OUR MISSION
Our mission, plain and simple, is to create powerful video for all media platforms that makes lasting impressions on your most valued audiences. We’re committed to helping you inspire, motivate and activate your key stakeholders be they your clients, employees, business partners, investors or whatever audience you need to reach to achieve your strategic goals and objectives.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
For Z Media, it’s all about relationships. Establishing a collaborative, mutually respectful relationship with each of our clients is fundamental to what we do. In fact, we believe that growing strong client relationships is essential to good, effective storytelling. We’re focused on delivering affordable, thoughtful, high-quality video that’s solution-based and impactful. It’s what we do.
ENDORSEMENTS
People like us...
“Z Media has been an amazing partner since day one. As Head of Sales for a Smart Lock emerging company, we have to tell a story on why we are different vs competitors that have been around for 70 to 100 years! Max, Jim, Lauren, Jeff, and Team took the challenge head on to guide us through the process in order to finalize a project that was both cost effective and professional from a content look/feel perspective. The final commercial was perfect in the way that it drove home the ease of use, security, and peace of mind solutions that our company has since won awards for. Z Media is our go-to Content/Commercial/Media and Creative Brainstorming company, and I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future.”
JEFF POULIOT
Lockly“We have been working with the team at Z Media Ventures for over 4 years now and without doubt, there are few, if any production partners who consistently go above and beyond to deliver outstanding storytelling and content of all shapes, sizes, styles and varieties to meet our needs. Whenever we face challenges – big or small – nothing is an issue for the dedicated, hardworking, and talented Z Media Ventures team. And beyond all of that, they’re just great people to work with and we enjoy immensely all the work we do together which ends up making the work we turn out even better!”
CHRISTIAN MURPHY
Head Enthusiast Brands, A+E Networks“Stowers Machinery has used Z Media Ventures for the past 2 years to develop both internal and external audio/visual communications. We have found them to consistently produce top quality work, deliver on time, and meet the agreed upon budget. The construction industry is a highly relational business, and we are always cautious about introducing outside partners to our end users. Z Media has proven to be an exceptional representative of the Stowers Machinery brand when interviewing and filming our customers. They do an exceptional job at capturing their stories and developing them into a message that is clear and meaningful. Every aspect of the project, from pre-planning, filming, production, and editing is a pleasure to work through with them. They are highly responsive, and their attention to detail and ability to "hit the mark" on the first take makes them an invaluable partner in bringing a message to market.”
Jonathon Russell
Stowers Machinery“The Knoxville Ice Bears have worked closely with Z Media to help us realize the full potential of our $1,000,000 video board for its inaugural season in October 2019. They worked with us through the selection, implementation and operation of the video board starting two years prior. We can attest that if it were not for Z Media our entire production would be at a stark disadvantage. They worked with us tirelessly to ensure our message was delivered with world class quality. Their commitment to our brand was that of a dedicated staff member and we are comfortable releasing the reigns and letting their creativity deliver the best message for the team. Jim is committed to being a team player with the Ice Bears beyond the groundwork laid in getting the production equipment prepared and installed, his team shined the brightest when we decided to move forward with our current season. With limited revenue sources and major concerns with executing a full season – they assured us of a commitment to being a key member of the team to ensure our video production for the games is one of the best in minor professional hockey.”
DAVE FEATHER
EVP, Knoxville Ice Bears“In my 32 year career with the University of Tennessee Athletics Department I have worked with every media company in town. Z Media Ventures has been the most impressive of them all. Z Media has an ability to find the story we should be telling, and then deliver a product that tells that story with skill, style, and class. They have done it all from our Peyton Manning documentary to our in-game presentations in front of sell-out crowds. I am proud to recommend them to anyone who asks!”
BARRY RICE
Senior Director of Broadcasting, VFL Films, University of TennesseeOUR TEAM
JIM ZARCHIN
President
Jim Zarchin is the Founder and President of Z Media Ventures. His dream: to create a video production company that brings the power of good storytelling together with the client’s need to connect with, motivate and activate key audiences. For Jim, the advent of Z Media comes after a successful and distinguished career in television production that spans more than 40 years. His roots are firmly planted in his early career as an award-winning broadcast journalist and news director for network-affiliated television stations in such major U.S. markets as New York, Chicago, Memphis and Cincinnati. Jim retired at the end of 2016 as a Senior Vice President for Scripps Networks Interactive. For more than a decade Jim led Branded Entertainment for Scripps Networks’ powerful suite of lifestyle television channels and digital properties, including HGTV, Food Network and Travel Channel. A business Jim built from scratch, Branded Entertainment’s mission was to deliver creative solutions for advertisers by making their product the central character in informative, entertaining video vignettes and short-form programming for all media platforms. Jim also launched the Do-It-Yourself Network (DIY) for Scripps, serving as its first President and setting the framework for the programming, marketing and ad sales initiatives for the network.
