Synopsis
Sam’s Hail Mary follows 10-year-old Sam, who attends the All-Black private school, Disciple Christian Academy. Set in the early 2000’s when the most worshipped female icons were in the likes of Beyonce or Christina Aguilera, Sam struggles to find validation in her own beauty. It doesn’t help that Sam gets cast as “The Donkey” in her school’s winter play of The Nativity Story, whereas her light-skinned friend, Deja, gets cast in the most coveted role: “Mary,” Mother of Jesus, Himself.
When Sam gets in trouble in class, her friends refuse to be around her for fear of God (and Deja’s) disapproval. Her increasingly negative self-image is further reinforced when the illustrations in the Children’s Picture Bible consist of only white people. Ultimately, Sam is willing to go to extremes to become her idea of “being made in God’s Image,” but it doesn’t necessarily work to her advantage….Or does it?
Key Personnel
Director, Writer, & Executive Producer: Daryl Bright Clay (She/Her/That Gurlll) is a multidisciplinary artist: a producer, writer, and performer. Yes, she actually does wear multiple hats (or hairstyles) depending on the vibes. Hailing from the DC Metropolitan Area has helped contribute to her love of cultural storytelling mixed with a dash of wit and a lot of heart.
Daryl’s life has been shaped by the stories of those who came before her. Even her name, Daryl, carries a story. It belonged to a young uncle who passed away just months before she was born. Daryl grew up hearing anecdotes of him—stories filled with love, laughter, and promise. It was these stories she returned to, ones that instilled love and pride in her name and, by extension, herself. Through the legend wrapped in her name, Daryl discovered at an early age the power a story can carry—and it’s that same power that she channels into every story she tells.
As a founding member of CNT Productions, she has helped write, produce, & star in CNT Production’s sketch comedy series NOT YOUR TYPE , their live interactive show, THE SEX SCENE, & their choreopoem series OPEN, which has been featured in AFROPUNK, DEADLINE, & Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine. With CNT partner, Ariel Zucker, she co-wrote a pilot called, GYNO, which was accepted to Gotham’s 2022 TV Film Lab & Project Market. Her contributions have been recognized by HBO, the American Black Film Festival, AT&T’s Awards for New Forms of Storytelling, & Sundance’s Horizon Awards.
Daryl was the production associate on APPLE TV+’s The Supermodels. She was also the showrunner’s assistant to Pulitzer Prize winner, Branden Jacobs Jenkins, who adapted Octavia Butler’s Kindred for FX/HULU. Upcoming projects include the 2025 Sundance official selection, GOODNIGHT, starring Dagmara Dominczyk (HBO’s Succession), Bentonville Film Festival selection, GET LOST directed by Victoria Pedretti (Netflix’s You), and MOONLUCK WONTON, created by Siddiq Saunderson (HULU’S Wu-Tang: An American Saga).
Much of Daryl’s work is rooted in encouraging self-love, reckoning with self-hate, and the messy truths in between — sparking connection and reflection on what makes us both beautifully contradictory and deeply human. Currently based in Brooklyn, she is a graduate of Duke Ellington School of the Arts and Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama. She is also a member of New York Women in Television & Film (NYWIFT).
Line Producer: Ariel Zucker (she/they) is an LA-based producer and director from Atlanta, powered by teamwork and well-timed snacks.
A Gotham TV Expanding Communities Fellow alum, Ariel produces at Dropout TV, including the 2025 Webby People’s Voice Award-winning series Very Important People, along with Make Some Noise and Um, Actually. Ariel also served as Studio Director at Assembly House for the 107-day Harris/Walz campaign, calling up to 8 cameras for 6 shows a day and directing streams featuring Beyoncé, Maggie Rogers, Cardi B, Gracie Abrams, John Legend, and a lot of Bon Jovi.
A Carnegie Mellon alum (John Wells Directing Program + Heinz School of Business), their work has been recognized by Outfest, AT&T Film Awards, Screencraft, NBC Out, Huffington Post, Variety, and more. Their web series Day-Bi-Day won Best Web Series at SF Queer Film Festival, and their short This Is Not a Love Letter took home Best Experimental Film at Women’s Voices Now. They were also a 2022 PGA Innovation Award Finalist.
Marketing Producer / Assistant Director: Eva Fabray (she/her) is a writer, director, and producer currently living in Santa Monica, CA. She attended Iowa State University where she was Editor in Chief of an on-campus magazine and created a self-produced pilot, BROKE, that she wrote, directed, and starred in. BROKE centered around a young college student and her friends, navigating adult life with minimal funds.
Eva is most known for her work on ESSENTIALS (2022) starring Allison Torem and Austin Pendleton, ROAD HEAD (2023) and THE LAST INFANTRY (2025). Eva has also appeared in recurring background roles for THE CHI (Showtime) and EMPIRE (Fox).
She now works as an Assistant Director and Producer in Los Angeles. She is drawn to scripts with realistic dialogues, absurd comedies, and POC stories with positive outcomes. Eva also does work as a comedy writer and is currently working on multiple projects. She has produced a handful of short films and comedy specials in the past year. She is currently in the development process for her own short film Please, Call Me Back, which will be her directorial film debut.
Field Producer: Nadia Delisfort (she/her) is a New York-based administrative creative and storyteller at heart, driven by a passion for bringing narratives to life, both on screen and onstage. She works in development at Maxine Productions, a production company under Sony Pictures Nonfiction.
Nadia’s diverse experience includes working on press for the Broadway productions of Yellow Face, Death Becomes Her, and Spamalot, as well as production managing the cast of Tony-winning Freestyle Love Supreme. Her meticulous planning and creative vision also extend to producing commercials and branded content for campaigns with brands like Lush, Van Leeuwen, and Raising Cane’s.
With her heart set on championing underrepresented voices, Nadia is so excited to be a Producer on Sam’s Hail Mary, a story she believes is so important for Black and brown girls everywhere who are questioning their worth in this complicated world. When she’s not working, a perfect day for Nadia ends with crossing a book off her list (hopefully one closer to 50 for the year) and falling asleep peacefully to her pug’s snoring.
Creative Producer: Natalie Jasmine Harris is a Black queer filmmaker from Maryland, now based between NYC and the Bay Area. A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts (BFA, Honors), she is dedicated to uplifting underrepresented stories centering people of color and LGBTQ communities. Her producing work has been recognized by Sundance, Outfest, Vimeo Staff Pick, Short of the Week, the British Film Institute, and NFFTY. She produced Pritty: The Animation, the first Black queer animated short, which raised over $100,000 through a viral Kickstarter campaign that Natalie led. Natalie also works as a crowdfunding consultant, guiding independent filmmakers through campaigns and grant applications, with projects supported by SFFILM, The Gotham, Outfest, and Film Independent, and has raised over $250,000.
