Zack has a new stunning bride-to-be, exciting sports business venture and great stories to share on everything
Until now, Zack Ward may have been most known as one of the world's favorite character actors as he played the yellow-eyed bully Scut Farkus whom Ralphie pounded after a particularly bad day in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. But now, he is the CEO of Global Sports Financial Exchange, an exciting new venture that may change the way people interact with sports.
But Zack Ward's story has a lot of layers. He and his brother were raised by single mom and respected actress, Pam Hyatt. They moved around often after Zack caught the acting bug early on. His first role was in a Jell-O commercial, but he rose to memorable movie roles early on after he was cast in 1983's A Christmas Story.
Even though Zack often worked other jobs, even while acting, the theater credits continued to happen for him with him appearing in favorites such as Anne of Green Gables and its sequels, Almost Famous and Transformers, as well as some popular horror films. He also appeared in NCIS, Lost, Crossing Jordan and cult favorite comedy Titus.
In 2014, he started Grit Film Works with James Cullen Bressack.
Just last year he became the CEO of Global Sports Financial Exchange, Inc. In March 2018, the New York Times ran a piece he wrote on the danger of legalizing sports betting.
The charming and talented storyteller and businessman Zack Ward spoke with Michelle Tompkins for TheCelebrityCafe.com about his early life, a great encounter with Dame Maggie Smith, how A Christmas Story happened and what has happened with it since (he himself last saw it in 2017 in honor of director Bob Clark outside of the house in Cleveland where it was filmed), a wonderful anecdote of Jonathan Crombie his costar from Anne of Green Gables who sadly passed away from a brain hemorrhage in 2015, his quest against bullying, what is Global Sports Financial Exchange, why it is special and who can benefit from it, what he likes do do for fun, his upcoming wedding to Jen McMahan and more.
Michelle Tompkins: I want to start with something strange. Who's the cute baby on your Twitter?
Zack Ward: That is my brother Carson Foster and his wife Heather Jones-Foster's child. That is my nephew, and his name is Lincoln Zacharias Steele Foster.
Zack Ward: It's kind of a big deal.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, it is. That's wonderful. How old is he?
Zack Ward: He was born last April, so he's almost a year.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, that's exciting.
Zack Ward: Yeah. I've never been mushy for kids before.
Michelle Tompkins: But you get to give him back [laughter], which is even better.
Zack Ward: Yeah, yeah. I'm the godfather and the uncle, so I'm a Guncle. So if anything happens I get to look after him.
Michelle Tompkins: Now, where are you originally from?
Zack Ward: I'm from Toronto, Canada. Born and raised. But my mom’s an actress so I traveled with her all over the country. I lived in the Yukon, lived in small towns, lived in New York City, Long Island. I grew up all over the place.
Michelle Tompkins: And where do you live now?
Zack Ward: I live in Los Angeles.
Zack’s cute story with Dame Maggie Smith
Michelle Tompkins: Now please tell me a little bit about your childhood.
Zack Ward: Okay. I went to eight different schools before junior high. My mother was a single mom, raised two kids by herself. My older brother's eight years older than I am. She had two different husbands. One husband had my old brother. Then it was the '60s, met my father, had me. So I'm either a love-child or a bastard depending on my mood at the time [laughter]. She's an actress. She's been an actress since, oh gosh, since she was 24 and she's now 80, 82? And she's amazing. She's actually in a movie I directed, and it's just wonderful to be able to direct your mom in a movie. It's an incredible opportunity. So I grew up backstage of film sets and at theaters. And I was at the Stratford Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario. Do you know what that is?
Michelle Tompkins: I don't. Please tell me.
Zack Ward: Okay. So there's a town called Stratford, Ontario which is the sister-city to Stratford on the Avon in England. And they have this giant incredible theater there called Stratford Theatre. And it is world renowned as one of the most amazing thespian theatres in the world. And when I was a little kid, my mom was performing there. Do you know who Maggie Smith is? Dame Maggie Smith?
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, of course. She is one of my favorites.
Zack Ward: Oh, she's great. Okay, So my mom was working in a bunch of different plays and with Dame Maggie Smith. So I would be hanging out backstage playing with swords and seeing Ms. Smith. And I asked her to my birthday party, I was eight. So I came up to her, and I said, ‘Mrs. Smith? Mrs. Smith I'd like to invite you to my birthday party.’ She said, ‘No dear. I won't be available.’ And I said, ‘But I haven't told you when it is.’ And she goes, ‘Oh, right. When is it?’ I'm like, ‘Saturday.’ ‘No dear, I won't be available [laughter].’
