37: From Depression to Passion, Winning a Film Festival, & 1.4 Million Followers // The Story of Zac Stracener

I do struggle with anxiety pretty bad. I was like, hey, like this is really cool way to like reach people and to kind of have an influence in a way. So the way I was able to kind of cope with myself was by just creating a video.

Welcome to From Rock Bottom to Rockin It. I'm your host Eric Gilbert Williams and this is the podcast where we explore personal stories of people who hit absolute rock bottom, then got back up, wiped off the dust, kicked failure to the curb, and now they're rocking it like you'd never believe if you didn't hear it. Live right here we cover subjects in business, sports and life in general. If you like this podcast, please share it. These interviews are intended to inspire, to motivate, to give hope and vision. So please share this episode with someone who needs it. Use your Instagram account, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, hand signals, trained pigeon scent, smoke signals up in the air, use morse code, whatever you like. Just share the love and share this episode. Also, email me anytime. Podcasterrickgilbertwilliams.com Send me questions you would like to have asked of future guests and I will incorporate them. Or just send me some suggestions on how to run a better podcast. Or just say hello, I'd love to hear from you. That's podcasterrickgilbertwilliams.com I know you're going to love today's interview, so let's get started with us here Today on From Rock Bottom to Rock' n It is in my own words, the passion driven and artistically brilliant 23 year old director and actor from Louisiana with over 1.4 million followers on TikTok. None other than Zach Strasner himself. I only recently had the pleasure of discovering Zach's TikTok and YouTube channels by default to the show. Really. And if you haven't seen his work by the way, check him out on YouTube. Just I'll have show notes to this episode that have direct links to the TikTok and YouTube and his website and whatever else he asks me to, I will do it. And last night I sat down with a bunch of my friends to just look through his work and we watched a bunch of his short films about mental health and I was really blown away. He's an artist and to me artistic expression comes out in many, many forms. It's not just about paintings, it's about performing arts. It's a very broad subject. As you guys know. I was obsessed about dancing and performing and entrepreneurship and those are forms of art in my opinion as well. And this podcast to me, is also a form of artistic, creative expression, obviously about mental health. So I have a lot of specific questions for Zach in the show, and glad you guys could join us again. So without further ado here, Zach, man, how you doing? I'm glad to have you here.

I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here. Been looking forward to this literally all week, ever since we got this thing kind of booked and ready to go. But it's been good. It's, you know, Friday here and has everywhere. It's a nice day, so just kind of enjoying the sun.

Well, depending where you are in the world. Because I don't know about you, but my team is so global now that I don't even know what day or time. It's all just a big mix. Right. I'm going to bed. When people are waking up and I'm waking up and other team members are going to bed, it's all about working remote, you know?

Yeah, absolutely. It's an interesting time we're living in with that Zoom and FaceTimes now.

What about you? Before we get into the heavy stuff, I'm curious about the evolution of film and the evolution of. To me, for example, you look at what's going on and movie theaters are struggling, obviously. And to me, there's a red flag. This is the blockbuster of our age. What's going to happen to movie theaters? I wouldn't be surprised if Netflix or Disney bought out some of the big movie chains and it became just a part of your extension and your membership. Instead of paying $19.99, maybe you pay $39.99 and you just go to the movies whenever you feel like it.

Right.

Similarly, how long is it going to take for, I don't know, YouTube or TikTok to buy out some of the popular TV stations? And they just blend and they all just become one thing. And so for you, getting in film and doing everything you're doing, I'm just wondering, broadly speaking, what do you see the future of that being? And your team can be remote now and you're dealing with global audiences. I'll stop there. But this is an interesting subject to me. I'm just curious your thoughts.

No, it is. And it's something that, you know, like, a lot of peers will talk about with me. I am a big advocate, as most, I would say, filmmakers are for movie theaters. I just made one recently. It's like this. It's just a big thriller. It's like kind of more Of a block, but kind of my first like Blockbuster, I guess, style. Just like car chase thing.

Is that the Netflix one that you just posted like a few hours ago or whatever?

Yes, actually, yeah, a couple hours ago. Yeah, that's the one I posted.

Ah, see, I'm paying attention.

And thank you, thank you. And you know like that's a surround sound mix. I mean it's booming and like you feel the chase, you feel the tension the entire time. But if I have my headphones on, it's going to be hard to connect because I can't feel the bass right that's in front of me and the subs and stuff and the cars aren't going all. So in that sense, like, I do think a lot of movies or obviously benefit from being in a theater setting. Do I think they're going to be here forever? No, I don't, unfortunately believe that. Just because I feel like at the end of the day the only color in Hollywood is green. And if they're not making money, then why even have that as an option? But I do like the point that you brought up. I've never even really thought of that as far as like Disney or some of these other companies buying studios and kind of adding that to a subscription. That's a very interesting idea. Like I said, I've never thought about.

Because what are the options? To me, look at the overhead, look at the physical cost of maintaining one theater, nevermind a whole chain across a country or a planet. It's not like before. I mean, now we can go and sad to say, but there's bootleg copies of every brain you release available day one. And how do you work around that?

Yeah, no, yeah.

And then subscription model is obviously the way of the Internet, it's the way of the present. So it just seems like a natural blend to see them both end up coming together. And you know, building on what you said a second ago. So you're saying that like the benefit of being in a theater is to have that base and the feel and experience and the setting. Is that right?

Yeah, you know, just like example, right. If you have someone like hugging on screen, then it's like just a very pivotal part in those two characters story and their growth. Like you want to feel that hug and like you can have a base like just start from the back and kind of wrap around with you. Right. Like just as the hug is going on, like you're feeling that more. So I mean, I definitely think it's a very vital part of some stories that need to be told.

