The Zack Arnold Podcast

In an ideal world, being a creative professional means you love what you do and your passion for your work fuels a meaningful and fulfilling life that also has a positive impact on the world. Whether you write, direct, produce, edit, or work on set - that's the dream we all set out to achieve when we join the industry. In the real world, however, you quickly discover that passion can also lead...

How many times have you worked on a project that set an impossible schedule and you felt responsible for meeting ridiculous demands? How many times have you met those demands hoping you would be rewarded for the amazing feat you accomplished...only to be asked to do it again tomorrow except faster, better, and cheaper? These situations have unfortunately become the rule instead of the exception wh...

“Your obstacles don’t care about what you’ve been through.” - Chinna Balachandran Fail is a four letter word that most of us avoid like the plague. We live in a society that is obsessed with achievement, yet has no tolerance for failure. But any successful person will tell you that regular and consistent failure is not only part of the path to success...failure IS the path. Without embracing failu...

 "I've literally failed in front of a million people, and something magical happens when you're willing to do that." - Sandy Zimmerman Have you ever had a nagging feeling that you were meant to be doing something different with your life? Maybe you feel as though you're capable of doing more and you're not living up to your full potential, or maybe even if you’re successful...

"Do your work every day, and stay focused on what you care about. Work-life balance doesn't just happen, you have to schedule it." - Matt Nix There's no question that the start of any successful career requires a certain amount of hard work, grit, and even a bit of hustle. If you want to excel further than those around you, there will be times when you have to make sacrifices or tr...

Hello to all of my Optimizer readers & listeners. Today’s episode is gonna be a little different in that I’m not the host, I’m the guest. This is a special interview I did on super short notice with Erica Wernick over at the  Hollywood Success Podcast  where we discuss what’s at stake with the pending IATSE strike authorization vote. Like me, Erica is also both an entrepreneur and creative pro...

I created Optimize Yourself so that I could provide the resources to help creative professionals find fulfillment in their work and love what they do...but not at the expense of their health, their relationships, or their sanity. A natural extension of this is that we must be valued & respected for the work that we do . Without respect, no matter how much we love our jobs, our careers won'...

» Read & Share the full article HERE One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received from a friend & mentor is the following: “Don’t let others determine your value. Only you can determine your value.” Unfortunately the idea that we as creative professionals are undervalued for the unique contributions we bring to the entertainment industry is not a new one. For decades we have been co...

 “I want to make sh*t happen, but it can't happen at the cost of the people around me.” - Mark Gantt Working in Hollywood as a creative professional can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand the freedom to express yourself and tell stories that motivate, inspire, and entertain others can be a dream come true. But on the other hand the pressure of having to create on a grueling daily sched...

“People are embarrassed to even articulate out loud what they say to themselves silently.” - Ethan Kross Do you ever wonder why some people excel under intense pressure while other people fold? How is that an Olympic athlete can train for four years honing their skills with exact precision and in the final moment make a crucial mistake to blow their shot at gold? Maybe you've had the experienc...

When editor and 1st AE Chris Patterson  reached out to me earlier this year, he was stuck trying to figure out how to convince his colleagues he was ready to edit. He knew he had the skills, but he didn’t have the experience (or the credits) such that people were willing to take the chance on him. Not even six months later after working with me in the  Optimizer coaching & mentorship program  ...

When editor Marcella Garcia  originally reached out to me in January because she was stuck in the wrong place in her career and wanted to make a seemingly impossible transition into scripted entertainment, she did not expect to be sending me this message just six months later (in the Optimizer Slack community): Like Marcella, when people come to me for help, they commonly describe themselves as fe...

In this episode, I give you an insider’s glimpse into the world of my Optimizer coaching & mentorship program and what we call the ‘Hot Seat.’ What you’ll hear today is a recording of an actual live session with an Optimizer student where on the Hot Seat we tackle various questions about career transitions, productivity, workflows, networking, burnout, habit formation, resumes and websites, an...

In case you missed the announcement, the Optimize Yourself podcast is currently on summer hiatus, but that doesn’t mean we plan to leave you high and dry without engaging conversations that educate, motivate, and inspire you. We’ll be back this fall with some significant changes and improvements to the show, but in the meantime… ...this week I’d like to share a fairly recent interview I did with S...

In case you missed the announcement, the Optimize Yourself podcast is currently on summer hiatus, but that doesn’t mean we plan to leave you high and dry without engaging conversations that educate, motivate, and inspire you. We’ll be back this fall with some significant changes and improvements to the show, but in the meantime… ...this week I’d like to share an interview I did with Javier Mercede...

In case you missed the announcement, the Optimize Yourself podcast is currently on summer hiatus, but that doesn’t mean we plan to leave you high and dry without engaging conversations that educate, motivate, and inspire you. We’ll be back this fall with some significant changes and improvements to the show, but in the meantime… ...this week I’d like to share with you another interview I did last...

In case you missed the announcement, the Optimize Yourself podcast is currently on summer hiatus, but that doesn’t mean we plan to leave you high and dry without engaging conversations that educate, motivate, and inspire you. We’ll be back this fall with some significant changes and improvements to the show, but in the meantime… ...this week I’d like to share with you an interview I did last year...

In case you missed the announcement, the Optimize Yourself podcast is currently on summer hiatus, but that doesn’t mean we plan to leave you high and dry without engaging conversations that educate, motivate, and inspire you. We’ll be back this fall with some significant changes and improvements to the show, but in the meantime… ...this week I’d like to share with you a recent interview I did with...

Hello out there to all of my Optimize listeners & readers, I hope you’re doing well and enjoying your summer so far. This brief announcement letting you know that I and my team will be going on a summer hiatus for the next several weeks. Since the pandemic began in early March of 2020 we’ve all been going non-stop without a break doing our best to provide you with the best education, motivatio...

"One video made by anyone can change the world." - Misha Tenenbaum Whether you are a seasoned editor, an aspiring editor, or if you're simply a creative professional who tells stories, you can always benefit from improving your visual storytelling skills. The craft of storytelling gives you the power of persuasion, the ability to affect change, and the opportunity to express yourself i...

In this episode, I give you an insider’s glimpse into the world of my Optimizer coaching & mentorship program and what we call the ‘Hot Seat.’ What you’ll hear today is a recording of an actual live session with an Optimizer student where on the Hot Seat we tackle various questions about career transitions, productivity, workflows, networking, burnout, habit formation, resumes and websites, an...

In Part 1  of my conversation with college student (and now graduate)  Austin Coburn  we discussed the many pitfalls that so many young, ambitious creatives fall into when they enter the working world hoping to “make it.” Today's conversation is part 2 of our conversation, and in today's episode we flip the script and  Austin interviews me  from the perspective of a college student who is...

In this episode, I give you an insider’s glimpse into the world of my Optimizer coaching & mentorship program and what we call the ‘Hot Seat.’ What you’ll hear today is a recording of an actual live session with an Optimizer student where on the Hot Seat we tackle various questions about career transitions, productivity, workflows, networking, burnout, habit formation, resumes and websites, an...

Every year at this time there is an influx of energetic and passionate young filmmakers as they graduate from college ready to take on the world and become the next great filmmaker. Most graduates (including myself) enter their career ready to take on the world and do whatever it takes to "make it" in the industry, including: Working ridiculously long hours, Consistently staying up all nig...

In this episode, I give you an insider’s glimpse into the world of my Optimizer coaching & mentorship program and what we call the ‘Hot Seat.’ What you’ll hear today is a recording of an actual live session with an Optimizer student where on the Hot Seat we tackle various questions about career transitions, productivity, workflows, networking, burnout, habit formation, resumes and websites, an...