So, that was my childhood being surrounded by like a traveling circus being surrounded by different assortments of people, and artisans, and craftsmen, and skill sets. That was how I became an actor. I remember the Taming of the Shrew. And there was a line in there that was naughty, and I thought that was funny. He says, ‘My tail in your tongue,’ which is basically he's saying she was going to give him a blow job. But I understood it well enough that it was naughty talk. And I was eight, nine years old. Because I had read the book, and I understood what it meant, and I was waiting for that line to be delivered so that everybody would laugh. And the guy delivered it, he was like, And the actor delivered this hilarious line as if explaining taxes, absolutely dry with no comedic timing. So the audience just looked confused and nodded along as if it made sense, mumbling, "Mmmm, yes, yes"
Very gravely affected, because none of them knew what the f### he was talking about, and they had no concept. I sat there so disappointed, I was like, ‘That guy sucks. I could do better than that [laughter].’ And that really was my motivation to become an actor.
Michelle Tompkins: Well with Maggie Smith, no one delivers a one-line quip better than she does [laughter].
Zack Ward: Yes. ‘No dear, I'm not available.’ ‘But I didn't tell you what day it was.’ ‘I'm so sorry, please continue.’ ‘It's Saturday.’ ‘No dear, I'm not available [laughter].’
Michelle Tompkins: Have you seen Evil Under the Sun?
Zack Ward: No, I've heard of it. Isn't that Agatha Christie?
Michelle Tompkins: It is.
Zack Ward: Then I have seen it, yeah.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, well her line there is against Diana Rigg, and she just was talking about how she was a showgirl who ended up with all of the men. And she said that she knew how to kick her legs higher and wider than all the other girls [laughter].
Zack Ward: And her delivery is so deliciously dry.
Michelle Tompkins: It couldn't possibly be better. It's really great. Please continue…
Zack Ward: So that was my childhood. Like I said, eight different schools before junior high. My father was a draft dodger who moved back to the United States when Carter granted amnesty. I first came to visit him when I was about eight or nine years old. He lived in California. And that was my life. I was an actor, and I lived with my mom, with my older brother, and we all kind of worked together to pay the bills. And it was the '70s, times were hard. We all struggled and put the money where it mattered, which was into the family. So that was really my life.
I finished high school, and before I went to college I wanted to do something interesting. Because I had been working, I had been having jobs shoveling snow or delivering newspapers since I was six years old. And not glorifying it, but the thing is, my mom like I said, was an actress. But in Canada there's a poverty limit; in Canada is under $10,000 a year. And my mom made under $10,000 a year for about four years in a row. So imagine supporting yourself and two children for ten grand a year. It's kind of hard.
Michelle Tompkins: It sounds pretty rough.
Zack Ward: Well to the point that all kids like mac & cheese. I frickin' hated mac & cheese. Because it was the food that everybody else wanted, but it was what you get when you're broke. So I promised myself I would never eat mac & cheese again until I cooked it in my own restaurant. Which I got to do in 2012, which was awesome! But it was that type of environment. So it wasn't summers in the Hamptons, and where are you vacationing on your days off? I had a part-time job and then had a couple of them. So that was life.
Being an actor at a young age wasn't glamorous. It was fun, I loved it. It wasn't egotistically fulfilling in the sense that you thought you were better than anybody else because my entire experience in life was around people and that's what they did. So if I wasn't acting for work I might be a PA on set or working on music videos. And sometimes when I'd show up on a set I'd see the First AD going, ‘Hey Zack, good to see you.’ I'm like, ‘Hey, you too, Rob.’ It's like, ‘We're going to have five coffees. We need three lattes.’
I'm like, ‘Okay, I'm actually talent today. But if you want me to go get coffee I'm happy to get coffee [laughter].’ He goes, ‘No, no. No, no [laughter].’ So that was the attitude. It was never the red carpet dream that other people have when they see it from the outside, if that makes sense. And so after high school, I wanted to do something interesting with my life.
My mom let me know that I could travel. And so I spent about a year saving up the money, and then I moved to Australia for about a year, a little over a year. And I joined the circus. I was at a cattle station, I was a jackaroo or a cowboy and then I was in the circus for about a year and then I broke my back, and I was laid up in hospital.
Michelle Tompkins: Which martial arts are you in to?
Zack Ward: A whole bunch of them. It started off as fencing. Well, my father was a golden glove boxer. So when I was the age of 6, the one thing I knew how to do for my dad was throw hands. And then, I got into fencing. I was a silver medalist of Ontario two years in a row for my age group, which was great. And then, about 11, 12 I got into tae kwon do. I did that for a few years.
And then did boxing for three years. And then when I traveled around I was studying in Japan. I was trying to learn in Thailand. When I went back to Toronto, I was studying martial arts. It's an ongoing sort of methodology in my life was this dabbling in martial arts wherever I could. Because I didn't do two sports because I was never in town long enough. It was typical that I was there for six to nine months tops. So you're the new kid, with no dad, who doesn't play hockey, and a miniature poodle named Tinkerbell [laughter]. Yeah.
Michelle Tompkins: That's a very manly name…
Zack Ward: Well, here's the thing. I got the puppy when I was 7 years old. And I'm a redhead, so there's not a lot of redheaded heroes in the world. And Peter Pan was mine, and probably most redheaded kids. And so, yeah, Peter Pan was who I wanted to be and that just makes sense that Peter Pan's sidekick is who?