Yeah, yeah. I won't even name the company because I don't want to accidentally product plug things that I'm. When we're talking about mental health. But there's this new vest out. It's basically a vest you put on. It's like a haptic vest with built in vibrational to pump the bass into your bones, basically is what vibrates inside your body. And I'm thinking combine that with some VR headset. I mean, I'm a huge VR. I'm a total nerd, by the way.

Me too.

So you've probably seen the movie Ready Player One and the Oasis and all that stuff.

Oh my gosh, I wish so much that we were in that time already. Yes, I love it.

Well, and you look at what happened with my Oculus and I'm gaming and the experience that I'm getting out of that is out of this world. And then we combine that with the sound vest, it just blows my mind on where we're headed as a society, how close we are actually to or how on that trajectory we are.

No, that's interesting.

Anyway, it's totally random and completely off track, but I can't help myself.

Great movie and great book.

We diverge a little bit on the show sometimes. Tell me, you have short films that are, you know, you basically got super popular for your quality work that are like 15 second or less videos about deep, deep emotional expressions in the subject of mental health. Anyone who's listening who hasn't watched at least one, I almost guarantee when you watch one, you're going to watch through several because there's a twist to them.

Right.

I never really know what to expect when I'm watching. It's almost like watching Black Mirror or whatever in that there's this duality or this mirror effect that you're bringing to the table. And in your own words, I'd love to hear what you're doing. I wouldn't even ask the question more deep than that. What are you doing? Sure.

What am I doing? Isn't that the question that I wake up every morning and ask myself?

Because you're doing something and you're doing it very well.

Right. Thank you.

So I'm just wondering, how do you articulate that?

Yeah, well, so let's first context here. About a year ago. Well, even before that, as I like, I'm kind of getting into filmmaking in like junior high and high school. I've always kind of leaned more towards, I guess like a darker and more serious tone. Like I've Just always been that way. And then fast forward a couple years into college and you know, this thing, TikTok comes out and my buddy is like trying to send me a couple videos and I can't watch them on the browser for some reason. It's like making me download the app and I'm like, no, like, I will not do this. And because my little sister had it, I knew. I was like, I think people renegade on it. Like, that's the big thing. And anywho, I ended up downloading it to watch one of them and you know, on hold. Like so many people, they get addicted to it because, I mean, it's literally built for you. Well, I make one video. It does pretty well in numbers. I'm like, hey, that was cool. And it was actually a fitness thing and I had a lot of people, like message me just asking for help fitness wise. I was like, hey, like, this is really cool way to like reach people and to kind of have an influence in a way that was kind of sitting there and I don't really touch it for a couple months. Well then want to say it was like May. So it was like Mental health awareness month comes around last year. Like, we're in like the very beginning stage of COVID So like, like the world, I mean, we all obviously remember just kind of like that dark tone and we just kind of felt every day. And I had an idea. I myself, I'm sure we'll probably get into that. I do struggle with anxiety pretty bad. And I was like having a pretty rough time during those early stages of that in May and stuff. And I really had no way to cope. I'm stuck inside. I'm with my grandparents down in Louisiana and there's nothing I can do, like, to kind of escape, you know. And so the way I was able to kind of cope with myself was by just creating a video. And I make this one video to kind of articulate what it was I was feeling and just visualize it. I posted it and like a lot of people were telling me, like, hey, this is like exactly how I feel. Like, I really relate to this. Like, you know, thank you. And like, that was a really cool, like, seeing. I was like, wow, like other people. Just even for myself, I'm like, wow, like other people, like, understand, you know, like me. And that in itself was just really encouraging. And so I wanted to keep doing it and to keep kind of just shedding a light on this dark matter. I do think we're becoming as a society way more vocal about Mental health and mental illness. But I still feel like in a lot of ways it's very sugar coated, like we don't get as raw as it really is. And you know, some might argue that you don't need to. To a certain degree, you know, I feel like that's a case by case thing. But for myself, like, I want to be as raw, honestly as you can be with it because I mean, that's just what it is. Like I want someone to see that. I don't want someone that struggles to see something that is supposed to be branded, I guess, for lack of a better word, as their mental illness and say like, well, I mean, that's kind of what it is, but like it's really a lot worse than that. But I want somebody that does struggle to the fullest extent to say like, dang, that guy gets it. Or like these people that are in this comment section, like, understand me and I feel better because of that. Like, I can like kind of relate and just see that other people are feeling this way. And it, like, honestly, like it really for myself has been encouraging to see people kind of have somewhat of a community in a sense with that. I think that's a very powerful thing for anyone that struggles with anything to have is, you know, that community of a little rant there.

You know, mental health didn't exist back when I was younger and the word didn't exist and the concept of support didn't exist, right? You give him a pill or you tell him to smarten up or you make him pay attention more. And I don't know if you know my story, but when I was struggling with my own mental health issues, and maybe even still to this day, who knows, right? But when I was in school, elementary school, high school, and I could feel everything, everyone's energy was just overwhelming and I couldn't concentrate as a result. And I also, I read slow. I. I can listen to an audiobook on 4 times speed, which is almost, you know, superhuman. But I can't read very well. I read fine, but slowly and it's not my, my primary. So when someone's. Something's getting taught, you know, it doesn't really absorb and makes me look stupid. I feel stupid, I withdraw. Then I get, you know, I become an easy target, I get beat up and, and then the cycle continues and parents make me go to school. So I end up, you know, feeling like, like parents are against me as well and the teacher's against me and kids are against me. And then I snapped, right? And Ran away from home, ran away from school and got into drugs, lived in a drug house, got arrested. It was terrible and it was brilliant at the same time because I found self esteem and I found community, which is this word that you're saying. I found my first community, which is almost like a goodwill hunting moment where these guys showed me love. These people, they showed me appreciation, they heard my voice. That was more important than anything when I was a kid. And obviously there was a double edged sword going on because I got in a lot of trouble and had to find my way out. But mental health didn't exist. And I think society is terrified in a general sense to acknowledge that, you know, there's what, 6,000 suicides under the age of 30 every year and that, you know, two kids are going to commit suicide by the time we even finish this show.

