I love talking to people who prove that a creative career is built, not “found,” and Adrian Todd Zuniga is exactly that kind of artist. He is a novelist, a live show creator (Literary Death Match), and now a filmmaker, and our conversation starts where the real story always starts: childhood, attention, and that first moment where you realize you can make something out of nothing. We talk about how reading trains a director’s mind, why fear and wonder are evidence that art is working, and how a sports mindset can quietly become a blueprint for creative discipline.
Then we jump into one of my favorite curveballs: Adrian’s work writing Long Shot, the playable movie mode inside Madden NFL. We unpack what branching narrative actually demands, why “binary choices” fall flat, and how story craft changes when the audience is also the player. From there, we connect the dots to modern screenwriting, perfectionism, and the pressure artists feel right now as AI tools reshape what “making” even looks like.
Finally, we get concrete about independent filmmaking. Adrian breaks down what it took to shoot his feature documentary The Heart Is Made to Be Broken across Los Angeles, London, Warsaw, and Berlin, including why a local fixer is priceless, how microbudget production value is often a relationship game, and how he raised money by making a clear, professional ask with executive producer tiers. If you’re trying to make your first feature film, this is the kind of honest, practical roadmap that makes the goal feel real.
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