Michelle Tompkins: Tinkerbell.
Zack Ward: There you go. Right. So that was my name for the puppy, and of course, she was tiny and adorable. And my mom, ‘Oh, that's a great name.’ Would have made a great middle name, let's put it that way. And maybe Magnum Force or Captain Macho would have been better for going and being the new kid at all these different schools [laughter]. Or something that wasn't-- see, Tinkerbell is the equivalent of please, please beat my ass. That was what my dog was named. Yeah. So that's where the martial arts thing came out of just getting your ass handed to you on a regular basis and then fighting back.
Zack jokes about being listed one of TheCelebrityCafe.com's hottest gingers
Michelle Tompkins: Well, you also made it to our hot ginger list [laughter].
Zack Ward: Was that you? Did you write it?
Michelle Tompkins: I wrote the piece!
Zack Ward: I was number 25. I'm not going to complain and I will say, this though. Okay, what's his name? Robert-? Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
Michelle Tompkins: Robert Redford.
Zack Ward: Yeah. Let's be honest. You can't put me on the same f***ing list as Robert Redford. He's a goddamn hero. He's an icon. He's a king. I'm a sock puppet. I mean, that guy is the manliest man of all manly men. When I saw that I was like, ‘Really? I don't think I've earned that station. Not yet, not yet in life. I got to do something far more impressive before I get to stand next to that fella.’ But thank you for including me on that.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, you're welcome, but I think you do deserve to be there, so that's a plus, too. What are your sports teams that you support?
Zack Ward: Sports teams? Well, obviously anybody from Toronto. Maple Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays. I like to keep it simple. I stick with my home team. Or I go with my fiancée's team if she's excited about it.
Michelle Tompkins: And what is her team?
Zack Ward: She's from Seattle, so Seahawks. I think she likes the hats [laughter].
Michelle Tompkins: Now, did you always know you wanted to be an actor thanks to your mom?
Zack Ward: Pretty much. Yeah. I mean, since I was 8 years old. Literally, that was exactly how it went down.
Michelle Tompkins: Now, what was your first professional role?
Zack Ward: It was a Jell-O commercial [laughter]. It's still on YouTube. Oh, you guys should totally link to that. Oh, my God.
Here we go….All about Scut Farkus from A Christmas Story
Michelle Tompkins: I totally will. There's no way I could do this interview without talking about A Christmas Story, but I saw that there are about 12 interviews all on pretty much the same questions I'm going to ask you, so hopefully I will take you on a nice little walk down memory lane.
Zack Ward: I think you're going to have a fresh, new angle that no one's ever seen before.
Michelle Tompkins: I hope so. Well, did you guys have any idea at the time that it would be the classic that it is?
Zack Ward: Yeah, we did. We all kind of got together and we thought, ‘Hey, this is going to be a classic based upon the VHS release, and then when it transitions to the MGM library from Turner. So what we need to do is buy stock in Turner now.’ And I was 13. Yeah, no. I had no clue [laughter]. Nobody had any idea, and it was such a perfect combination of events went into making it what it is. And did you see that video? Did you see that special on Fox where they did A Christmas Story musical this year?
Michelle Tompkins: No, I didn't.
Zack Ward: It was god awful [laughter]. It was god awful. It was just so saccharine sweet. And the thing is the actual musical is fantastic. It really is. It's everything you want in A Christmas Story and a musical. And it's got the blood and guts and muscle and sinew and teeth that the movie has and the stories have. The live thing on Fox starts off with what sounds like a Katy Perry song, which I don't understand how that's 1940s, and then just gets worse from there.
You can't have kids punching each other in the face now. You also can't have a loaded BB gun be something that you want. You're not allowed to even speak these things. No. Everybody's so politically correct, and then you forget that we're not. And it's an environment not only where the most things happen in movies, but those are all set pieces to the overreaching arc, which is Homer's The Iliad. It's a young boy's quest to earn the respect of his father. The gun is not about a toy. It's about the fact that his father says, ‘Yeah. I had one when I was his age. He's ready for it,’ right? That's why everybody watches that. It only appeals to people who want their parents to love them. That's it. Simple. But it does it from a child's point of view so brilliantly. They even lowered the camera. When you look at it, everything was shot, except exactly from the parent's point of view, is from that height. So you're looking up at the world not having it look down at you.
Michelle Tompkins: Now what was the audition process for you on it?
Zack Ward: It was a cattle call with 300 kids. I showed up. And I said three lines onto a video camera. Thanks, next. That was it.
So then I got the job. And then I got on set. And I'd never met the director before because I'd auditioned on tape. And I met Yano Anaya, and we became buds. And we walked on up to meet Bob Clark, the director. And he saw that I was a foot taller than Yano. And he went, ‘Oh, okay. You get his lines. He gets yours.’
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, so you flipped roles. Now, that's interesting.
