Who Is Imran Islam? ZF Media Production Founder Sat With Policy Wire on Rebuilding His Career in Houston

The filmmaker behind ZF Media Production talks starting over in a new market, balancing corporate events with music videos, and why Houston’s South Asian music scene is his next focus

Imran Islam spent years building a name for himself shooting international brand and event work across Pakistan and the UAE. Then he moved to Houston and started over completely — no reputation, no accreditations, no client list, just a new city and a business called ZF Media Production that nobody there had heard of. In an exclusive interview, Islam talked about what it took to rebuild from zero, how his creative process shifts between corporate events and music videos, and why the latter is where he feels most alive right now.

Starting From Zero

Islam doesn’t sugarcoat how disorienting the move to Houston was. Back in Pakistan and the UAE, he’d spent years building up a name — clients came to him, and his accreditations opened doors. In Houston, none of that carried over. He was, in his own words, just another vendor trying to get a foot in the door.

The lesson he took from it is a blunt one: past work doesn’t automatically transfer to a new market. Reputation has to be rebuilt one job at a time, and there’s no shortcut around it. He also points to patience as the real skill he had to learn — trust isn’t something you can rush, only something you earn by consistently showing up and doing good work until people notice.

Two Different Mindsets: Corporate Events vs. Music Videos

ZF Media Production’s client list spans both worlds — large-scale corporate events like GITEX and ADIPEC, and music videos for artists including L’Rich Marques and Sindhi-language artist Bilal Mahesar. Islam describes the two as requiring almost opposite mindsets.

At a corporate event, he’s purely documenting: staying out of the way, catching real moments as they happen, with no chance for a do-over. That means staying sharp and ready at every moment. Music videos flip the script entirely — he’s building everything from the ground up alongside the artist, from concept to lighting to movement, with the freedom to reshoot until it feels right.

Asked which side is pulling him more these days, Islam doesn’t hesitate: music videos. Corporate work keeps the business running, but it’s the music video side where he feels the most creatively alive right now.

What Made the L’Rich Marques Collaboration Click

Islam’s three music videos for L’Rich Marques have pulled in a combined 370,000-plus views, and he credits the collaboration’s success to simple repetition. By the third video, neither of them was starting from scratch — Marques knew what to expect from Islam, and Islam understood Marques’s style well enough that they could push the creative work further instead of spending time figuring each other out.

He’s seeing the same dynamic play out now with Bilal Mahesar. The two just wrapped three music videos together, currently in editing, and Islam says the shoots felt more locked in than usual — he has a good feeling about this batch.

Looking ahead, Islam wants to grow the music video side of ZF Media Production specifically around Houston’s South Asian community, which he feels doesn’t always get the visual production quality it deserves. Filling that gap, he says, is where he wants to take the business next.