Profile: The Zakar Twins

Michael and Zak Zakar a.k.a. The Zakar Twins have a lot going on at the moment. From busy authors (Pray the Gay Away and How to Be Fucking Happy: a workbook to your inner happiness to pod-casters (Wish I Was A Nepo Baby) and underwear designers (Buy here!), the self-described “middle-eastern Mary-Kate and Ashley,” are building their own empire. 

We sat down with the twosome to learn more about their brand and the upcoming scene they have coming out with ASGmax.

Please tell us about the books you’ve written and what’s upcoming for you.

Our debut memoir was called Pray the Gay Away. It was our coming out story in a Middle Eastern family where our mother infamously threw holy water on us after we came out. 

As queer individuals navigating the labyrinth of self-discovery, we’ve had to forge our own path without the luxury of a queer Sex Ed. Self-exploration through sketchy hook-ups became our teacher. Looking at our lives so far, sex has been our way of connecting to people. We learned about our bodies through other bodies. Whenever we wanted to get laid, we would tell our mother one simple lie of escaping to our best friend’s house, “I’m going to Kathy’s!”

Think of our new book, I’m Going To Kathy’s as our version of the birds and the bees, or in our case, the bears and the otters.

We wanted to release a project that off-set the themes of our book so that’s why we came up with the idea to write a porn. 

How do your individual perspectives influence your collaborative writing process, especially given the unique bond of being twins?

I think we both see the big picture but get there in two different ways. We explain our writing process like this—Michael builds the house and Zak decorates it. There’s never a writer’s block when you have someone to bounce every stupid joke with. 

What challenges have you faced in balancing humor with the darker elements of your stories?

It’s a balance in itself. So many of us have traumas and stressors but if we can’t laugh at them— what’s the point of this life? You have to make it digestible while still making a point. All good writing has something to say and we want to tackle these big issues we weren’t allowed to talk about within our community. 

How did the process of transforming written content into a visual, adult-oriented medium differ from your previous writing experiences?

We are hoping for a “not in front of my salad moment” for this new porn with ASGmax. The process of writing the porn wasn’t hard because we’ve spent the last five years dissecting each hook-up and past relationship we’ve had for our new book. Plus, I think every gay male assumes they could write better porn half the time they’re watching it. 

How do you navigate the representation of LGBT themes in your work, both in memoirs and in film?

Queer and Middle Eastern themes are intertwined in everything we do. We want to be the Middle Eastern Jordan Peele’s and push the limits for our community while still holding an authentic voice. 

Do you feel that being twins offers a unique perspective or advantage when creating content together?

Definitely an advantage. In almost all writer’s rooms you work with other writers and collab on ideas you may or may not like. Working on content with my twin helps push my own thinking and his. 

How do you handle creative disagreements?

We yell at one another until someone has a mental breakdown.

What advice would you give to writers or filmmakers looking to explore similar themes or genres?

What do you want to say? That is the question you must answer when writing a piece. Let the world see your weird mind. 

What is your favorite thing about the scene/movie you wrote? Can you tell me more about the content?

Honestly, I love that we wrote a porn.

The idea was to write this porn as a mock trailer for our book but the two didn’t really match up— it’s stupid and not serious, everyone watches porn!!!

Check out the Zakar’s latest work in “I’m Going To Kathy’s” available only on ASGmax