Zack Ward: My character was always Scut Farkus. So I was the sidekick originally in the script, and then I became the lead bully.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, great. Well, what was your favorite thing about making the movie?
Zack Ward: What was great for me was the first feature film I ever did. So I'd done commercials before, which were small versions of this, but none of the commercials really had the story arc. And Bob Clark was an incredible director, teacher, and father figure. A really lovely man. And he ran his set fantastically. And I got to see movie magic for the first time.
The whole city of Cleveland was winter, but there was no snow. The ground was dirty and brown, and everything has died. And my mom and I went to set to go visit on one of my days off, and the house— the house itself was covered in snow, and icicles were hanging off the trees, and they had put it up all in the middle of the night. So it was the one house on the entire street that actually was covered in snow. I had never seen anything like that before. And the friendships I made—Yano and I are still friends— I mean, I was talking to him this morning. The whole thing became embedded into the fabric of my life.
Michelle Tompkins: Now, this is kind of a nosy question, but can your residuals buy you a house still? You have multiple showings every year for the foreseeable future. That’s pretty terrific.
Zack Ward: No, they do not. Everybody's sadly disappointed, mostly myself [laughter]. No, but the residuals are honestly like $1,800 every two years, and they're in Canadian funds, so I leave them in a bank account in Canada, so in case something happens to my mom, there's money to take care of her.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, that's kind of you.
Zack Ward: Well, $1,800 every two years— if you're not hurting, you can put it aside. Make a mom investment.
Michelle Tompkins: And it grows. Yeah, that's great. Now, are you recognized often because of this role, or do you have to tell people?
Zack Ward: Oh, no. I'm recognized all the time [laughter], which is so bizarre. I wear glasses. I wear a baseball cap sometimes. Sometimes I have a beard. I have a beard right now. And people will be like, ‘Excuse me, are you Scut Farkus?’ I'm like, ‘Yeah. laughter]! How the hell?’ They're like, ‘It's the eyes. It's the scary, evil eyes.’ I'm like, ‘Okay.’
Michelle Tompkins: Well, what do fans ask you to say or do? Do they ask you to say the lines?
Zack Ward: Yeah, they say, ‘You going to cry now? Cry, crybaby, cry,’ or, ‘Say, uncle.’ And they always tell me with such joy. They're like, ‘Oh, yeah. When you got beat up, that was great.’ And it's kind of creepy to watch adults take such pleasure in the fact that they remember that moment that a kid got beat up. But they were kids when they saw it, and I think there was a sense of comeuppance that made them feel not alone.
Michelle Tompkins: Do you watch it at Christmastime too?
Zack Ward: I don't [laughter]. I kind of share the experience with people. I go around the country, and I do different signings that raise money for different charities, and people tell me their stories, and they introduce me to their kids, and they tell me how they got a BB gun when they were a kid and how this was their father's favorite movie who's passed on and now they've passed it their children and etc., etc. So I live through it, if that makes sense.
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, no, it totally does, but I was curious if you did, because it's—since it's part of Americana, but also, you're Canadian, too, so [laughter].
Zack Ward: True. But it's also a brilliant film. I mean, the structure of it, the way it's shot, the way it's lit, the editing. There's nothing that's dated. That's really an interesting thing. I did a TV show called Titus, and Titus was a very, very funny TV show.
Michelle Tompkins: I have those a few questions down [laughter].
Generation Xers rejoice: commentary on Anne of Green Gables and a sweet story on Jonathan Crombie (R.I.P.)
Michelle Tompkins: Now you're on probably my favorite project of my youth, too, Anne of Green Gables.
Zack Ward: Yeah [laughter], I started that when I was 14 years old, the first one.
Michelle Tompkins: I'm going to throw a little shade. I pretend the last one does not exist. I love the first one, I love the second one, but the third one… I find to be a travesty [laughter].
Zack Ward: I think I have one line, like, ‘Hello, would you like some strawberries?’ and that was it.
Michelle Tompkins: But you were pretty active in the first two.
Zack Ward: Yeah, honestly I don't remember the second one. I do remember the first one. It was a long time ago. Yeah, I was pretty active in the first one. The second one I don't recall that well, but I'm old, what do you want [laughter]?
Michelle Tompkins: I was terribly sad about the death of Jonathan Crombie.
Zack Ward: What the hell then? That was just shocking.
Michelle Tompkins: Well, You know, tomorrow's guaranteed to no one.
Zack Ward: And just let me say that what a lovely guy. What a lovely, lovely, funny, sweet, kind, hilarious, amazing guy. He told me a story one time about how he and a friend were dressed up in a tuxedo, and the lady was dressed up in something like almost a ball gown, and they would pick a house at random, and then knock on the door, like, ‘We're here.’ and people would say, ‘What? Who's here?’ ‘We’re so excited to be here.’ ‘Wait, oh my gosh, I think you've got the wrong place.’ And they would see if they could get invited in for dinner, and they did. So then, usually in a posh neighborhood, they'd just connect with people. What an incredibly delightful sense of humor?!!!