Right.

I think society is terrified to acknowledge that this is a reality. And I can imagine back when I was in school and going through all this stuff, if my parents or teachers or whatever had seen videos that you're putting out, the automatic reaction would have been, oh, we can't talk about this. You know, this isn't right. We have to shut this down.

Right?

We have to block this. And in many ways, you know, listening to Eminem, like, to me, he was a hero when I was a kid, expressing, you know, the anger that I felt, right? And of course that's the embodiment, like what happened when his stuff came out. Oh, we gotta shut it down, we have to stop it. No, no, this guy's touching on shit that we're feeling right now. We have to go into this deeper, not shut it down. Anyways, I'm going on a side tangent again, but when I see your work, I have all these connections that happen in my brain about where we are as a society and how ready is the world to absorb your video. What would you like to see as a result? When people are watching your video and they connect and like you said, they see that you get it and all of a sudden they can not be alone. Where do you see this going? What are you trying to accomplish?

I think my biggest thing is so like one, it's hard obviously for me to. I can't like, talk to everybody. Like, I mean, there's just so many messages. It's really hard and I hate that. Like, I wish more than anything it, like, it truly does, like, it really does break my heart that I can't. But like, it's just not possible. So in that sense, I hope that People that one struggle with it will see my work and will seek like, maybe not help necessarily, but just seek like the word from earlier, a community, like start talking with people. Maybe they send it to a friend, maybe they send to family member. And like the next part of that is I hope that someone that sees my work that doesn't understand, will try to understand with that and try to find the people that they know that do understand it and try to have a conversation and to try to just help be better as a, you know, as just as a society in general.

In the concept of understanding and in context of the show, if you don't mind, could you share with us like what you feel your. Your absolute rock bottom, lowest moment was?

Yeah, sure, can that.

That's. That's the subject of the show, right? From rock bottom to rocking it.

And no.

And you know, it's not to dwell on negative at all. It's about to show contrast. Like when I was struggling, man, when I was stuck and I mean like fucking stuck, you know, I would listen to stories of people that came back out of nothing and made something of their lives. And that was my source of inspiration and I'm trying to pass it forward with the show. So that's the context here. So.

No, that's awesome. That's awesome. Well, let's do it. So if we go way back. So I grew up with my grandparents. That's who raised me. And I would be a fool to say I didn't come up and I would say the best home possible. I had a great experience growing up.

Why are your grandparents?

So my mom had me at the age of like 16 or 17, in and out. Dad was never there and they just took me guardianship as soon as I was born and raised me and had a great childhood, great experience. Just like with that there was always like family stuff that would come up, right? And as it does and like with my mom and things and we get to high school and my mom at this point is kind of in my life as well. And our family has this kind of weird dynamic. My mom's living like not too far away, but I'm still like with them. And anywho, I go through high school and I got really sick my junior year of high school and to this day they actually don't hopefully know what was wrong. But there was something to do with my liver that happened and I was out of school for months. I couldn't really go outside. But more context beforehand. I. I was really big into baseball, played baseball my Entire life, just very into it. I'd always had dreams of going to college playing baseball. And obviously every kid wants to go pro in whatever sport they're playing. Looking back, I'm like, wow. Like there was no way. But anywho, at the time, you know, that it was.

You had a different skill.

Right.

You just didn't know it then.

I did not. I did not. So I ended up having to like quit sports and I couldn't work out. I was told I'd never be able to work out or to, you know, just be athletic. I'd have to really just kind of be inside a lot. And I mean, that was hard because it was like, man, I'm going from this like decently athletic individual that's playing baseball and having fun with friends and stuff to not doing that. And then I, you know, I didn't. So one day I woke up and everything was kind of better. Like my grandma, like saw me and she was like, hey, like, you like look good. How do you feel right now? And I'm like, oh, I feel really good. A couple of days passed by and like it was very consistent and went and got like blood work done and like my levels, whatever it was they were checking were like right around normal. There's still a little spike, but they were like, we have no idea. So for a time they would like check my levels and stuff and like they never spiked again. So to this day we don't really know what happened or like what was wrong. But yeah, so that wasn't my rock bottom. This is still just more context getting beforehand. This is the prequel. So anyways, so fast forward to. Well, actually that summer. I was with a. Our local church at the time and we were going on like a. This camp retreat thing and we were in Florida and we're on this bus. Want to say it was like a 12 row bus and we ended up getting in a wreck and it was like a really bad accident. The accident ended up like the, the news reports and stuff ended up going like national and stuff. They're all over radio and it was like big horrific thing being. I wish I had a photo I can share of like the bus, but I mean it was the officers and stuff said 10 times out of 10 everybody on this thing is like done, like no one should make it. And like everybody on that bus like survived. And for the most part there was two or three individuals that had some pretty serious injuries, but for the most part, like no one was, you know, severely injured. Just, you know, some more context I was on a 12th row and like flew to like the second or first row, like kind of like halfway point and like kind of woke up like what in the world. And that in itself was an important because it was kind of like this wake up to me because I was like, wow. Like okay, life is very precious and I don't know what I really want to do with the rest of my life. And you know, at the time, I'm like 17 or 18 years old.

Yeah, you're lucky to be alive, man. This is crazy.

