Zachary Bucholtz

Zachary Taylor Bucholtz was born May 24, 1991 in St. Joseph, Michigan, and grew up in the neighboring rural community of Stevensville, Michigan. He is the oldest of three children in an artistically successful family. His mother, Nadia, the daughter of Italian-American immigrants and well-respected local restaurateurs, has been a lifelong painter, while his father, Scott, is an accomplished drummer in the rock, country and blues scenes. Zachary's brother, Austin, is a filmmaker, recording artist/songwriter and actor, who wrote, directed and starred in the Zachary Bucholtz-produced EVERYTHING'S JUST WONDERFUL, and recently released his debut EP, THE FIGHT. Their sister, Bianca, is a musical theatre performer, singer, dancer and aspiring writer herself who has been featured in both of her older brothers' projects. Zachary credits his love of the cinema to his parents, often telling stories of how his mom would read to him in bed every night and how, starting at a young age, his dad would sit him down to show him classic films from throughout history, forming an early education in the art of filmmaking. By 15 he owned nearly 200 movies on DVD, and would stay up late at night watching the Director's Commentary on his favorite films, hoping to gain insight into the filmmaking process. When his maternal grandfather passed away from cancer on Zachary's third day of classes at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, he started to suffer from extreme depression and loneliness - issues he covers in his current works. During this time, he eased his pain by watching movies, and credits Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron's WHEN HARRY MET SALLY as aiding his recovery. Also during this time, he wrote early outlines and treatments for a feature screenplay about his late grandfather. The first completed draft of the script would become his audition piece for the University of Michigan's selective concentration in screenwriting, which he was accepted into and graduated from in May 2013 under the guidance of Hollywood veterans Jim Burnstein, Veerendra Prasad and Dan Shere. Upon graduation, he moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where his family was living at the time, and founded the independent production company FourFour Pictures, LLC. His last student film at UM, ANN ARBORLAND, written by and starring frequent collaborator Grace Hawkins, won "Best Comedy" at the 2013 Young Michigan Filmmakers Festival. As a producer and director, Zachary is known for emphasizing collaboration and improvisations, and often works with a repeated lineup of filmmakers and actors, most notably actress/writers Grace Hawkins and Gabriela Granados, cinematographers Casey McDonough and Matthew Infante, costume designer Sumyhr Harris, producer/composer J.R. Getches, his brother Austin, and actors Paul Vites, Lena Drake, Colleen Kinslow and Shane Henessy. He is also an outspoken advocate for women in film (a passion he credits to Hawkins) and prioritizes the hiring of women crew members on his projects. He's said his favorite films of all-time include FIELD OF DREAMS, OCEAN'S ELEVEN (2001) and WHEN HARRY MET SALLY. He considers THE GODFATHER to be the greatest film ever made, and cites Cameron Crowe, David O. Russell, John Hughes, Richard Linklater, Judd Apatow and Rob Reiner as his favorite filmmakers.