Michelle Tompkins: That's awesome. I just saw him at Broadway in The Drowsy Chaperone.
Zack Ward: Really? I never did. I bet he was good.
Michelle Tompkins: So-so show, but he was good in it.
Michelle Tompkins: He always was.
Dave on Titus
Michelle Tompkins: Now tell me, you started about Titus. Tell me how Dave came to be?
Zack Ward: Dave was an amazing experience. I got an audition, and my agent, Sue Wold at the time, asked me if I'd be willing to do a pre-read, to which I nodded vigorously yes. And so I went to the audition, and I read it, I did the audition as I thought a sitcom would be, and the casting director said to me, ‘Okay, do it again but more like an independent feature film.’ And I was like, ‘Sold.’ So I did it, I got the callback, got another callback.
The first call back was with producers Jack Kenny and Brian Hargrove, and then I got a second call back which was with Chris Titus in the room. So we sort of did the scene, and then we started just riffing on each other, started improvising. And it was pretty obvious right away that we had a chemistry, how to play off one another. And you know, he's a big man, he's 6'4''. And he's not skinny, he's not made of straw.
So there's a physical dynamic between brothers, and when we went through the final network audition, there was another guy, it's between me and one other guy. And the other guy, very funny, but he was also very small and very slight. He wasn't short, he was a little shorter than me, but he was slight. I could pick him up and put him over somewhere else like a paperweight.
And I knew right there that I had the job, because there's no way that somebody who's as big as Chris Titus and has this giant dinosaur head - because he's got a giant dinosaur head - who is, part of his schtick is to slap his brother in the back of the head. You have to do it to somebody who looks like they can take it, because if you do it to someone who's too slight, it looks like you're kicking a dog, and then the audience is going to hate you.
So it had to look like two guys who, push comes to shove, I might kick him in the knee and we might get into a wrestling match [laughter]. So then we did the pilot and then got picked up, and it just grew from there. And it was such an amazing experience to be working for three years on a show where it was just funny. It was just really funny and I learned so much about comic timing, about how to rehearse and how to work, and doing that in front of a live audience was just a trip. It was just wonderful, wonderful experience.
Michelle Tompkins: How did you celebrate getting the role?
Zack Ward: I think I yelled, screamed, jumped up and down and probably cried.
When you're a journeyman actor like myself, your job is to constantly be pounding and going after job after job after job after job. It's tiring. And so when you get a job, especially when there's a show, it gets picked up, the sense of, ‘Oh my God, I get to do this. Thank you so much.’ The level of just gratefulness is overwhelmingly huge.
Zack’s film company
Michelle Tompkins: Now, you also have your own film company.
Zack Ward: Yes, Grit Film Works. I've produced three feature films; Don't Blink, Restoration and Bethany. Restoration I directed and my mom is in it. That's the film I was speaking of earlier.
Michelle Tompkins: That's cool.
Zack Ward: Thank you. In the last three years I've written seven scripts, five of them with my writing/producing partner, James Cullen Bressack. I also wrote co-created and wrote a young adult sci-fi series that just wrapped shooting.
I can't talk about it any more than that, but yeah, it's been a labor of love and it's had a modicum of success and it keeps moving forward and I'm enjoying that immensely.
Michelle Tompkins: Congratulations. That's wonderful. How do you keep yourself motivated to do all that?
Zack Ward: Paying the bills (laughs) I seriously love the opportunity and the challenge. All of it (Producing, Directing, writing, acting, editing) is a huge pain in the ass and a ton of work to make happen, but when it all comes together it really does feel like magic. I was blessed that Bob Clark set such a huge gold standard for me as a child and my goal is to live up to that.
Zack’s new sports business venture
Michelle Tompkins: Well, you have a lot to get you off the couch these days. You have a new endeavor now too. You're CEO?
Zack Ward: Yes, I'm very excited and proud to say that I am the CEO of Global Sports Financial Exchange, a licensee of All Sports Market. AllSportsMarket.com is the first and only stock market of sports teams where you can invest in your favorite team whether it's baseball, hockey, football or basketball.
Before us, literally since the invention of sports the only way you could interact money and sports was gambling.
Michelle Tompkins: Or have enough money to own the team.
Zack Ward: Right, but most people can't afford their own team even if it's a little league. So, they gamble which has a horrible, cancerous effect on folks’ lives and is designed to be addictive. The way it works is for GAMBLING to win, YOU have to lose. That's why when you go to Vegas you can see Caesar's Palace, but there's not a Michelle's palace or a Zack's palace. Because for gambling to succeed it has to take your money. You have to lose.
Michelle Tompkins: It is a zero-sum game.
Zack Ward: Exactly. In fact, it is worse than that. It is negative value creation. The society, the American people, the children, we all pay the price as people fight over the gambling dollars. If sports gambling is legalized, we will mortgage our future with a debt that we will never pay back. We’ll all go underwater.
