ZAID SATER

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I am Zaid Sater, an award-winning freelance filmmaker, whose short films “Desolation and “Puppy Love” have been selected for numerous awards and selections in film festivals. “Desolation” is a romantic drama that tells the story of a relationship that never fully materializes against a backdrop of COVID-induced alienation, the film has received selections and awards from the Kingston International Film Festival, San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival, Washington Film Awards, Lisbon Film Rendesvouz and Heart of Europe International film festival. “Puppy Love” is a buddy comedy that depicts two bumbling lackeys prowling the streets of Bristol for potential heists and has also received selections at the Cannes World Film Festival, LA Sun Film Festival, New York Independent Cinema Awards, Rome World Cinema Festival, and Sydney World Cinema Festival. 

 

Serving as the Director of Development at Emerson Independent Video, the largest student-led production company in America, and concurrently as an executive producer at Crown Studios, I oversee all projects in pre-production, continually honing my skills in assessing character development, and plot structures. I am also in the process of directing a short film for the studio.

 

Through my role as founder and former president of the Bristol Collaborative Arts Society at the University of Bristol I harnessed the power of networking, holding social events that allowed local creatives to intermingle and form bonds that would later materialize as short films, immersive art exhibitions, and music videos for Bristol-based artists. The scale and profile of these projects served as a powerful recruiting tool, bringing in substantial talent from around campus and attracting industry leaders to hold speaking engagements on campus. These high-profile creatives helped to ameliorate the initial hurdle—our lack of industry access—by integrating our community of artists into national, and international, creative dialogues.

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I am also a part of "Produktivity", a creative collective and a record label that produces musical albums, short films and music videos. On the label is Hip-Hop artist Boyponder, Ryan Jinwa, and Bloominous.

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I am grateful to have been selected for Impact Learning Institute’s professional development program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Through Impact Learning, I engaged with industry leaders and participated in an executive mentorship project with showtime basketball executive producer Eric Newman, which offered me a deep dive into the nuances of effective pitching and presentation of film proposals to executives, a skill set that is invaluable in my career trajectory. 

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In the past, my work experience with Plimsoll Productions in the UK, one of the largest production companies in the British film industry, has allowed me to gain invaluable insights and skills indispensable to the film industry. Serving as a production intern, my responsibilities spanned from ideation and proposal drafting to meticulous archival work and fostering professional relationships with lucrative clients like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon. This experience in a high-stakes professional environment has granted me with a unique blend of organizational, time management, and problem-solving skills which I can effectively utilize within an applied context.

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Further enriching my profile is my short part-time role at Enspire Media Group, a development company based in Hollywood, where I provided comprehensive script coverage for prospective films and TV shows. Under seasoned industry expert Frank Antonelli, I was able to refine and improve my ability to critically evaluate plot development, character arcs, and overall narrative coherence, playing a pivotal role in script selection and the refinement processes of projects.