Jeff Ornstein 0:01

Hi everyone, and welcome to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein. I am Jeff, and on this show we celebrate people on the cusp of greatness. Those building on past successes in some of the curious and inventive and sometimes unexpected ways they have achieved those, and stepping into moments that could define their legacy. We'll talk about current projects, lessons learned, and the extraordinary opportunities ahead. So the best is yet to come. Fred Zara, Orlando-based award-winning writer, director, producer, editor, and storyteller. He's the creative force behind multiple indie features, including The Suicide of James Ryder, 2020, Bayview Entertainment, Read Me, and Average Community, both streaming on Amazon Prime. Fred got his start in the raw 80s, 90s punk scene, drumming at the legendary venues like uh CBGB, walked away from the music for years, and then came roaring back. Today is one of Central Florida's go-to session and tribute drummers while still chasing the next big screenplay. From DIY and D's to higher budget dreams, Fred is the definition of a multi-hyphenate who refuses to slow down. Fred, welcome to the show.

Fred Zara 1:13

Thanks so much, Jeff. That was a great intro. I like to hear people summarize me.

Jeff Ornstein 1:17

Good, good. Well, I'm glad you felt we did did a good characterization. And anything that talks about C BGBs, I was a C BGB rat myself in the 70s. So that perked my attention immediately. Oh, great, great. We were super impressed with your background and your history because it seems like you know you're a creative that's touched on so many aspects of uh uh the industry and that it's led you sort of to where you are now, and yet you're not slowing down, which is also great. So because you uh lived so many creative lives already, when you look back at the kid who wanted to be Indiana Jones, we're gonna have to talk about that too. What moment convinced you that filmmaking was truly your path?

Fred Zara 1:54

You bring up Indiana Jones. I mentioned that to your uh to your producer. You know, growing up, I always loved movies. I grew up in uh Trenton, New Jersey, and Trenton. There wasn't a lot to do. It was uh semi-dangerous, but not terrible, semi-boring. Um, so movies were an were an escape for sure. Um so I grew up in the in the 70s and 80s, and uh movies like Indiana Jones, you know, took me away. I would go to a movie theater and I would, you know, be taken away from Trenton, New Jersey for a couple of hours. Um so I knew that like when I saw that on the big screen that I wanted to do that. And I thought that meant when I was a kid, I thought that meant that I wanted to be Indiana Jones, not Harrison Ford. I wanted to be Indiana Jones. And then eventually I realized, okay, maybe I want to be an actor. And sometime in the 90s there was a shift where the clearest memory I have is probably seeing Raging Bull, where you know, I always loved, like I said, movies like uh Indiana Jones and and uh AT and Gremlins and you know, big Hollywood, you know, blockbuster type of movies. And then when I started seeing uh independent films like uh Reservoir Dogs and Um Raging Bull specifically, uh I just you know it was so gritty and like just a bunch of Italian people yelling at each other, and it just kind of struck me that okay, so Martin Scorsese is a guy from the neighborhood and he's making kind of movies about people that he grew up with, and it just kind of struck me that like this is actually something I can do. You know, the whole idea of moving to Hollywood and you know, coming through the studio system and being the next Steven Spielberg, although that was a dream, that that's not attainable for a kid in Trenton. At least I didn't feel that way. But making a black and white film about Italian people, you know, hollering at each other, that I could do that. So that started making me sort of rethink what what filmmaking and storytelling actually could be.

Jeff Ornstein 3:42

Mm-hmm. And you know, it's interesting because as an actor you're a storyteller, as a director, you're certainly a storyteller, as a writer, you're a storyteller. So it's it's probably not as uncommon as people might I have it on my phone.

Fred Zara 3:55

Oh, okay. Because I I like to consider myself, I don't like labels a lot, but storyteller is one that I actually like like to use a lot because there's because that's what I'm super passionate about is telling stories.

Jeff Ornstein 4:08

Well, it's in your DNA, obviously.

Fred Zara 4:09

Uh yeah, I hope so. Uh so I feel like it's a lost art sometimes when when we deal with people wanting to get into the industry. They want to get into the industry because of money or fame or TikTok followers or whatever. And sometimes the the idea of actually just telling a really good story sometimes gets lost. And and I like to keep that as as something that that that is important to me.

Jeff Ornstein 4:31

So, you know, with with that being said, your indie film, you know, the award-winning product, what was the genesis behind that and how it started and how it developed?

Fred Zara 4:41

Which one are you referring to?

Jeff Ornstein 4:43

Well, I was looking at well, we can talk about anyone you like, but what which is your most favorite?