Yeah. So anyways, it ended up though helping me pick where I wanted to go to school and kind of a little bit more direction of what I wanted to do. What I thought at the time was like just leadership and like doing like this kind of more business approach. Well, I am now we're kind of getting into the more. Well even beforehand I had a really good couple seasons of my life. Like I was really breaking out of my shell, making a lot of friends. I had a really cool girlfriend at the time. And just life just literally seemed as if it was a movie because it was like wow. Like I'm, you know, this is great. Whenever I got sick in high school, I gained a lot of weight. I was severely overweight, just a very unhealthy. And I ended up like my first year of college, like losing a ton of weight. Like really just started kind of doing a lot more self care and I, you know, like I'm saying like life was like perfect. It was like literally a movie. And anywho, we kind of fast forward into the next year and I'm kind of at this crossroads where I'm like, I don't know what I want to do like the rest of my life. And I guess in a sense like we always are going to be questioning but to a certain degree. But I was not doing film and stuff still. And I had, you know, through high school I would video like church events, my, my little sister's birthday party. Just pretty much any time like a friend would say hey, like can you shoot this for me? Or something. Like I was the one that had like a cheap little camera and I would shoot it and you know, windows movie maker and anyways, so it's my second year of college and I, me and that girl go through a breakup and which now is awesome that that happened so good that it happened. But you know, at the time like I was like, oh my God, like this is the end of the world. And like with that I'm like failing college, like I'm, like, totally flunking every class I'm in. And I. You know, my, like, growing up, my family is very, like, just very wanted me to be good in school, to do well in school, and they just instilled that. And I always, always didn't.

My mom's a teacher, by the way. I feel. You okay?

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I am in this season, and I. I started picking up a lot of pretty bad vices for myself. I really started getting to, like, heavy drinking and just, like, staying out a lot, kind of doing just a little bit, like, party in here and there, which for me was a very bad, I guess, advice, because it's like just feeding into this. This reality that I didn't want to fully accept. And that was. One, I'm heartbroken. Two, I have no idea what the hell I'm going to do the rest of my life. Three, I'm failing college. Like, I'm just kind of using this as a band aid. And, I mean, it got to a point where I remember waking up one day, not really knowing, like, where I was and having this, like, 50 text messages from my grandma. Just like. I mean, heartbreaking messages, like, where are you? Like, we are so scared. And just like, that was like, wow. Like, I am hurting, you know, other people around me. And I, at the time was, like, I said in college and didn't really know, like, still didn't know what I wanted to do fully. I kind of was toying with the idea of, like, film. And one of my buddies that kind of really took me in and just kind of, like, helped kind of guide me in a better way was just like, man, like, why don't you just get out of here? And I'm like, how do I do that? Like, transferring colleges was never an option for me, or I never thought was an option for me. Like, it was kind of like a taboo thing I always heard people were doing. Never in a million years do I think my grandparents were gonna be okay with that. And I swear to you, and within the next hour, my grandpa, who is the most, like. I mean, he's my role model, full and full, but he never really text me what he did. And he said, hey, like, is everything okay? Do you want to go talk? You know? And that was very different for me to see. And we ended up meeting, he was just like, tell me what you're thinking. And I just kind of said, I think I need to leave and go to film school. And, like. Like, my grandparents, you know, God bless them, like, film and stuff. I mean, that is like the generational difference. It's hard for them to really understand even what I'm doing now. It's like my nana will be watching TikTok. She's like, I saw your newest like movie. You know, it's just like a 16 second TikTok.

People don't realize just how big the business is. My new startup, I run a social media platform which I want to ask you specifically about in a second. But the concept that a meme or a YouTube channel or a TikTok channel can be big business is not yet social norm with mass population. Like there is a huge and obviously an expanding population that understands just how big this business is, but most people don't get it. You know, if you got a million followers, I mean, you have a, you have a very viable real business. That's a starting point for several other businesses. And that's not something like one of my friends that does a lot of my video editing, you know, he's going to school to be a video editor because his aspirations is to be a successful YouTuber. And you know, you go back a few years. What do you mean you're going to school because you have an aspiration to be a professional YouTuber. What does that even mean? Right. And people don't quite get that yet. So. Yeah, I don't know if that's what was happening to you or not.

No, no, absolutely. I should have, I guess said this since I was a kid. One of my biggest dreams before movies was genuinely like to be just something in social media. At the time it was like YouTube and like vine were like the big things. I was like, man, like, I really want to be on that and like just I really like want to do that lifestyle, not like have a real job, just like, I get to go like shoot things with cameras. Like that sounds awesome and like, I don't know, but here we are. That's kind of what I'm doing. And that's cool.

Yeah. You told your grandparents you're going to film school and how did you take it?

Oh, yeah, so I told, I told my grandparents. They were super supportive about it.

Well, that's awesome. That's great.

Yeah, I mean, like, I was so anxious. Like, oh man. Like, I don't know how to tell them because at the time, like I was doing like business stuff. Wanted, I was, I thought I wanted to do like insurance. It's like, how do I tell them I'm going to be going from potentially making like ride under six digits A year to, I probably won't make a dime. Right. Like, that's hard for any parent to really understand. And I totally get it. It's hard for, I would say, a parent to kind of let that go for someone, but they trusted me and they did and they let me go.

Thank you so much for sharing this show and spreading the love. Every time you click that share button or put it on your social media, it makes a big difference to those who listen to it, to the guests that I have on here as well, and to me personally. This is a passion project. And so all of your help, sending me feedback, sending me an email, clicking that contact me button on my website, all of that is amazing and it really touches my heart because when I. I was little and struggled, I dropped out of school, I got into drugs and violence. It was very difficult. And I hit rock bottom. My own rock bottom in that context was when I was around 17 years old and I thought I was going to jail for a long time. I didn't know what was going to happen. And I got out because people reached out to me and helped me. People picked me back up and gave me motivation to move forward, just like you're hearing in these interviews. So this really is a passion project for me and I'd love it if you checked out my book as well. I tell my whole story on there. You can find it on. On my website, ericgilbertwilliams.com just click on my book. I would love for you to download a free copy of the intro and prologue. It's there right now anytime. There's an audio version as well. And now we're going to go back to the interview. Talk to you guys soon. That's huge. Like, and we got to take a second and acknowledge how big that is. That's freaking massive.

