Meet Zach Sharma

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Sharma.

Zach, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I never let myself get bored as a kid. Whatever object I had with me at any given moment became the main character of a story I’d think of and often write down on several sheets of loose leaf poorly stapled together. I spent a lot of time watching television and playing video games with my brothers, but since I was little I’ve never stopped working on something creative. Whether it meant singing and playing music for my family or writing and doing illustrations for books, I loved keeping others as entertained as I had kept myself.

My first experience with filmmaking was a story about a bank robbery that I shot with my brother and cousins at a family party. I was seven years old, and it was the beginning of several improvised videos, my brother and I made with our family.

I learned to edit videos when I was 12, and I threw myself into making short films with my friends. My friends usually didn’t get the same enjoyment out of film that I did, but I was lucky enough to meet someone who did about a year later. Throughout middle school, my friend and I wrote, shot, and directed several (often up to an hour-long) films, becoming closer with our group of friends as they acted in them. Managing nearly every aspect of my own movies made filmmaking the outlet I’d always been looking for. It was the most challenging, fun, and fulfilling way for me to tell stories.

As far as making music, I had wanted to take guitar lessons since I was 8, but my parents brought me to piano lessons instead. I took lessons for several years, but it didn’t become something I devoted my time to until I picked up guitar about a year ago.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In seventh grade, the films my friends and I made got lots of attention when our English teacher played them for her classes. The teacher taught both sixth graders and seventh graders, and the reaction to the film was divided between the two grades. My friends, having acted in it, went around and promised DVD copies to the sixth graders that wanted them. I always bought blank DVD cases with the plastic sleeves so I could slip in cover art that I designed for the film to make it look official.

Most of the seventh graders made fun of the film and there were some stories of DVDs being destroyed by seventh graders while various sixth grade supporters made more copies and helped to spread my DVDs around.

My biggest takeaway was that nobody associated the film with me at all. All the negative and positive criticism from our classmates was directed at the film’s actors, but at the time I was okay with that because I’d have rather had no reaction than a potentially negative one.

One of the reasons I now make music is for that reaction. Music’s another fun outlet and it doesn’t require my friends to be available to act for me, but I really wanted to have something that would force me to realize that while some people won’t like what I make, there will be others who like it so much that it won’t matter. At first, I didn’t tell most of my friends that I had started recording music, and while I’m still hesitant to call myself any sort of musician, I’m glad I’ve found a way to put myself out there.

Overall, it’s been a fairly smooth road. I’m very lucky to have had supportive friends and family to help me realize what I wanted to do with my life.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I’m currently studying Television Writing & Production at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. I’ve focused mainly on screenwriting in my classes, so I’ve spent less time shooting films and more time making music!

I released my first album this past April, and an EP in August! Over quarantine, I gathered donations for organizations related to Black Lives Matter by making a song for everyone who donated, and they’re all available on Spotify, Apple Music, and more! As of now, I have one more EP coming out with my friend back home in Pennsylvania.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
At my level, I would say you’re successful if you feel good about what you’ve made. I try to make the kinds of films and songs that I would watch or listen to myself, so I know I’m successful when I enjoy them myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2k9ridmvI4AJqmKdtgImdQ
• Phone: 2679090665
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zatchree/ or https://www.instagram.com/zigzatch/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zatchry11
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7pSJnHZZQPHy1Ntk1dXuEu?si=gn3Zhjj6TfaAmXCyZINcBQ

Image Credit:
Zack Diesu, Jenna Morelli, Andrew Niranonta, Nikolas Sharma

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