Hammad H. Zaidi – Biography
President, CEO and Principal of Lonely Seal Releasing, Baby Seal Releasing, and Lonely Seal Pictures.
Hammad Zaidi was seven years old in Overland Park, Kansas when he and his four-year-old sister Mona watched a documentary on baby harp seals being clubbed. Only one seal survived, which Mona coined “The Lonely Seal”. Hammad quickly adopted the phrase, and the inspiration for the Lonely Seal family of companies was created.
Nineteen years later, Hammad earned his Masters of Fine Arts from the UCLA Graduate School of Film’s Producers Program in 1994, and then opened Lonely Seal Pictures.
Hammad’s producing career with Lonely Seal Pictures began when he executive produced the features “The La Mastas” in 1998, and “The Stonecutter” in 2001. He then executive produced the award-winning documentary “Shades of Grey” in 2003.
By September of 2005, Zaidi founded Lonely Seal Releasing and Baby Seal Releasing. These two distribution companies joined Lonely Seal Pictures in sharing one clear vision; to remain of the most ethical distribution and production entities that exist anywhere.
In September of 2006, Zaidi produced acclaimed director Benjamin Meade’s documentary “American Stag”.
In 2007, Zaidi created, executive produced and directed the TV concept “Pet Divorce Court”. He also executive produced the feature film “The Men Who Fell”, the Children’s DVD series “Monkey Presents, Kid Smart Classics”, (all four episodes “Homer’s Odyssey”, “Romeo & Juliet”, “Moby Dick” and “Don Quixote”), and two rock concert DVDs; Stephen Pearcy’s “Defending the Faith” and Peter Distefano’s “Loyalty”.
As a writer, Hammad Zaidi’s screenplay “Get A Life” was a winner at the Telluride Indiefest screenwriting contest in 2002, his screenplay “The Brotherhood of Invisible Men” was a national semi-finalist in both action- adventure and comedy categories at the Screenplay Festival in 2004, and hisoriginal PSA script “Josh’s Pillowcase” recently won a 2007 Telly Award
for writing. Hammad also created “Ogre Achiever”, a national Shrek-based billboard campaign to encourage children to achieve. Created in March of 2004, “Ogre Achiever” still remains in nationwide release.
As a director, Zaidi did “Champions of Hope” in 2002, a September 11th related national PSA that inspired children to do community service on the one-year anniversary of September 11th. The PSA was released theatrically on over 5,000 screens as well as on major TV and cable networks. As a result, at least 650,000-1,000,000 children across the United States were called to action in their communities.
Hammad directed “Baptized at Lucky Lube” in 2000, a short that played at twenty film festivals in six countries, (USA, Australia, England, France, Canada and Mexico).
As an avid supporter of film festivals, Hammad Zaidi has been a judge/panelist and or sponsor at over thirty festivals worldwide. These include “Fickerfest” in Sydney, Australia in 1997 and 1998, “Slamdance” in Park City, Utah for numerous years, The Dawson City International Film Festival in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada since 2001, and the Nashville Film
Festival since 2006. Furthermore, Hammad has sponsored and served on the national advisory board of The Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee Film Festival since its inception in 1997, and The Kansas International Film Festival since 2005.
As an academic, Zaidi has served as an adjunct professor/instructor at the UCLA Summer Producers Program from 1995-1997, The Chapman University Graduate School of Film in 1998, The Watkins Film School in Nashville in 2001, and The Avila University School of Visual and Communication Arts in Kansas City since 2006. Additionally, he has been a guest lecturer at numerous academic institutions since 1995, including UCLA, Vanderbilt University, San Diego State University, California State University, Northridge, The University of Kansas, The University of Missouri-Kansas City, Moorpark College and Austin Community College.
Hammad Zaidi loves creating, inspiring budding creators, and being a part of a collaborative team at Lonely Seal Releasing, Baby Seal Releasing and Lonely Seal Pictures, who champion the projects of quality filmmakers into the worldwide marketplace.
