We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zach Mund. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zach below.

Hi Zach, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Over the summer of 2023 I made a movie with an amazing group of talented people. The name of the film is Mustard Man and it’s a coming-of-age movie about a college rock band trying to make it big. It took the better part of a year to write, produce, and score, and it was the best experience of my life.

A few years ago my friends and I started a production company called Merlin Productions, channeling our shared creative drive into film. Mustard Man was more ambitious than anything we’d done before; a shoestring budget, a large cast/crew, and all original music. While the challenges were typical of indie film, it was the passion, talent, and collaboration that set it apart from any other project I had worked on.

Whether it was pulling an all-nighter to film at sunrise, or writing music hours before playing to a crowd of fifty (there for the promise of free beer), our camaraderie made the sacrifice worth it. This past summer, on our second feature (in post-production), we shot a week of overnights in a ninety degree warehouse because it was ten degrees cooler than during the day. Happily, our downtime was filled with card games and home-cooked catering. Everyone was there because they wanted to be, with some even flying from across the country to be a part of the most supportive creative atmosphere I’ve ever experienced. Spending the summers hanging out with my best friends is a treat on its own. To make movies along the way is the icing on the cake.

They say that to be happy you must love your work, and I can’t think of a better example. It’s hard to get noticed in the modern media maelstrom, but the few times that someone has seen and enjoyed our little movie makes everything worth it. It’d be worth it even if no one saw it. (Incidentally, it’s $0.99 on Prime Video, tell your friends!)

Zach, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Zach Mund and I am an actor, artist, and musician from Boulder CO. Lately I’ve been telling my relatives that I’m a “freelance creative” (unemployed), working on a variety of projects from mural painting to post-production sound design for film. I just got out of school with an engineering degree, though I’m hoping to let that rest for a bit while I focus on creative pursuits.

I started drawing and painting in middle school, and eventually worked up the courage to start doing commission artwork. I put up a stand at the local art fair and found a niche in pet portraiture. I was handy with colored pencils, and built up a nice portfolio of dogs, cats, lizards, and the occasional chinchilla.

In high school I was talked into auditioning for the fall play, where I first discovered my love for the performing arts. I gradually shifted from stage to screen acting, and found myself interested in all other aspects of filmmaking as well. Through Merlin Productions, I’ve gained wonderful experience in producing, writing, and directing. In indie production, wearing many hats is par for the course, which educates my belief that learning new things (new mediums) makes one a stronger, more composite artist.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

To me, it’s the fabrication of an idea—to see something that once lived only in your head manifested in the real world. To be able to say “I made that,” and know that you affected something that will be around forever. And then additionally the prospect of being able to interact with something which you’ve once made. It’s almost a time capsule of yourself, speaking across the years.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I’ve seen a lot of templates for the creative process, and I think it was really important for me to tune a lot of it out and find my own way. For some reason I always got the impression that the idea was the hard part, and that everything else should flow naturally; if it didn’t, then there was something wrong. Contrarily, I’ve found that everything is the hard part, and sans a few inspirational moments, creativity can be a bit of a slog. Everything has an ugly phase, where nothing feels right and you swear that if you have to look/listen any longer you’ll just throw it out.

Consequently, I’ve found that creativity requires a lot of discipline to stay motivated through the ugly phase, and know that not everything has to be ‘perfect’ or ‘easy’. Struggle doesn’t make art any less worthwhile, because the light at the end of the tunnel is a bright one.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12904769/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachmundart/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-mund
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MerlinProductionsBoulder
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/merlinproductionsboulder/

Image Credits

Wiley Yankopoulos