I met Will Sampson while working as a receptionist at his business manager’s office. He strode in tall and confident, dressed in wrangler jeans, slightly worn Justin boots and a well-worn cowboy hat with a shoulder length ponytail hanging down his back. He was wearing a gold and silver belt buckle from his winning bull riding days, and S-o-n-n-y was spelled out in silver letters on the back of his belt. He stood 6’5” and weighed about 250. He was a friendly, charming Indian cowboy with an almost bashful smile.
I went to work for Will, as his personal assistant and secretary, and during the next 5 years I traveled with him by plane and pickup truck to movie locations and American Indian events all over the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe. I met many interesting and important people, and I attended and participated in many American Indian events, pow wows and ceremonies.
When we traveled by pickup, we always stopped along the way. Sometimes we might be visiting old friends from his art life or friends from his rodeo days, and often we stopped at art museums.
I met many people who purchased his paintings, drawings and sketches over the years and they were eager to show me.
I asked Will permission to create an art book of his paintings; he said, “You bet, if that’s what you want to do, go ahead.” He helped me with a list of the people who were willing to let me photograph their paintings and off I traveled to Oklahoma and Washington state with my Hassleblad camera, lighting equipment and plenty of excitement for my new mission. After the photographs were taken, we sought an agent, who suggested the book needed words to go with the pictures and at the time I didn’t consider myself a writer and the book stalled.
Realizing that I didn’t have the time or money to move any further on Will Sampson’s book of paintings, I gave the box of transparencies and negatives along with all the notes on the project to Native Images, a non profit Native American organization thinking that they could do something with the box of films.
In 1982, the opportunity to create The American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts, under Will’s supervision as Chairman of the Board became my next important endeavor. I worked as the Executive Director. The Registry was the non-profit organization that created a book of Native American actors and technicians, from all over the continent, to help producers find the Native talent that the producers and casting agents said they couldn’t find, and to assist American Indian performers and technicians to get work. The Registry also pushed for cultural accuracy in scripts in the last decades of the 20th century and published two booklets in two years.
In 1985, an opportunity to work in network television was offered to me, and believing it was a career move, I accepted. In the next four years I worked for Witt/Thomas/Harris Productions as secretary to the Executive in Charge of Production, Harry Waterson (also a Registry board member.) Witt/Thomas/Harris produced such shows as Benson, Golden Girls, It’s a Living and an hour drama Beauty and the Beast. My duties were primarily in union talent and crew payroll, contracts, schedules and script changes.
I received a call from my friend and Native American filmmaker, Phil Lucas in 1989. He had some projects and needed my assistance. Would I please come?
Being on hiatus from Beauty and the Beast, I decided to make the trip to Seattle for a little while. A little while turned out to be a long while when I realized that working on real life Native American documentaries was more fulfilling than the world of network TV sit-coms, so I moved to Issaquah, Washington. Over the years, I worked in the capacity of several positions, ranging from assistant editor, production assistant, location manager, production manager and associate producer.B
In August 2004, the American Indian Film Institute started raising funds for a documentary about Will Sampson’s life. Everyone who ever knew Will Sampson was gathering up his or her information for this documentary. Phil Lucas, from Native Images, called to return the box of Will’s pictures. He had been storing it for over 25 years and thought perhaps it was time for me to get back to the Will Sampson art book project. I could now create enough time to finish this book, I put all outside projects on hold. The book of Will Sampson’s art and life is no longer waiting.
Film Resume
From 1989 – 2006, Zoe worked in the capacity of several positions, ranging from assistant editor, production assistant, location manager, production manager and associate producer on 19 Native American documentaries for Phil Lucas Productions.
Some documentaries include:
Haozous: Allan Houser: The Lifetime Works of an American Master — A documentary on the life and work of famed Apache artist Allan Houser.
"Rockin' Warriors" — A documentary on American Indian Rock and Roll artists for PBS.
"One House" — An advocacy video, narrated by Robert Redford, created to raise money to build straw bale houses for Indian elders on Reservations.
"Restoring the Sacred Circle" — A 30-minute video on the prevention of elder abuse in Indian country.
"Eiteljorg Museum" — An introductory video on new the American Indian installation and video vignettes on the six featured artists.
"Native Americans in the 21st
Century" — A series of two 90 minute documentaries for PBS.
