By Marshall Swanson

Meet Etta Milford: Loving wife, doting mother, armed robber. That’s the tagline for Good Intentions, an off-beat Southern comedy about otherwise good people who find themselves compelled to do bad things that’s coming to a theater near you later this year. It will be brought to you by Richard Sampson, a 1985 Carolina media arts graduate who produced the picture with producing partner Pamela Peacock as the first feature-length film from their new Atlanta-based production company, Shadowlight Pictures.

“This a comedy with heart, a great Southern story,” said Sampson, citing the movie’s ensemble cast, which includes country recording artist LeAnn Rimes in her acting debut, plus Elaine Hendrix (The Parent Trap) in the lead role, Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210), Jimmi Simpson (Zodiac), Jon Gries (Napoleon Dynamite), Gary Grubbs (Will & Grace), and a host of veteran character actors.

Good Intentions also will feature a soundtrack by major label talents and some up-and-comers, including Rimes’ Grammy-nominated hit single, “Nothin’ Better To Do,” and music from The Wrights, a horizon duo who recorded the title song and a number of other memorable tracks.

Filming last July and August in Decatur, Rutledge, and Newborn, Ga., was just one stage of the producing process that is akin to “being in an endurance adventure race where you need a lot of different skill sets and you have to excel at each one,” said Sampson, whose responsibilities with partner Peacock as producers roughly translated into being the movie’s overall chief executive officers, chief financial officers, and chief marketing officers.

Talk about sweating the details—Sampson and Peacock had a ton of logistics to supervise, along with ensuring that 70-plus cast and crew members were at the right place at the right time during one of Atlanta’s hottest summers. But the movie’s comedic script—and some funny adlibbing—kept a humorous groove on the set, especially when someone flubbed a line or missed a cue.

“Everyone was so down to earth it made the experience at times seem like we were on a camping trip with a bunch of good friends,” said Peacock, recalling how actor Jon Gries, who plays Sheriff Ernie in the movie, “would sit in his trailer and play his guitar while telling funny stories about his dogs.”

Sampson predicts Good Intentions is going to “resonate with a lot of people,” especially native Southerners, as they watch Hendrix portray Etta Milford in her struggles with her husband, Chester, played by Perry. He’s a wannabe entrepreneur who blows the couple’s money on hare-brained, get-rich-quick schemes that Etta realizes are going to derail her dream of sending their two kids to college.

She embarks on her own plan to invest in antiques and sell them to get tuition money. That plan, too, goes awry, in part because she resorts to the, shall we say, unorthodox business tactic of armed robbery to get the capital she needs to buy the antiques. Chester eventually discovers her secret, and with their money gone and their children in peril, Etta must concoct yet another plan—this one of unexpected proportion—to rescue their finances and save her family.

When Sampson and Peacock first read the script by Anthony Stephenson, they realized it was the vehicle that could help them launch Shadowlight Pictures, which they began four years ago to produce feature films, commercials, and corporate sales films. The formation of Shadowlight was also a major step in the realization of Sampson’s life-long dream of making motion pictures, a dream borne of his youthful realization that filmmakers’ stories can sometimes change lives.

Sampson started pursuing the dream in college, finishing two years of work on a media arts degree at USC Aiken before transferring to the Columbia campus. He found his niche there, studying under media arts professors such as Jan Millsapps, Carmine D’Alessandro, and Mark Spagnolo, all experienced industry professionals known for the working knowledge they brought to the classroom.

Millsapps later helped Sampson get a job with a Columbia, S.C., company called Kingfisher Productions where he got his start in TV commercials, working his way up from production assistant to assistant director and then producer. He continued with Kingfisher and freelance work on other projects (including a North Carolina TV movie with a then-unknown actor named Brad Pitt) until 1992 when he moved to Atlanta to branch out in other projects for clients like NASCAR and the Olympics.

He met Peacock there while they were both working at Pogo Pictures. Sampson saw the Florida native’s undergraduate degree in architecture and her MBA as the perfect combination of creativity and business savvy to complement his technical knowledge of filmmaking.

He knew Peacock would be the perfect partner for him to chase the dream of producing movies, so they started Shadowlight Pictures to produce their own projects. “Pamela is an amazing partner,” Sampson said. “She has such a clear head about business and wonderfully creative ideas, too. From the very beginning, I knew we would do great work together.”

Sure enough, their first project won top national honors in 2002 in the 48 Hour Film Project, a national competition in which contestants write, shoot, and edit a short movie in only two days. The success solidified their decision to create Shadowlight, and was confirmed when they won the 48 Hour Film Project a second time in 2004.

“Richard is truly one of the most talented people I’ve ever met,” Peacock said, “not just in production, but life in general. He’s really good with technical and business-related things, but he’s also a great people person, and he has a wonderful combination of skills for production.

“I’m grateful that we met and that we can learn from each other and collaborate on these things because it’s truly a wonderful partnership.”

The strength of that partnership will be on display in Good Intentions, which is in post-production, including undergoing test showings for sample audiences. Those showings have gone well, Sampson said, and the final product is going to be “really great.” Stay tuned.