Fred Zara 4:48

I mean, I was looking at the suicide of James Ryder. Well, I try not to sound cliche, but saying which one is my favorite is like asking about my kids sort of thing. Right. And they're all I have three feature films. One of them is a documentary called Average Community. Um, one of them is a feature film called Read Me, and the other one is The Suicide of James Ryder. And they're all very personal in different ways. Average Community is about my journey from growing up as a punk rock kid in Trenton, New Jersey in the 80s to being a family man, bringing up two kids and having a wife and a career here in Orlando, the juxtaposition of that. Read me is about uh is a narrative about a guy that grew up not learning how to read because he had dyslexia. I grew up with dyslexia, but I kind of took this story into what if what if he never learned how to read? What if he never got a diploma? What if, you know, what kind of jobs would he have? What other kind of abilities might come out of like he can't read words, but it it makes him read people and situations a little bit better. Uh so that was Read Me, and then The Suicide of James Ryder was my last feature film, and that is it's uh essentially about a friend of mine whose name is James Ballard, who committed suicide in 2001. And it was just always there was something that really bothered me about how interesting of a person James was. He I mean, I I can make this whole podcast about him and the things that made him interesting, but a lot of times when his name was would come up, the first thing that people would say was, like, James Ballard, isn't he the guy that commit suicide? And it always kind of like bothered me. I mean, that's one aspect of who this person was. That's how they left this world. But like, is that how he's gonna be remembered as the guy that committed suicide? So I I wanted to tell a story about James's group of friends. After he's left them, they just sit around and they talk about him. So the audience hardly gets to meet James in the story. Uh, the story is primarily about his friends and how they're gonna remember him.

Jeff Ornstein 6:36

What a nice testament to to your friendship to him. And it's nice that because you shouldn't be remembered by how you went out, but all the things you did while you were around. You know, you speak to filmmakers. I was actually recently just in my first feature film, and when I got to know the director and the producers, people who like to make movies and tell stories just live to make movies and tell stories. And that being said, you get a what you feel is a great compelling screenplay, and you've got a terrific director and you've got the right cinematographer or director photography. That's all great, but it's the funding that always seems to be the big hurdle. And you've spoken with our producers a little bit about that, and how if I recall, you sort of said, you know, look, I I would be I'd be happy to be any component of the production of it, because sometimes the recipe might call for me being the director, and sometimes it might call for me being an actor, and so on and so forth. But you've done three features. Can you share a little bit about how you got your funding for that and the challenges that you faced?

Fred Zara 7:36

Well, I mean, there's an interesting correlation between growing up in the punk rock scene, which is a extremely do-it-yourself type of mentality, and then learning to be an independent filmmaker. So there's a there's a lot of do-it-yourself type type of situations. I mean, Average Community was a documentary. I got a small grant from uh United Arts of Central Florida. I applied for a grant and I used it towards um paying my my cameraman um to fly up to New Jersey and and New York. So and that was just kind of scrape together money. This was like 2008, 2009. Uh so that was low super low budget, scrape some money together. README came along. I wanted to do my first narrative feature. Um, so I did it a crowdfunder through Kickstarter, uh, which failed miserably. So I had to figure out like how to how to revamp uh the Kickstarter and raise money that way, and and I was successful the second time around. And uh James Ryder, I did the same thing. I did a uh crowdfunding campaign. And all all of these are like in Hollywood world, they're like nothing micro budget, you know, feature films. Uh we shot for like nine days, um opposed to like 25, 30 days or whatever. So we shoot really we we shot really fast. I mean, I pay people, but certainly not what they deserve, and certainly not, you know, what they could make on on something with a bigger budget. But primarily it's you know, ask people, right? Crowdfund her, scrape some money together. My mom, God rest her, I lost her last year. She would throw in a uh a little bit of money here and there.

Jeff Ornstein 9:08

So um, yeah, this is however you can get it done. Well, you know, to that point I found because in the few small shorts that I've done, it's oftentimes the same cast of characters, the directors and the producers and uh the DOP, everybody kind of continues to band together because they enjoy working with each other, they have a passion for what they're doing, and they know that it's long days, little money, and it's all for the good of the final product. So and it's interesting because you don't think of Hollywood as like, you know, a very loyal place, but my experience sounds not unlike yours, is that there is a lot of loyalty to the teams when they get together and say, hey, you know, w we're speaking the same language, we're working well together, let's keep it going. And we may not make a ton of money, we may lose a little money, but we're gonna have a good time doing it, and we're gonna be proud of the end product.

Fred Zara 9:57

Yeah, we I mean when you find people you could work well together, you're right. You you do come together and create more and more with those people because it's it's not always it's not always easy. There's a lot of opinions, there's a lot of egos um in this business, so like sometimes it's tough. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 10:12

And a lot of people are saying you know, I'm they may have other commitments that are more guaranteed to pay the rent. Right. That's exactly right. So so are you doing any acting now or is the focus shifted more to screenplay and directing, or where are you in where are you in that transition?

