Hot Shots 2022: Samuel R Palmer

In his development role at Twofour, Samuel Palmer has embodied the company’s culture of empowering talent. Aiming to capture commissioners’ attention by making original ideas an “experience for the buyer”, Palmer brings creativity to the whole development process, from initial concept to generating treatments, series breakdowns, poster and icons. In short, his work leads to ideas becoming distinctive commercial brands.

Palmer leads on development for Twofour’s factual entertainment and reality series, which encompasses some of the label’s key brands, including ITV2 reality show Loaded In Paradise, the UK’s first gay dating show, I Kissed A Boy, and Apple TV+ travelogue The Reluctant Traveller with Eugene Levy.

Palmer successfully brought these projects through to commission, a process that can take two years. His methodical process involves listening to the buyers’ requirements and working closely with Twofour’s exec producers and creative chiefs to devise tangible shows.

This is exemplified in I Kissed A Boy, which, due to Palmer’s careful work, stayed as close to the original idea as possible. He stayed with the format through pre-production development, helping steer the evolution of the series, format and brand, as well as talent casting. He continued onto the shoot itself, forward planning and writing scripts for host Dannii Minogue.

Prior to Twofour, Palmer worked at Studio Lambert for four years, racking up high-profile credits such as Race Across The World (BBC2), The Circle (C4) and The Circle France (Netflix).

“Sam has proved himself to be one of the best development brains in the business,” says Twofour chief creative officer David Brindley. “Ever calm and smart, if he’s given a brief, he won’t let go of it until it’s been given its very best chance of being commissioned.”