MAX ZARCHIN
Vice-President, Business Development
For Max Zarchin, the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. As Jim’s son, he shares his father’s vision for Z Media Ventures and has embraced his role as the sales and new business development force who’s making it happen. Max is a media industry veteran in his own right, with fifteen years of experience in television and digital content production, ad sales and business development. Most recently, Max has been an integral member of the Programming Integration team at Scripps Networks Interactive. Max and his Program Integration colleagues were responsible for creating advertising content for clients within HGTV and DIY Network programming. Max took a bold step, leaving Scripps to help Jim launch and lead the family venture. Max’s business development credentials include the instrumental role he had as Director, Digital Content at Athlon Sports in Nashville, where he helped the sports media company create a new digital content product that had 9 million subscribers and 30 million readers nationwide at launch. As a young producer, Max joined Bruno White Entertainment in Orlando, where he created compelling content for such well-known media brands as Disney, Animal Planet, Food Network and Discovery. By the way, Max’s career in television began as a student production assistant in the athletic department at the University of Tennessee. At UT, he worked on everything from recruiting videos to live game-day broadcasts on Neyland Stadium’s Jumbo-Tron.
CAROL JOHNSON
Chief Financial Officer
It’s Carol’s mission to make sure that Z Media’s capital resources are allocated strategically and wisely. As Chief Financial Officer, she makes certain the company is growing and, most importantly, has what it needs to deliver on the value proposition it promises to its clients. No small job, but with more than 20 years in business consulting and financial management, Carol is perfectly matched to the task. During her career, she’s started her own financial planning firm (Knoxville’s Oak Springs Wealth Management); she distinguished herself at Regions Morgan Keegan Trust as a Wealth Strategist and Vice-President; and she gained invaluable experience as a Financial Planner and Partner at Beeman and Johnson Asset Planning in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Carol, a Certified Financial Planner, paved the way for her career in finance at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.
KARRIE PATTERSON
Controller
Karrie brings more than 20 years of financial services, accounting experience and consulting to Z Media. As Z Media’s Controller, it’s all about financials, making sure all the numbers are in line, and, most importantly, that the Z Media crew and train are running smoothly and on time. Before landing with Z Media, Karrie worked in public accounting, has fine-tuned her financial paraplanning skills, and spent time in government services with the Department of Agriculture. She attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania and originally hails from Pittsburgh, PA, or better known as "Black and Gold Country", she has a die-hard obsession for her Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins and sadly the Pirates. Don’t worry though, the color orange has invaded her closet, as she loves the VOLS too. In her free time, you can find her spending time with her family and their two dogs, camping on the lake, in the mountains, or traveling to Black and Gold Country! Go Steelers!
TREVOR GREENE
Creative Director
Trevor brings the quiet calm to anything he works on. Whether he has a camera on his shoulder, is in the field producing, or in the edit bay, his brain is always working on how to bring the extra something to the project. With a background ranging from network content to branded entertainment to live events and television to 10 years with the University of Tennessee Athletics (VFL Films), Trevor simply knows how to make any piece of content better. When he is not being a creative force at Z Media, you can find him at home spending time with his wife and three kids.
BILLY MILLER
Director of Operations
Billy Miller untangles. As the Director of Operations, he spends his time untangling everything from development ideas to workflows to wires, ensuring everyone has what they need to get their jobs done. His career has included true crime shows, reality wedding shows, and hidden camera comedies. He loves working in development since it lets him work on a wide range of topics and meet a ton of interesting people. Since the start of the pandemic, Billy has acquired the skill of taking Zoom calls with his three-year-old son perched on his shoulders.
LAUREN DAVIS
Producer
If you have a story, Lauren can tell it, and that is where her passion lies. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, she’s worked on everything from feature films and network television shows to branded content and social media shorts. Lauren has a GSD approach to producing and loves to get projects done on time and on budget.
When she is not producing, Lauren is likely enjoying the outdoors. She spends a lot of time hiking, kayaking and camping.
CLAUDIA RUSSELL
Postproduction Supervisor & Senior Editor
Claudia is the Postproduction Supervisor and Senior Editor at Z Media Ventures. She began her career as an idealistic film student at The University of Texas at Austin, with her hopes on directing big movies. Realizing quickly that she didn't like the idea of spending all day on set waiting for "magic hour," she turned to the edit bay where she found she could create magic of her own. 30 years later, she's run the gamut from being an Emmy-award winning major market news editor and national news editor to editing documentary and reality television with commercials and corporate videos thrown in for good measure. While in Washington DC, she worked with news bigwigs such as George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper, and Megyn Kelly before landing in Knoxville, TN, the home of the other UT. (Don't get her started.) Claudia is an avid reader and an avid sports fan. She and her husband and their two kids watch way too much television and they refuse to apologize for it.
JOE BLACKSTOCK
Video Producer
Joe Blackstock is a video producer and Z Media’s resident Spreadsheet Czar. A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Joe brings a unique blend of creativity and efficiency to the table, as well as the ability to drink 6 cups of coffee a day without his heart stopping. He’s been with Z Media since 2018, and can be usually be found scheduling shoots, cutting packages together, or working on any number of miscellaneous things that pop up over the course of production. Outside of the office, Joe spends his time tearfully wishing Baltimore sports teams were better than they are and hanging out with his loud, excitable, and deceptively sweet dog, Kirby.