Hammad Zaidi is a founding partner and CEO of the Ryz Sports Network, a sports FAST Channel currently available on nearly every major FAST platform in the United States. The Ryz Sports Network signal is available to over 840 million active user accounts. Hammad founded The Lonely Seal Company Group, a group of entertainment companies that includes Lonely Seal Releasing, a boutique international film distribution and sales company; Lonely Seal Streaming, a FAST channel focused on story-based independent cinema, with showcase spotlights on women’s content, disability content, and minority content; the Lonely Seal International Film Screenplay & Music Festival, a multiple-time Top 100 Best Reviewed Film Festival on FilmFreeway; the Lonely Seal Impact Fund, supporting film and sports-related non-profit community endeavors; Film Bite, a vertical film distribution and production company with an accompanying app; The Story Oasis Fund, an entertainment and sports fund; and SeatAble, an upcoming app and website to assist accessible seating needs at events nationwide. Hammad is one of 1,200 Priority Cinema Buyers worldwide and serves on the Board of Directors of Cinema Without Borders and the Advisory Council of the Master’s in Entertainment Leadership and Management (MELM) at Loyola Marymount University (LMU).

Zaidi is an award-winning member of The Producers Guild of America and was a member of the Writers Guild of America Videogame Caucus during its existence. He has produced, written, and/or directed award-winning feature films, feature documentaries, children’s television series, and 29 video games. Hammad also hosted Limping On Cloud 9, a podcast about his life that is being developed as a motion picture, and he wrote 256 published articles for Going Bionic, his film distribution and career strategy column. Hammad also served as a journalist and member of the Cannes Film Festival Press Corps for three years.

Additionally, Hammad created “Ogreachiever,” a national Shrek-based billboard campaign designed to inspire children. He won a Telly for writing “Generosity,” a national PSA, and he wrote, produced, and directed “Champions of Hope,” a White House-endorsed national PSA made for the first anniversary of September 11. Champions of Hope played on 5,001 theatrical screens, television networks, and major sporting arenas. It was paid for by Disney and Verizon and released theatrically by Regal Cinemas.

Zaidi has been a jury member, filmmaker advisor, curator, panelist, advisory board member, and world cinema screener at several major film festivals. These include, but are not limited to, Sundance, SXSW, Slamdance, Nashville, Cinequest, Temecula, and many more. Hammad has served as an adjunct professor, guest lecturer, and panelist at several universities, including his alma mater, UCLA, CSUN, USC, Vanderbilt, Chapman, Avila, The Watkins Film School (acquired by Belmont University), San Diego State, The University of Kansas, The University of Missouri, and numerous others. Hammad Zaidi received his Master of Fine Arts from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television Producers Program in 1994 and his Bachelor of Arts in Media Management from California State University, Northridge in 1992.