Investing is the opposite. Companies raise capital, the economy grows, jobs are created, resources are efficiently allocated, people get access to assets where they can put their investment dollars. And the exchange profits by making micro-commissions on every share traded allowing for a real Win-Win scenario.
AllSportsMarket is a brand new, revolutionary concept that is emerging at a pivotal time in our country when the American sports franchises are in crisis; they are losing fans and desperate for revenue.
They are so desperate that the Commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver, is pushing to legalize sports betting by adding a '1% Integrity Tax.'
Michelle Tompkins: [Laughter]
Zack Ward: Yeah, I laughed at that as well. But it’s truly scary. Because I know our integrity, the integrity of sports, and the integrity or our country is not for sale. And definitely not for 1%.
They’re doing this because they’re frantic and they don’t know that there is a better option. AllSportsMarket is that option. When the teams IPO (Initial Public Offering) they are envisioned to keep 90 percent of the proceeds as fresh capital and then continue making money from every share traded forever.
That is a lot more money for them without ever risking the integrity of sports. But the question is 'does integrity in sports matter?'
Well, ask yourself why was Lance Armstrong stripped of his Tour de France wins? Why was Pete Rose kicked out of the Baseball Hall of Fame? Why were the Russians banned from the Olympics for doping?
Because the integrity of sports IS sport. No matter who you are or where you come from, sports is the one thing we ALL believe in because it is pure. It is not only a game. It is an ideal that inspires us to achieve beyond our own expectations. If that is taken away, then the leagues will fizzle and die as the fans leave, having no faith in the players or the teams. That will be the end of sports.
And realize that this affects our kids. Legalizing sports gambling creates a toxic culture for our children by teaching them that “the end justifies the means” and “we’re too lazy to find a better way so let’s just sell out to the bookies.”
Come on!! That’s bull crap! This country kicks ass doing cool things that are crazy awesome. We just strapped a car onto a rocket and sent it to MARS!! I’m pretty sure we can come up with a better idea than selling out!
Michelle Tompkins: Oh, yeah.
Zack Ward: And it’s easy and free to get started. Who’s your favorite team?
Michelle Tompkins: For me, it is the San Francisco Giants, let's go, Giants.
Zack Ward: Great. Go to Allsportsmarket.com, sign onto the Learning Market and you’ll get $2,500 in “learning capital.” That’s free play money for you to learn with. Now buy shares in the Giants and watch what happens. It’s so easy and fun that even kids can learn how to invest.
Michelle Tompkins: What do you mean?
Zack Ward: Well, when I was in high school my home economics class taught me how to knit a scarf and bake a pie. Basically, the most useless knowledge they could cram into my head. And if somebody tried to talk about the stock market, I’d probably fall asleep.
Michelle Tompkins: [Laughter]. So would I.
Zack Ward: But now you can ask kids who their favorite team is, buy shares of that team on the learning market and watch them rise, fall and earn dividends throughout the season at the same time you’re watching the game with them. So, you get to spend quality time with the number one team in your life, your family and friends, while teaching your children how to be investors. And they don’t even know they’re learning! You have just made education fun that will change the rest of their lives and the way they make decisions. That’s financial literacy starting before they’re 10. And that can change the country.
Michelle Tompkins: I'm trying to understand. Is this using real money, or is it a lesson?
Zack Ward: It's both. There's a learning market and there's a pilot market. The learning market is for play money, we call it ‘Learning Currency.’ The pilot market is for real money. We started off with the Learning market to make sure our algorithms and platform were working properly. Then we launched the pilot market to continue our Beta testing in the marketplace. It’s just like what happens on the TV show Shark Tank. Have you heard of it?
Michelle Tompkins: Yes.
Zack Ward: Okay. So, when someone presents their idea on Shark Tank they must prove it works, they have the patents, what the costs and scalability are, that the product abides by all Federal and State regulations and that it has traction in the marketplace. We’ve accomplished all of that and right now we have 7,300 sports traders in 92 countries.
Michelle Tompkins: It sounds like people who like fantasy sports and eSports would love this too.
Zack Ward: Yes, they would love it as it’s way better than DFS since it’s investing, not gambling.
I’ve met a lot of people who told me they used to be hardcore gamblers and that it was ruining their lives. Then they found allsportsmarket.com and it gave them an option to still enjoy what they love without losing their friends, their family or their home.
And people who were always intimidated by the stock market or thought investing was just for rich “fat cats” on Wall St., they find this fun and easy. Suddenly they're excited about making investments in their lives.
Michelle Tompkins: Technically, you can lose too with investing, but it's not the same kind of loss…
Zack Ward: Exactly. Look at the Patriots this last season. Their shares started high because, well, they’re the Patriots. So, I think they started about $11 and went up to around $13 before they lost the Super Bowl and went down to $10. But, within a few weeks, they were back up to a $13. And then just hold on to your shares because it's a growing market.