Yeah, right.

Because parents, what, like, the average person, the average parent, grandparent, they just want the best for their family, for their siblings, for whatever it is, right? But the concept of what's best is not what I think is best. It's what's truly best. And that's not something that I have influence over anyone that I care about. You know, I might think that it might be better for someone to do something, but that's not really how it works in the reality. The only person that knows what's right for you is you.

Right?

Anyone listening to the show, the only one that knows what's right for you guys and girls is you. Right? And to me, it reverses. It's not like it doesn't mean that I can't be supportive and I can't help someone, you know, get what's best for them. It means that the approach is different. And for me, and this is just my own philosophy around it, is that when I want what's best for someone, the best thing I can do is help them find it for themselves. You know, be a safe place. Encourage them to explore that little spark of passion and sort of help them when they fall, trying to explore it and help them find the confidence and the voice to embrace that little spark that's inside of us and let it out. And anyways, that's my little spiel on that. But it's so powerful that.

No, no, no, Absolutely.

Yeah. Your grandparents were able to make that leap and trust that you could find your way and support you on that journey. That's massive. Because if they don't, what happens if they don't, it's like cutting the tie, right. It's a clear contrast now there's a line in the sand. You're over here doing what you feel is right for you.

You.

They're over here conflicting with it. And when I feel like when parents or even when friends and peers or siblings take that stance of no, no, no, no. I don't think that, you know, I don't think you know yourself as well as I do.

Right.

Well, that's a, that's a powerful statement and it makes a conflict. And there's a time when intervention, if it's talking about severe addiction, da, da, da. Sure. There are scenarios where, you know, maybe I, maybe I do know that you need to quit, you know, drugs and go to rehab or something like that. Maybe that's true, but those are the exceptions. So anyways.

No, absolutely.

That's amazing that your grandparents were supportive.

Yes. And very, very, very fortunate of that. So I go off to film school with their blessing and I made. Well right before I left, it was like the month, I want to say it was probably a month before me and my buddy, the same buddy that kind of like, kind of guiding me like in a better path. Like I was saying beforehand, he's an actor. And we ended up talking about making like a little short. And this is like pre TikTok. So like, you know, we don't really have, I guess that short form video in our head yet other than vibe of I was, you know, it was different. And so we're like, what if we made like just a minute long, like just really cool looking, like sniper thing and I had like an airsoft gun. And we were. I'm like, oh, like, well, that'd be cool. Like, sure. Like, let's try it. And then, as most things I do, I end up doing way more than I probably should once I get started. So we're like, oh, what if we, like, actually made, like, a little story around this to where, like, you know, we don't have to pay any money to, like, do it. We just already have the airsoft gun, and lo and behold, like, end up with my first, like, short film. I put quotes there for the listeners. My first short film. And, you know, it was really cool. Like, we shot it with just, like, my grandma's, like, Canon Rebel. And, you know, it is what it is. But, you know, I use that as a very big, like, it's a very monumental moment for me because I was. I saw that, and I was like, hey, like, I did this. People like it. This is like, you know, I can do it. And that was the kind of gave me the confidence going into film school. I was like, okay. Like, I can kind of roll with, I guess, the people that have been here the past two years because, you know, I'm transferring in and so go through school. School is great. It is what it is. You know, at the end of the day, it is school and I breaking out of kind of, like, this low point. And so I'm going through school, and I hear this festival, this film festival that's coming up, and I'm like, oh, like, I could just put the. The sniper thing in it. Then I like, what if I. If I wrote something else and tried it? Ended up writing. I mean, it's actually my least favorite thing I've made to date. But I ended up. I made this little. It's like the story of this guy. I don't know if you saw it on YouTube. It's. Hey, Cali is the one on YouTube. It's like, this guy, he's writing this letter to this girl, and there's a big. There's a reveal at the end.

Is this the flowers one?

Let's see. Yeah, he does have flowers.

Okay. I won't spoil it for people that hadn't seen it yet, but, yeah.

It'S okay if you don't watch it. But like I said, go watch some other stuff. They're better. Anyways, with it, I ended up winning the festival. And with that, I stood on that stage accepting the award, almost crying. I was like, could not, like, believe. And it was one year exactly to the day that my friend told Me to leave. In the same day, my grandpa asked if everything was okay. One year to the day was that award ceremony. And I stood on that stage and I told him. A year ago, I was on a floor, had no idea where I was at, hungover, had no aspirations in life whatsoever. I didn't know what I was doing. I was heartbroken. I was gaining weight and I mean, I was. I was broken. And now I stand on the stage and, you know, this is just a small little festival, but to me, like this wooden little plaque that says film on it is the proudest I've ever been of myself. Really.

Wow, that's amazing. I'm so happy for you, man.

Thank you. Thank you. And ever since then, I go finish school and stuff and I keep creating. And then TikTok and stuff kind of came up in the past year. And we're here. College graduate with. With no job.

You made it farther in school than I did. But, I mean, you do have a job, though.

Yes.

What is a job anyways? If we pause for a second on that subject, like, a job, to me is a word of the past, right? A job symbolizes and embodies the concept that while you're alive, you have to do something to sustain. And usually that thing is not something you enjoy. Like, the word job, I think started to have widespread adoption basically in the industrial age, right? A job was you go to the factory and when you're done, your job done at the factory, you come home and then you can actually be happy again because you're not going to be happy at your job. This is the foundations to me of the word job, right? You go to your job to survive, otherwise you're going to die, right? And when you're at your job, you might die there too, because conditions are so horrible, you're not going to enjoy this experience. If we look at the 80, 20 rule, 80% of people maybe didn't enjoy what their job, quote, unquote, job was, right? And so with a job, you need to retire. You need to get out of that job as quickly as possible so you can enjoy yourself on the weekends or retire at 55. And so, and this is where to me, the birthplace of the word retirement comes from, too. None of that has anything to do with passion or love or pleasure or embracing life to the fullest. Those concepts were as foreign to people back then as the concept of mental health was back when I was in school.