Fred Zara 10:30

So I will do some acting when I find something that is not going to be a big time commitment. It's something that I think I would I could bring something to or I would be good good for. Uh I realize the longer I'm in this kind of line of work, I'm not built the same as like someone who is built to be an actor. I love it. I love the craft. I studied here with a couple of teachers here in Orlando, Class Act Studios, Lauren O'Quinn and Landon Price, Russ Blackwell, some people here, and I really enjoy that aspect of it, but I'm not someone that's gonna like be pounding the pavement for auditions, picking up whatever commercial I can get. Like, if it's not something that I I feel like I would enjoy doing, I'm not gonna do it just to be out there doing it. But having that said, I did do some acting last weekend for a project. It was a short film, but I think he keeps adding to the script, and I think it might be closer to a feature by now. It's a film called Toy Chest, and I play a uh police captain, which I've never played uh a police captain. So this was one of those things where, like, you know, I I I don't think that anyone thinks that this thing that we're working on is um gonna be the next Sundance winner, but we're all having a great time. The script is fun and characters are fun, and uh and I get to you know yell at people and be a police captain. Excellent.

Jeff Ornstein 11:47

Carry a gun. Have you found that the roles that you portrayed have that gravitate towards you? Have you have you been typecast in any way?

Fred Zara 11:54

A little bit, a little bit. I've gotten uh quite a few offers. I had uh actually turned one down recently. It was more of a scheduling thing, but uh I get cast as as the sensitive dad role a lot. Which is I am a sensitive dad. I get that, and I and I come across maybe as a sensitive dad. I think one of my strengths as an actor uh is is where I could go in terms of like being a little bit bigger, bolder, angry. You know, I have I have a lot of those, you know, things I can open up if I need to. Right. So I I think it's kind of ironic that I always get you know cast as like these almost non-opinionated, very soft spoken characters. Right.

Jeff Ornstein 12:35

Well, I gotta I gotta tell you just briefly that when I star start first started studying acting at the Stella Studio, I was old enough to be most of the other students' dad. And not unsurprisingly, I was alcoholic dad, ghost dad, absentee dad, born-again dad, you know, prison dad. And I said to my coach, you know, can I can I do like you know, streetcar named Desire and be the bad boy? He's like, You'll do what I give you. So I have not yet been the bad guy yet, but I've been a murderer a couple of times, and that's been refreshing.

Fred Zara 13:07

The closest I got to that is in class I did um a scene out of uh whiplash. And I I got I got to play the um you know the the the the Fletcher role. Right. And uh and I got to yell at somebody. So now he's selling insurance. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, he's paying his bills.

Jeff Ornstein 13:24

So talk about a little bit of music because uh, you know, you started with music, but now you've sort of it's sort of been reincorporated a little bit into your life.

Fred Zara 13:33

Yeah, it's uh it's a lot different this time around. I'm not chasing any kind of a record deal, I'm not, you know, uh playing original music. I would like to maybe. My son is in an original band and writes a lot of music, and I go to a lot of his shows and I get to relive, he's in a punk rock hardcore band, too. So I get to relive a lot of my youth through him. But for the things that I do since the pandemic, work has been a little unsteady. So being able to buy a drum set and go out there and play again and make a little side cash and have a little fun playing anything from yacht rock to country music to even polka in October. It it I mean, it's fun. It's not there's it there's not a lot of stress involved. You know, again, we're we're not chasing any kind of big dream, you know. We get a free meal here and there and you know, get to hang out backstage with some really good people. So it's it's it's it's a it's a little bit more of just straight up work nowadays with music, but also just fun. Right. You know, there's no pressure with it. Isn't it yeah, isn't that what life's supposed to be all about? And it's actually making me uh I'm a drummer. Uh it's uh it's actually making me a much better uh drummer having to be forced to play all these different styles of music, whereas growing up in the original music scene, you know, you you played what you wanted to play for the song, and uh nobody would make you play a a different beat or a different style or play to a click track or any of that stuff. You just played. Right. Uh so it is actually making me a little bit better too.

Jeff Ornstein 15:00

So I'm gonna this will be my last question for you, but is there is there a story right now that's percolating in your brain in the deep recesses of your creative flows that you're like, Josh, I really want to tell that story?