Everyone in the world wishes they could go back in time and make a brilliant investment. If you invested $1000 in Apple in 1980, you would have $228,113 or if you put $1000 in Microsoft in 1987, you would have $546,996. But there is no machine or Rick & Morty portal gun that can zap you back in time. And you don’t need one. You already know these companies and their value. They’re American legends.
Football was founded in 1920, baseball was founded in 1869, basketball was founded in 1891, and hockey was founded in 1875. These are not new, risky “start-up” companies, these are leagues and teams that have been fully operational for 517 years collectively. Even if the teams move cities, even if they change names, your shares travel with them, and you have ownership in perpetuity, forever and ever. And every time your team wins, the other team pays you from their dividend reserves. And every quarter of the year, all your teams get paid out dividends. So, you're making money whether or not you're buying or selling.
Michelle Tompkins: That’s incredible.
Zack Ward: AllSportsMarket is an economic engine that's never before existed in the history of the world. It's a call to action. This is a brand-new alternative that can save the integrity of sports, save the leagues from selling out, create strong economic growth across the country that helps rebuild the middle class by inspiring them to invest in what they love and teaching their children how to make strong life decisions. All by having fun with the sport and teams you already love. What could be better?
Michelle Tompkins: Any last thoughts on it?
Zack Ward: Sure. Gambling made Vegas. But the New York Stock Exchange made the United States of America. Go big or go home. Go to allsportsmarket.com.
Zack on fiancé, fun and favorites
Michelle Tompkins: Now do you plan to continue acting?
Zack Ward: Right now I'm able to do both but I'm picky about the film projects I invest time in. Allsportsmarket.com is going through regulation and that takes a lot of my focus. But it's worth it.
Michelle Tompkins: Nice. When you're not working which it seems like you're working a lot of the time, what do you like to do for fun?
Zack Ward: I hang out with my fiancé and our pets. I bicycle, train at the gym, see movies, have dinners. Normal stuff.
Michelle Tompkins: Well, what are some of your favorite TV shows and movies?
Zack Ward: I'm a huge fan of Forged in Fire.
Michelle Tompkins: You love that show? I love that show. 'It will kill.'
Zack Ward: Yeah. Sometimes I want to punch him when he says that, though. But it's such a cool series.
I also like Mindhunter. Better Call Saul. Counterpart. I'm a huge Rick and Morty fan.
Let's see. We just watched, Silence of the Lambs, again, last night. Great frickin' movie. I'm not up to speed on a lot of the new ones, to be honest with you.
Michelle Tompkins: Well, you said you travel a lot. Where is somewhere you want to go to, but you haven't been yet?
Zack Ward: Europe. I love the architecture and the history.
Michelle Tompkins: Is there anything you want to add about your personal life, fiancée or family?
Zack Ward: Getting married this August.
Michelle Tompkins: Congratulations.
Zack Ward: Thank you very much. Very excited. It's going to be fantastic. We're getting married in Idaho.
Michelle Tompkins: Really? Is that where she's from?
Zack Ward: No. She's from Seattle, but she's got a friend of hers that lives in Idaho, who's got this beautiful house. And she owns horses. And so when we drove up there, I'm like, ‘Honey, I think you got the wrong address. I think this a ski lodge.’ Like, ‘No. That's the house.’ But it's just beautiful. I don't know anything about Idaho, so when we drove there, I was like, ‘I've heard of potatoes.’ I don't know anything about Idaho, except the joke, you da hoe, I da hoe. Yeah. I know nothing. We get there, the countryside is gorgeous. There's a town called Coeur d'Alene, just beautiful. And then her friend's lovely, and the property's beautiful. And the horses are adorable. So it's a great place to have a summer wedding and let people come, and hang out, and enjoy themselves, then leave. So there's that [laughter].
Michelle Tompkins: I always used to make a joke about— I have a friend who went to school in Idaho. And I tease her and say want to go to the big city, want to go to Coeur d'Alene? [laughter].
Zack Ward: So have you been?
Michelle Tompkins: I have, it's beautiful.
Zack Ward: It is, it's really pretty. You feel like you're in a Hallmark postcard.
Michelle Tompkins: And your fiancé's the beautiful blonde in the pictures with you?
Zack Ward: Yes, ma'am [laughter].
Michelle Tompkins: Now, how do you like your fans to connect with you?
Zack Ward: On Twitter, on the Twitter. Or on my Facebooks So my Twitter's Total, T-O-T-A-L, Zack, Z-A-C-K, Ward, W-A-R-D. Just because sometimes people spell it with an H, which would make me Zach. But it's Z-A-C-K.
Michelle Tompkins: I have to admit, I accidentally did that myself in the original hot ginger piece. I have no idea why I got it wrong but I did.
Zack Ward: Yeah, I saw that, and dude, my whole life has been like, ‘By the way, yeah, up and rising store Zach Ward.’ I'm like, ‘Uh, for the love of-- really [laughter]?’ It's kind of funny.