Yeah.

What do you mean you're going to enjoy the rest of your life doing what you Love. Can you imagine saying that to a factory worker in the 1800s? Right. They'd probably beat you up.

Yeah.

So, I mean, when I look at what you have, I mean, you have a following, you have a great skill, you're honed it, you've embraced it, you have a career, you have a life passion, you have a bright future ahead of you. In a way that's part of the new norm that is still forging itself and developing itself. I mean, what do you think of that? I just wanted to rant here about the concept of job versus passion. Obviously you can tell I'm a passion driven person.

No, Yeah, I love it.

I have what, my grade 10. I think the funny part is I don't even know. I think I do. I think I have my grade 10, but I'm not sure because, you know, obviously I got in a lot of trouble. I had my mental health problems. And when I figured it out and I found passion for entrepreneurship when I was 18, you know, I was all in, man, 80, 90, 100 hours a week. 100 hours a week is not something that people usually understand. They usually have to take a step back at that point and they say, I don't understand what that means. It means you don't stop for anything. You sleep seven hours, you know, that's it max. And as soon as you get up, you're working again. You don't stop for your lunch break. You don't stop to take little, you know, social times. You don't have a girlfriend, you don't have anything except work. And if you're not, if you're not passionate about it, it will kill you. And for me, it was pure, pure joy and passion and a mix of other things too. But I don't know, I don't know what you think about that.

Yeah, no, I love that. Actually. I've never. The way that you were explaining that. I think that's really good. The job, the word for job. I think even in. Obviously I was joking about the job thing, not having one. Yeah. And I don't look at this as a job. You know, it pays and that's cool, but in itself, like it's just paying for itself because every little dime I make is going right back into it. Like, because, you know, the more I put into it, the better the content's going to be. The more people I can reach, the more like, all in all, the more people are going to benefit from it. But I'll tell just a little short story. Let's see, it was Like a year ago, I. I was more or less just very comfortable in my filmmaking and just in my craft. And I wasn't really taking a lot of chances. I did a film with a buddy and it's called Evocation and it was actually the same guy from the Sniper one. And anyways, we worked hard on it and it was cool and like, I told the story I wanted to tell with that. And we enter this festival. It was actually just a school one here. And it gets in it's doing from what I was being told, like, it was really good. And the day before the festival, I got an email that said, hey, my film got pulled from the festival. And I'm like, whoa, what happened? And there's no answer to anything. And so I go to one of these offices and I'm like, hey, like, what happened? Like, you know. And they said, well, one of the judges like, refused to judge if we allowed your film in here.

Oh, this is back to what I was saying earlier, isn't it?

Yeah.

Can't handle it.

I'm like, what do you mean? Like, I'm in. Like, I got in the festival like two weeks ago. Like it's tomorrow and thank God, like my grandma almost flew up to like watch this festival. And anyways, I went and talked to the judge. I said, hey, like, man, like, what's wrong? Like, I want to hear, like, hear you out. He just. There was no conversation. It was very, very defensive. And I was just, you know, like, we're not gonna get anywhere. Like, whatever.

He didn't explain it.

He did not. Other than. It was just very, like way too much in, like, he refused. Like art shouldn't. Like I should make things that are like more light hearted it easier.

Yeah. Candy coat it.

Right?

That's what you're saying before.

Yeah, exactly. And you know, man, it pissed me off bad.

That's not life. That's not how it works.

No, it's not. When I say like something like lit the fire under my ass, it was that like the next week. Well, actually, so that was on Wednesday. The festival was Thursday. And you know, they said I can submit like a bunch of like some. Anything else. I was like, no, no thanks. So the next day I go to just a cafe locally and I just start typing. And I ended up writing this film. It was. Sorry, I was never there. It was the one with the father and the son.

Yeah, I saw that one. Yeah, that was powerful.

Thank you. I wrote that. And then the next week we shot that and we made it and submitted it off to Sundance was doing, like, this little student festival. It wasn't even, like, a festival. It was like this little contest that they were doing. And anyways, we ended up like, getting I think it was, like, 14th or something out of it. But it was like, I was just so proud of the fact that we wrote the thing, we shoot the thing, we edit it, have it out. Like, literally the week that the world flipped upside down too. And that was cool. I looked at that and said, hey, okay. I was able to gather an awesome crew, awesome team around me. There had been no way I'd been able to do anything I've done without the people around me. But I looked at that and I said, hey, like, I was a part of this thing that was able to write something, shoot, and have it out pretty quickly. Well, now we're inching our way into that may where I'm, like, really struggling with my anxiety, and TikTok is there. And then I start shooting the TikToks and start pushing the TikToks. And then the third one I did that I kind of, like, made a shot list for. I'm using my camera, lighting and stuff went viral. And I had never, like, had a video go viral before. And I tell you, man, my word was pumping. I didn't know what to do. My buddy texted me, said, have you seen your video? And I was like, no, I haven't. I went, looked, and, like, I opened the app, and my phone just froze like it wouldn't, like, work anymore, and ended up getting on, and, like, the notifications are just rolling in. I was like, whoa. Okay. So, I mean, I really. So, you know, that happens. I start making more and more videos and doing that. I became just a better filmmaker because I'm doing. I'm practicing every single time. Like, I'm lighting, I'm shooting. None of my friends wanted to be in the tiktoks at the beginning, so I was having to act myself. I had never acted or tried acting before and at least got a little decent with it.

You're being modest.

Any. I really credit, though, that man for denying my film and pulling it. Like, if it wasn't for that, I can't say that that short film would have ever happened. And that TikTok that really. That I would have had the drive. And, like, we were talking about the passion to kind of do this.

