A great and interesting story is about everyone or it will not last.

- John Steinbeck

As a director and screenwriter, Zach’s films advocate for health equity and confront social determinants of health around the globe.

His feature screenplay LAND OF THE YOUNG was chosen by Francis Ford Coppola as the winner of the 2023 American Zoetrope Screenplay Competition, was a Semifinalist for the 2024 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, and a participant in the 2025 Narrative Lab at Stowe Story Labs. His feature screenplay ALTERED was a Finalist in the 2023 ScreenCraft Feature Competition, and is currently in casting and early pre-production.

Zach served as a 2022 Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health with the Global Brain Health Institute in Dublin, Ireland, where his work centers people with cognitive and psychological conditions. His first collaboration to emerge from the fellowship, KOKO SUZANNE (2025), is a short film made in the Democratic Republic of Congo alongside Congolese cast and crew. It serves as the main component in an impact initiative to help individuals and families navigating dementia in the DRC. KOKO SUZANNE premiered at Encounters Film Festival, was a 2025 Film Pipeline Finalist, and has played numerous festivals across the world. It was recently acquired by CANAL+ for distribution across Africa and Europe on broadcast television and streaming.

Zach’s film THE LIGHTKEEPER (2018) was named the final recipient of the CINE Golden Eagle Award for Narrative Short Film, an award recognizing rising filmmakers since 1962 which has honored the early careers of Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Ron Howard and others. His taboo medical comedy short TORN (2019) premiered online with Directors Notes, and his mid-length LGBTQ+ drama film THE STAIRS (2016) won the Audience Award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. His teleplay HOLLYWOOD AND VINE (2012) was given an industry presentation at the American Film Institute, starring Jason Alexander (SEINFELD) and directed by Independent Spirit Award winner Mark Polish.

Zach is the inaugural Miller Artist in Residence at the University of California, San Francisco’s Memory and Aging Center, where he is currently researching and lecturing on the neurocinematics of empathy and their application in more impactful filmmaking.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Theatre from Northwestern University (United States) and a Postgraduate Certificate in Brain Health from Trinity College Dublin (Ireland).