Michelle Tompkins: So, I'm sorry. Your social media handles once again are?
Zack Ward: My twitter is @TotalZackWard, same for Instagram. My facebook is verified, Zack Ward.
Michelle Tompkins: And this seems a silly question, but your animals all over your pages. What are their names please [laughter]?
Zack Ward: CC and Crosby. Sinatra is the feral kitten that adopted me and moved in. Freeloader!
This is Sinatra's story.
I'm in the middle of writing this series, so I'm out on the back deck writing because I like to be out in the air and I see a little critter and this is the size of two fists put together, this little cat. So it took about a month and a half for him to get close to me, but he just comes out to hang out with me. And then I'm leaving food out for him and he gets closer and closer, until he's finally in my lap. And I'm rubbing his belly, and I didn't want another animal, but I was like God, dude, I can't let you stay out here and freeze your ass off. So yeah, his name is Sinatra.
Michelle Tompkins: But freezing your ass off doesn't really happen in Los Angeles.
Zack Ward: You know, you'd be surprised, Madam. You would be surprised [laughter]. It gets pretty crisp and wet, so when that happens, nobody's really prepped for it, and so critters can die.
Michelle Tompkins: But I like to joke about it, because being from California, and going back and forth New York to California, I'm in Southern California sometimes too. You learn how big of a wuss you are [crosstalk] back to California. It can be in the 40s and you don't even use a coat when you're in New York. But it's 65 degrees in LA, oh my God, how do people go out there, it's just awful [laughter].
Zack Ward: No, let's be honest. It can be summertime. It can be spring or say fall in New York City, and if I'm standing in the shadow of a building I need a jacket. Like I'm a complete wuss, complete wuss [laughter]. No doubt. So yeah, his name is Sinatra, he's a recent and hopefully final addition to the clan [laughter].
Michelle Tompkins: And you have a dog too, I think?
Zack Ward: That's my lady's dog, Roxie. She just went through surgery 2 days ago to remove a breast tumor. But she's doing great.
Michelle Tompkins: Now, what are some charities that you're involved in or care about?
Zack Ward: Bully prevention programs and the Boys and Girls foundation. My mom couldn't afford a baby-sitter so the Boys and girls club took care of me when I was a kid.
Michelle Tompkins: Well, what's next for you, Zack?
Zack Ward: Let's see. I don't know at the moment. I'm just busy with the series, which is shooting right now, and then working on ASM, and writing another script. So I kind of got my hands full.
Michelle Tompkins: Was there anything else you want to add?
Zack Ward: Hmm. I don't know. See if this helps, have you ever seen Back to the Future? You saw the second one?
Michelle Tompkins: I did. I actually interviewed the director's wife, Leslie Zemeckis last week.
Zack Ward: Oh, nice. Perfect.
Michelle Tompkins: Yeah. She's a filmmaker as well.
Zack Ward: Lovely. So in the second one, Biff Tannen steals the almanac and uses it to create a dystopian nightmare.
Michelle Tompkins: From gambling with the sports almanac.
Zack Ward: From gambling. That's the cinematic version of what happens, but we know it really happens. On the flipside, there's Warren Buffet. So Warren Buffet is worth $400 billion, lives his life, has lots of investments, and he gives really great suggestions, which is, ‘Invest in what you know.’ If you like Kraft peanut butter, invest in Kraft. If you're eating Kraft peanut butter all the time, you're going to know if something happens to the quality of the product. You'll notice it. You're going to be aware of the product, day-in, day-out because you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. With his investing style and his thought process, he's become $400 billion without damaging anyone. So the question for people is, ‘Do you want to be a Biff? Or do you want a be a Buffet [laughter]?’
Michelle Tompkins: I don't think anyone wants to be a Biff. I don't even think Thomas F. Wilson wants to be a Biff [laughter].
Zack Ward: No, he doesn't. And it's funny, some people ask me about, ‘Well, isn't everything gambling?’ I'm like, ‘No. It's not.’ Not everything is gambling. You buy a house, that's an investment. You get to use what you have. But I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a professor of law, and I can't get into the legal minutiae of the definition, but I'll use allegory. So if your son or daughter came home and said, ‘Oh, family, I'm so happy. I'm madly in love. I'm going get married to a professional gambler.’ The parents would get drop sweats, and they'd do everything in their power to change the child's mind. If the child came home and said, ‘Family, I'm madly in love. I'm getting married to a stockbroker.’ Their response would be, ‘Oh, what school did you go to, and what firm do you work with?’
Michelle Tompkins: Yeah [laughter].
Zack Ward: Right there. And when people start realizing that it is a pervasive, corruptive force in culture, and if you're old enough, 21 years old, to ‘make your own decision,’ that's up to you; you do whatever you like. But when you start making a decision that puts it in the minds of children, before they have the tools needed to make their decisions, that's not fair. That's a cancer. We can't do that. We can do better. We deserve better.
Zack Ward is doing great things with Global Sports Financial Exchange check it out here.
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