Meet Shreyans Zaveri

Hi Shreyans, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Mumbai, India. I come from a huge traditional Gujarati family. As a kid, stories were my favorite pastime. I’d pester my grandparents to tell me stories when I couldn’t read. And once I began reading, there was no stopping. Books have been my best friends ever since. I try not to conform to norms but I have been called an introvert. So naturally, I found solace in books. I could escape with and within my books. From there, I was introduced to building things by my parents. So me and my brother started building airplanes, ships and everything that we could with balsa wood and a pen knife.

Slowly but surely, this started coming together, stories and the ability to build. So building or creating stories was the next best thing to do. I got my Bachelor in Science and that really taught me to question and explore life. From there I really wanted to give the arts a try. I started studying visual effects (Masters). On the side, I had started working as a freelance photographer and then started working in the gaming industry. Moving forward, I opened my own production studio and started working in the media industry.

Since then, I’ve worked with some of the biggest clients that include Google, NASA, HP, Made In Space, LG, Samsung, Packard Foundation, Lenovo, Stanford, Harvard and many more. I have published two novels in the fiction & fantasy genre and have written multiple articles and papers that have been published worldwide.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There was no road. A career in the arts is unheard of from where I come. And I understand why. The dynamics and economics of the art industry were very rocky and uncertain. I will be honest, they still are. Earning a sustainable living in this industry is still a faraway dream. For me, finding the required education and subsequent foothold was a huge challenge. There was no clear direction or road to take. It was all trial and error.

In the middle of figuring all of this, I went through some severe personal health crises. That was the final blow for me. I had to figure and restart my life right from the start, again! So I did. I got up and started building from scratch. Piece by piece I built myself back and along with that I built my career as well.

But that is what taught me and made me who I am today. I kept pushing and working tirelessly. It has taken a lot to get here and I still feel like this is just the beginning.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an author and filmmaker. I mainly work as a director, cinematographer and editor. I specialize in overall storytelling. I can take ideas and throw them onto a visual canvas. As a writer, I always say, give me a blank white wall as my character and I’ll write a story about it. I see and observe and notice things that others don’t. I catch the essence of the stories and the people that want to narrate them.

I am known for my two novels that live in the fiction/ fantasy genre. I am also known for my work in the commercial and advertising spectrum. I have worked with Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-founder), Eric Schmidt (Ex Google CEO), Geoffrey Moore (Author), Joe Pavelski (National Hockey League Player), Fred Haise (Astronaut on the Apollo 13 mission), Moon Duchin (Mathematician) and many more. In the last 9 yrs in the industry, I’ve worked on 500+ projects. Some of my videos have crossed 9+ million views on YouTube. Recently I also started working on AI-generated art.

I am most proud of my recent short film titled “If Only.” It is based on marine life conservation. It is an official selection for multiple film festivals across the globe. It is currently being screened at film festivals in the USA, Italy, India, England, Columbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Many ocean conservation societies have stepped forward to collaborate with me and use this film for the greater good. My next film is called Meta Tiger and that focuses on issues of deforestation and habitable land area for tigers.

I believe I see things that others don’t. I catch the pulse of any situation or person right from the start. My work is focused towards moving something within the reader or viewer. I believe that I can touch that deeper chord with my work.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Risk is natural. It is a part of life. Without even knowing it we take a lot of risks. When the stakes are high, people actually start feeling the risk. Always play the game as if you have nothing to lose. It is easier said than done but that attitude helps.

I have taken risks, yes. At 29, I uprooted my entire life and moved halfway across the world to a new country. I had nothing to fall back on. I was scared! I had a lot to lose if I failed. And I did fail at many things after that. But I kept going and collecting small victories. Half a step every day that is taken in the right direction can go a long way than taking no steps at all.

So risk is good but always take the stride that you can take. Meaning each step you take, make sure to ground your feet firmly before you take the next step. Smaller steps will seem like you are not going anywhere but over a period of time, you’ll see how far you’ve actually come. Take the risks, but be grounded.