We recently connected with Zach Goodwin and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Zach, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
From a very young age, I took the advice of “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” While I’m often described as a workaholic by my family and friends, there are very few things I’d rather do than to work on film sets. Those grueling 12 hour work days have consistently led me to the greatest experiences and collaborations of my life. I’d go as far to say that I feel like my true self when working, especially on a project of my own.
Much of my passion for filmmaking is propelled by the fact I love the feeling of being productive; an attribute I learned and inherited from my Nana. She taught me, along with many other things, the concept of “Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps,” a lesson that has and continues to take me far. For all of my life, she’s been a massive inspiration to me and I deeply value that we’re both immensely dedicated to our respective works.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a Texas-born filmmaker and multimedia artist based in Los Angeles. I primarily write, direct and produce a variety of different film projects, including music videos, short films, and recently my first feature. Outside of that, most of my time is still spent behind a camera, as I adore nearly every type of photography. I’ve had the blessing of creating a portfolio that includes stills of famous musicians, fashion models, chemical reactions, national parks, and behind the scenes of magic movie making.
At the core of it all, I love telling stories, sometimes through a single image or thousands of them. As much as I cherish documentaries and truth seeking narratives, my current artistic attraction is abstract fiction and dream-like cinema. Which I was able to explore with when writing my first feature film, titled Stitched, about the life of a former counterfeit criminal told through the conversations held about him, behind his back.
I started writing Stitched while I was still in college, and from the beginning had the intention of making it after I graduated. Over time, the script became influenced by my past and personal relationships, and became a decades-spanning family drama examined through the concept of gossip. In Summer of 2023, I had the unbelievable blessing of assembling my talented filmmaking friends from all around the world to shoot Stitched in my hometown of San Antonio.
The film is currently in post-production and is preparing for the festival circuit, with an expected world premiere in Spring 2024. Until then, I plan on developing a production company, expanding my artistic portfolio, and continuing to make movies with my friends.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
As I mentioned when elaborating on my work ethic, I think my desire for productivity is a driving force in where I am in my career today. It’s a quality that can sometimes be a double edged sword, as I’m constantly and involuntarily asking myself “What now?”
An area of knowledge that’s aided me well in my endeavors is the countless amount of movies and TV shows I’ve seen. Not only have they provided me comfort and catharsis in times of dispirit, but have also given me a language to communicate with other filmmakers.
Finally, a skill I continue to practice and develop to this day is managing my ego. While I think it’s important to express pride in yourself every once and a while, I try my best to stay humble and reframe from boasting. It ultimately keeps me in check and grateful for the life I’ve been given.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I’m always open to connecting with people and collaborating with passionate creatives. A career goal of mine is to start directing more music videos for artists in the alternative / indie genre. I have an such immense appreciation for the art form of music videos, especially ones that integrate a narrative or abstract meaning.
I’d love to work with artists like The Smile, Magdalena Bay, Alt-J, and Tall Tall Trees. Really anyone that makes music you’d listen to while on psychedelics, to put it simply.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zgoodwin.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goodw.n/
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/zach-goodwin-17595b193
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SarcasticGeekProductions
