was a writer. After college, he worked as a reporter and associate editor for the advertising industry trade publication Advertising Age in New York City before coming to California to work as a story analyst. Harper's primary role has been a screenwriter but he has been a director and producer as well. Many of Harper's films have received mixed to neutral reviews from film critics{{cite news |author= BETSY SHARKEY – FILM CRITIC |title= Highflying family fun |newspaper= Los Angeles Times |quote= The story...series of screenwriters including Don Rhymer, Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, and Sam Harper. ... |year= 2011 |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-apr-15-la-et-rio-20110415-story.html |access-date= July 27, 2011 |title = The art of writing and making films: CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN 2 |publisher = The Writing Studio |quote = SAM HARPER (Writer) co-wrote the screenplay for the 2003 "Cheaper by the Dozen" and wrote the box-office hit "Just Married"; ... writing the comedy "Rookie of the Year." A box-office hit, the film struck a cord with baseball fans everywhere, grossing $53 million domestically. Harper was previously a story analyst for a major studio and before that an associate editor for Advertising Age magazine in New York. |year = 2003 |url = http://www.writingstudio.co.za/page1043.html |access-date = July 27, 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110930023009/http://www.writingstudio.co.za/page1043.html |archive-date = September 30, 2011 |df = mdy-all |author= A. O. SCOTT |title= Just Married (2003) – FILM REVIEW; For Better and for Worse, Worse, Worse, as the European Honeymoon Gets Hairy |newspaper= The New York Times |quote= The director, Shawn Levy, and the screenwriter, Sam Harper, hardly overtax themselves, contriving to make these young lovers bump into as many walls and doors as possible to wring laughs from a feeble premise. ... |date= January 10, 2003 |url= https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9D05E1D6113EF933A25752C0A9659C8B63 |accessdate= July 27, 2011 |author = Mark Deming, Rovi All Movie Guide |title = Just Married (overview & review) |newspaper = Miami Herald |quote = Just Married was written by Sam Harper, who claims to have loosely based the script on his own experiences on an ill-starred European honeymoon with his wife; fortunately, the couple's marriage survived the experience. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi All Movie Guide |year = 2007 |url = http://findnsave.miamiherald.com/Product/8592514/Just-Married-Director-Shawn-Levy-Cast-Ashton-Kutcher-Brittany-Murphy-Christian-Kane-David-Moscow |access-date = July 27, 2011 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20130129030005/http://findnsave.miamiherald.com/Product/8592514/Just-Married-Director-Shawn-Levy-Cast-Ashton-Kutcher-Brittany-Murphy-Christian-Kane-David-Moscow |archive-date = January 29, 2013 |df = mdy-all |author= Mitchell Fink |title= The Insider |magazine= People Magazine |quote= vol. 38, no. 4, ... yet untitled baseball story about an 11-year-old boy who ends up pitching for the Chicago Cubs. ... (Screenwriter Sam Harper dubbed the character after his own son Henry, 4.) |date= July 27, 1992 |url= http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20113169,00.html |accessdate= July 27, 2011
Harper is the son of painter and advertising agency chairman of Needham Harper Worldwide Paul Harper Jr., and has five siblings including actress Jessica Harper, composer William Harper, illustrator Lindsay Harper duPont, Rev. Charles Harper and Diana Harper. He is the father of three boys.
Film projects
::data[format=table title="'''Sam Harper Filmography'''"]
| Year | Film | Medium | Role(s) | Budget | Earnings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Rookie of the Year | Film | Screenwriter | $53,579,269 | {{cite news | |
| 2003 | Cheaper by the Dozen | Film | Screenwriter | $40,000,000 | $190,212,113 | With Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow |
| 2003 | Just Married | Film | Screenwriter | $18,000,000 | $101,564,935 | |
| 2005 | Cheaper by the Dozen 2 | Film | Screenwriter | $82,569,532 | {{cite news | |
| 2006 | Open Season | Film | Screenwriter | Uncredited | ||
| 2007 | The Last Day of Summer | TV movie | Executive producer | |||
| 2009 | House Broken | Film | Screenwriter, director | Earlier title No place like home{{cite magazine | ||
| 2011 | Rio | Film | Screenwriter | $90,000,000 | $141,932,576 | With Don Rhymer, Joshua Sternin and Jennifer Ventimilia{{cite magazine |
| Overparenting | Screenwriter | (in development) | ||||
| The Jetsons | Screenwriter | (in development) | ||||
| In Harm's Way | Screenwriter | (in development) | ||||
| :: |
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::