Like, I feel you on that, man. I feel you.

Yeah.

You know, we only got a few minutes left here, but, I mean, you struck a chord with that one. When I was 16 and I had to go downtown and meet my lawyer because I was getting charged with trafficking and it could have gone really bad. And I was lost and angry. And I remember he was giving me a speech about, this is what you do, this is how you do it, this is how the day's going to go and shut up, be quiet, that kind of thing. And I guess he was in the military. He had a picture on the wall behind him of him standing beside a jet. And I love flying. I'm fascinated with the concept of flight. And I interrupted him, I said, oh, is that you? You know, it's like, oh, I want to be a pilot someday, right? And he lost it. He stood up out of his desk. You got to remember, I'm just a scared little 16 year old boy, right? And you know, I present to be all strong and powerful, but no, I'm terrified in life. And he jumps up and he slammed his table and he. Yeah, and he had his finger like in my face. And you know what he said? He said, you will never be a pilot. And it hit me, right? It was, it devastated my world. And after I digested it, it's like, you, man, I'm gonna go be a pilot. And of course, you know, when I, when I decided my first plane and took my first pilot lessons and you know, then I bought a hang glider and I'm jumping off mountains and, you know, skydiving everywhere I can, and my friends are taking me around the Alps and we're flying around the peaks and it's like, you know, he was wrong, right? And there was a motivation that, that triggered and I'll never forget it. And anyways, it's related to what you're saying. I can feel you, those guys pop up and now we're talking about the haters and you produce a little short that was called, I think, delete the haters or something like that.

Yeah, yeah, right.

And we're getting onto that subject now. Right now. There's some people that don't take the haters as a motivation, right? There's some people that get knocked down and sometimes they don't get back up or they lash out in a way that's not productive. I mean, you took it as inspiration, fuel to the fire. I took it as fuel to the fire. Other people don't. They take it as fuel for something destructive. And what do we do there? So this is the subject I wanted to ask you about earlier was the role of social media on mental health for kids today, or even young adults or older adults, but specifically on the younger generations. There's a direct correlation that we can draw between the spread of social media and, for example, the increase in suicide rates. And what does that mean? Do we destroy social media? No, because the benefits of social media, I think, and I hope far outweigh the downsides. However, there are certainly downsides and what do we do about it? And I said earlier, I have this tech startup and I'm running a social media platform, and the first time I had my life threatened and people said they're going to show up at my door and kill me and do horrible things that I won't repeat on the show to me, you know, I had to really take a step back and be like, okay, wait a second, like, this was not the intention. I literally set out to design, and I still am. Obviously, it is right on the homepage to design a family friendly, safe environment that, you know, has zero tolerance for cyberbullying and is LGBTQ friendly and is a good place for people. Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

And here's this kid threatening my life and going nuts. And not just me, but each other. I'm seeing these conversations amongst other people on the site. And then there's this one kid I remember, you know, talking about suicide. You know, I give up, I give up and this site is horrible and I'm going to go kill myself. And I'm sitting here watching it like, what do I. What do I do with this scenario? And now I was fortunate enough that through parental consent forms and all this stuff, I was actually able to tell the father of this kid that you need to go and talk to your kid and I need to block this account and we need to separate it, but you need to deal with your kid.

Right?

Because there's something there. But I don't know the long term solution. How do we deal with social media and haters and the freedom that they have? What would you say to people listening here on the show right now when they've had their own experience of a cyberbullying or a hater that attacks them? What kind of suggestions would you give to people listening?

No, I think that's a really good question. And it's, you know, I obviously don't have the right answer, but my answer is I would say I understand completely. You understand completely. A lot of us understand. And it's very hard. Right. Everybody responds in different ways to bullying and just threats. And what is the answer moving forward? I think one big thing is a lot of, let's say, quote Unquote influencers. It would really benefit if they practice what they preach. I think a lot of times people will post things about mental illnesses and maybe like self images and stuff, but then they'll go post something polar opposite of what they're saying. And it's like somebody that could cling onto the post or the video that is talking about anxiety or depression, whatever it is, and then they see this other post that is just like totally contradicting the post about the, the mental health. I would say that that's a very difficult, especially for influential like high school younger kids that are seeing that and are looking up to these celebrities in their mind. And it can be hard. So what do you do? I think, and it's a lot easier said than done, but I think the best thing would be going. I'll refer to what we were talking about earlier, finding a friend. I mean, having someone that understands what it is that you're going through or just try to help someone understand what you're going through and then just kind of not necessarily relying on them, but just having them there to talk to and to kind of like get through certain, certain things that might pop up. For me, it's been very beneficial. Just have someone to talk to. I was fortunate to find a friend in college that he doesn't struggle with really any like mental illness or anything. And you know, and there's times he'll tell me like, hey, like, I hear you and I want you to know, like, I care about what you're saying even though, like, I have no idea like what it's like or I have really no idea to relate to you. But like, even him just saying that is like, honestly, it's just like this really big comfort for me because it's like, thank you. Because it's like, you hear me. I think that's what so many people want is just someone to hear them. And that is just a very powerful way is to just listen to people.

Yeah. And they don't know.

Right.

They don't understand. You know, something huge happened yesterday that it's just relevant. I'll share is. So like when I got in, left school and all that stuff and got in trouble, I cut everything.

Right.

I haven't spoken to a single, not even one person from my childhood in that era at all. I cut every single person out and you know, they never reached out either.

Right.