Fred Zara 15:13

Jeff, I got a couple. I got a couple. I think, thank goodness, I think I got, like I said, the the real personal ones that I want it to get out of the way. I do have about about three or four scripts that uh that that I'm really passionate about trying to get them moved forward at some point. Some of them are a little bit more fun. One of them's like uh I wanted to try my hand at a time travel script, I wanted to try my hand at a Christmas script, so I so I did that. Uh I have another one that I was playing with uh that's a little bit more like Charlie Kaufman, sort of the Matrix meets being John Malkovich, sort of weird stuff like that. Ooh, budget. That's not necessarily the the way I write, but I'm like, you know, I had this idea, let me let me but there is one script that is a little bit more on the personal side, uh, and it's a it's about a guy that has uh social anxiety, severe social anxiety, not not slight sort of social anxiety that I I would say I have. Uh he has severe s social anxiety and it's kind of destroyed most of the relationships in his life, including the relationship with his now 22-year-old daughter who's graduating college and he's missed out on so much of her life because he's just he's almost agoraphobic in a way. Um so there's this it it's a it's a story about him trying to overcome, you know, his fear of that. I mean, if anything, when I'm being a storyteller, one thing that I'm passionate about is is my character's overcoming something that may seem small to the the outside world, like in Read Me. What he needed to overcome was being able to read from a piece of paper in front of people stuttering, and as long as it takes to get through it because he can't see it or read it well, as embarrassing as that may be as an adult to do, that's what he needed to overcome. He wasn't Rocky Balboa, he didn't need to, you know, beat Apollo Creed for the championship of the world. He didn't, he wasn't an avenger, he didn't need to save the world. His little thing that he needed to overcome was this thing with dyslexia. And Andy's in my new script, Andy's thing that he needs to overcome is is some of his social anxiety to put him back out in the world so he can have a relationship with his daughter.

Jeff Ornstein 17:22

Right. Well, you know, there'll always be a place for the Marvel stories and the fantasy escapier films, but I think that there's a strong inclination for the public to hear these um survival stories of of people with everyday issues, you know, and how they face them and overcome them. And everyone likes a winner, you know, everyone likes the underdog who kind of like sees himself through it. All right, so you've been a great guest, and it's been so pleasant having you somebody who's so fluid with describing your their journey and how they've ended up where they are and where they might go in the future. Would you like to share anything about what we we should look for in the future? What would be the next great thing we would see from you? Do we keep our Google uh alerts set to Fred Zara?

Fred Zara 18:09

Well, like I said, um, well, I have this short film that's the festivals right now. It's called How to Sleep in the Cold. I didn't write this one, but uh uh but I was brought on from an actor friend to direct it. And it's a um primarily a two-person cast, great little story about homeless. It's about uh 18 minutes long, and it's doing well on the festivals right now. We shot it at Backlots at Full Sale, great crew. It it's a really nice little film. I'm proud of it. So that's out there now, and I have a number, like I said, I have a number of stories and scripts that I'm trying a few different avenues. I don't really want to do the do-it-yourself, you know, low budget, tiny budget film uh again. I really would like to try and raise a decent budget to be able to see the vision a little bit more clear as I see it in my head. So there are a couple of scripts. Uh my website is Fredzara.com. Anything that happens with me, I'll probably post it on there, social medias and stuff like that.

Jeff Ornstein 19:00

So before I let you go, I just do have a question for you. Since you're you're looking at, you know, positioning your films and and understanding the the the budget restrictions or parameters or goals. My understanding is is like the one to two million dollar range is a sweet spot for filmmakers that are trying to create features within a realistic, attainable number, but let them stretch their wings beyond the more echo friendly. But is that where you see your features? Where would that put you where you want to be?

Fred Zara 19:34

You know, I could actually take a fraction of that and and be in the couple hundred thousand dollar range. For sure. We have some different laws here in Florida. It's not as union heavy in Florida, so we can we can save a little bit of money that way. We just passed uh some film incentives here in Orange County. Right. So hopefully save some money that way. And I'm not looking to, you know, I would love you know Matthew McConaughey to hop on board or you know, but but we're we're not looking at a level of of that type of A-lift celebrity. So we could probably save some money there. So that is a sweet spot, uh what you're talking about, but I think that's more of like an LA-based, you know, New York-based sweet spot. And I and I'm I would probably for this next round be super happy with something a little bit lower than that.

Jeff Ornstein 20:18

Okay, well the I'll let our listeners know if they follow you and catch some of your films at the festivals, and they might say, Hey, this is a talent. We're we're gonna go call them up because this is an investment that we can handle. Excellent. Call me up. All right, Fred. Well, you have a wonderful day. Thanks again for spending some time with us, and uh I wish you all the best. You too, Jeff. Thanks for having me on. You're welcome. Thanks for tuning in to Next Act with Jeff Orenstein. Follow, subscribe, and stay connected to your favorite socials at www.nextpodcast.com. Keep chasing your next act. The best is yet to come.