So, you know, that's always been a thing in my mind and a pain point. I got an email yesterday from a kid and luckily, I mean he wasn't one of the bad kids. He was kind of a neutral kid. And we hung out and we were kind of like friends. But I got an email yesterday from someone from my elementary school who randomly had Googled me, listened to this podcast, heard my story, and what I went through that he had no idea about any email. It's like 20 years later. Emailed me yesterday, and he says, man, if I had have known, you know, I would have reached out, man, I'm sorry that that happened and that I wasn't there. Dude, I literally almost broke down and cried, right? Anyways, it was this because they don't understand people, that people don't know. If you don't ask for help, then people aren't going to know. And this is where I'm tying this in. You're saying, find a friend, right? If people listening to the show, if you're struggling out there with a relationship or a job or with your own, you know, with drugs or with anything at all, if you're struggling out there, odds are the vast majority of people around you, even in your inner circle, do not understand to what degree and depth that you're struggling. And if you don't tell them, they will never know. So that's my little. My story to share there.

Yeah.

Last question for you here, Zach, before we run out, is if you were to go back and imagine and talk to yourself at your lowest point back, whatever that may be, whether that was the school bus or, you know, when you're. When you're having the liver problems or the breakup or the. The party time, if you were to go back and talk to yourself back then, if you had 60 seconds just to say something to your former self and give a little bit of advice to yourself back then in that lowest moment, going back in Hot Tub Time Machine style, and then you had to come back to the present, you only had that little window, what would you say to yourself back then?

That's a really, really good question. I think I would honestly say keep going would be the first. Like, that would be the biggest theme of whatever it was. I was able to kind of, like, spit up to myself. Keep going. Because even though it's so cliche, but it's. I hate that the most cliche things are, like, the best things. The grass was greener on the other side. It really was. And it is. And, like, I'm here on this side and, like, it's green. The grass is green. Back then, I didn't think that there was grass left on earth. I Thought it was all burn up and gone. I look back into where I was at, and I look where I'm at now. Whenever I'm like, sometimes even now, like, I'll look in the mirror, I'm like, I'll try to just remember that time. And, man, it's so hard to. But I can just remember just someone that was scared, someone that had no idea where he was going, really didn't know what he was doing with the camera, too. And now I look at myself and I'm like. And I'm nowhere near, like, where I want to be and where I'm going to be. And, you know, we're always growing every day. We should be striving to, like, keep building up, right? We never really arrive, but at least we're moving forward. As long as you're moving, right? Just keep moving. Whether it's. Maybe you're just moving and you're staying in the same spot, as long as you're moving and you're just, you know, maybe you're just taking chances. You're starting conversations, you're putting yourself somewhere out there to where you're not backtracking and you're just kind of staying there and, like, you're making steps to go forward. Then that's. That's good. And it's hard. It's very hard to do. And that's something that everybody. That is. Even if it's just getting out of bed, like, hey, like, you got out of bed. That's better than you did yesterday. Like, you're moving forward. There was the time, you know, where so many of us will just lay in bed all day, not get up at all, just lay there. And it's hard. It's so hard to, like, tell someone that doesn't understand. I can't get out of bed. But, like, hey, you got out of bed today. Like, you're moving. Like, keep moving.

A friend of mine, when I was struggling, I asked him, I was just, you know, venting, man, I'm struggling. I don't know what's going on. I'm pushing so hard. It's getting nowhere. And he's like, don't worry, man. You know, you spin your tires. I hear it. He's like, someday when you spin those tires, all the mud that you're stuck in is going to just get shot out, and it's going to be nothing left in that puddle other than concrete. You're going to get through that mud to the bottom. But the only way to do it is to just keep spinning. The tires keep moving. How do people find you?

How do people find me?

Yeah. You just produced that music video. I think it was called I Feel for your with Baker Graves. It's beautifully done. It's really cool. I'm going to put a link to it in the show notes as well.

Thank you.

How do people find you and what do you want them to look at?

Yeah, I would say definitely Instagram and TikTok. It's just Zach Strasner. Well, TikTok is Zach Strasner. Somebody has Zach Strasner on TikTok and I think account. The account is dead. Which is even more annoying.

I tried to buy Eric.com so many times, man. 20 years hasn't used it.

Really? Man, that.

I'm so sorry.

Yeah. My website is just Zachstra.com and it's kind of a briefing of me and kind of what I do. It's more like just from the directing side of things. But social media is everywhere. I'm Zach Straitener. I also. I'm on Twitch too. I. I stream as well, which is actually, you were talking earlier about the VR and stuff. I love a big video game guy.

Right on. I'm into death lap contractors. Anyways. Maybe we'll see in the Oculus sometime. We'll stream that.

Yeah. Yeah. There we go. Cool.

Thanks for joining on the show here. From rock bottom to rockin it. You know, the courage that you have to share these stories I hope inspires people listening to find the courage, their own courage to share their own stories and. And to work through whatever challenges that they're going through. That's the point of this show. That's why I do it. I'm passionate for it. This is a pay it forward initiative. So I really appreciate the courage you have to share the challenges you went through openly like this for people to hear and learn from.

Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. And I really genuinely love what you're doing. I think this is awesome. And like you like that you're the one funding this. I mean that is just absolutely incredible. And man, rock on, man. Cause like this is really awesome.

I appreciate it. I appreciate the recognition on that. It's not cheap.

Yeah, I know.

The only thing I ask of people that are listening is just hit that. Subscribe and share with your friends. Just get the word out there because you never know who needs to hear this conversation. You never know who's struggling out there in your circle who just is waiting to hear a story like this to know that they're not alone to know that there's other people that care. You guys can send me an email anytime, send me a message and I'm happy to chat with you to whatever capacity I can. And that's a wrap guys. So this is another episode on From Rock Bottom to Rockin It. We will see you guys again next time. Have a rockin it day. And that's it, my friends. For this episode. We will see you next time. Please send me an email, say hello, give me some feedback, let me know what you think, give me some tips and suggestions. I'd love to hear from you. Also, please share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Facebook, Twitter, Twitter, Instagram, doesn't matter. Just get it out there. I really appreciate it. And we'll see you next time on From a Rock Bottom to Rocking It. Have a Rocking It.