Meet Zach Merck of Supply and Demand TV and Ridley Scott Creative Group in Culver City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zach Merck.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Zach. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve wanted to be a Film Director since I was seven years old. As a kid, I was raised in a movie theater because my Dad was a manager for a prominent theater chain. I didn’t have babysitters – I went to the movies. It was the 1980s, a time of nostalgic feature films. I vividly remember all those early celluloid adventures through time and space, absorbing a steady diet of Spielberg, Lucas, John Hughes, and Ridley and Tony Scott. The movie theater was a good place to be, and I had a front row seat.

Historically, I started my career in Hollywood with Director Tony Scott at Scott Free Films as a Director’s Assistant. I like to think that Tony essentially taught me how to move the camera, how to appreciate my actors, to fuse my visual ideas with style, and to lead a crew to victory. He also instilled in me at an early age that commercials were a great way to hone my craft, explore different genres, and simply create as much as possible. I will never forget all the times I had with Tony…and our team of Pete, Jerry, and Tom Moran on “Enemy of the State” working tirelessly for a master filmmaker. (Tony was legendary for always wearing a pink baseball hat).

I think an important factor for directing professionally is understanding “how much stuff costs”…so for a few years, I worked as a producer at a company called Hypnotic with Doug Liman and David Bartis. Seems simple, right? But it’s so important to understand and visualize the money involved when putting the idea on paper. At Hypnotic, I produced the very first “Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival” along with the now legendary Reebok “Terry Tate Office Linebacker” campaign. We had a lot of fun, always, but the experience really focused me to understand the mechanics and price of how a set WORKS.

Music videos were my initial entrance into Directing full time. I am a punk rocker through and through, and back then a lot of my good friends were getting signed to record labels. Videos were a necessary “thing”, so my reel naturally grew stronger. I knew how to produce and direct, and put every cent on screen. I’ve worked with seminal artists like Blue October, Snoop Dogg, Michael Franti, Eminem, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Muse, and Smashing Pumpkins, along with a bunch of cool punk rock like Dropkick Murphys, Converge, Bad Religion, My Chemical Romance, and Shadows Fall. I still love making music videos!

I started directing commercials because of that conversation with Tony Scott. I signed with well-respected juggernaut Radical Media, and they essentially vaulted my career into overdrive, where I filmed a bunch of cool commercials, documentaries, and branded films for some of the biggest brands in the world. Branded Films were a thing, and I loved being able to tell stories in a longer format meant for the interwebs. Here is where I honed my true storytelling abilities, creating work that has been honored with advertising awards like the Cannes Lions, Clios, One Club, Effies, and the DGA.

Now I’m taking my career into exciting new endeavors. I aligned with Executive Producer Dana Locatell for commercials and branded content at Supply and Demand TV. They are a fantastic company lead by Tim Case. The most recognizable campaign I’ve directed with the S&D team is the Chevy “Real People. Not Actors” campaign, which is still going strong after six years. That’s wild!

Additionally, I’ve returned to the Ridley Scott Creative Group for features and television. That, of course, is a bit of a dream! I’ve aligned myself with Executive Producer Tom Moran…who I started with back at that first Hollywood job…and we have several exciting movies, and a television series, that we are currently developing for 2021. I have to be honest, I pinch myself OFTEN sitting in creative meetings with some of the faces I admired back at my Dad’s movie theater.

After many years “in the mix”, to break it all down like this makes me realize how grateful I am for the years of work. It’s pretty wild!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s the film business, so I don’t think there’s really a “smooth road” for anybody trying to make great work in our industry. Everyday is a challenge! Think about it – COVID just turned everything I’ve learned over the last twenty years upside down. To focus however on my professional journey, at first, it was building a reel and getting signed, and now it’s staying relevant in an ever-changing climate. I realize that I have been very fortunate to get into the rooms I’ve been in and to get projects made. I don’t take anything for granted, and there have been plenty of times along the way where I’ve gotten kicked in the knee caps. There’s also been plenty of times where I’ve scored, and that keeps me going.

As a filmmaker, I think you simply have to have thick skin. I have to tell myself all the time to never give up because the game is hard. You have to walk into that room believing that the project your pitching is the greatest thing anybody has ever experienced…and be ready for the “pass”. They want to find everything and anything NOT to hire you. It’s just the way it is. As a working Director, there are also going to be plenty of times when it’s a “job” bringing someone else’s vision to life, especially in advertising, and I think that’s cool too! It makes you more precise. To excel under that pressure.

A brief speed bump story – I was up for a huge “beer job”, meaning one of those big budget commercials that will shoot for a couple weeks (the rare ones). It was an elaborate cinematic adventure with a pretty big star as spokeswoman. I had enough production resources to make this thing look like “Pirates of the Caribbean”. EVERYBODY, including the production company, the agency, and the client, were behind me directing this thing, so the project was “coming our way”. We had a verbal “yes”. We started prepping and booking flights. Suddenly, at literally the 11th hour, some guy way up top at the beer company, who wandered in from summer vacation, made it all about “a beer pour”…which was actually NOT in the script…and the other director I was against had done a recent commercial with a beer pour he liked! So…I lost the job. Just like that. That new shot of the beer pour was everything. In the middle of the night. That stung! But that happens, especially in an ocean filled with sharks.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
As a filmmaker, I get to be my own boss. It is a professional freelance lifestyle. I work tirelessly to find unique, authentic stories and interesting people that take me all over the world, ultimately crafting entertaining, informative pieces of film that are equally engaging as they are memorable. And yeah, sometimes it’s hard as f**k. But what a rush.

A good filmmaker will often align with a great production company to represent them in the market. Supply and Demand TV, based in Culver City, has been phenomenal! They’ve supported me on some of the biggest commercial productions of my life. The work they cultivate across the board is outstanding. Tim, the owner, has a saying – “Truth beautifully told”. That’s a phrase I can apply to anything I am directing.

On the movie front, Scott Free Films in West Hollywood has been the ultimate. Ridley and Tony Scott certainly made their mark in the film industry. They gave me my “start” in the way back, and now the Scott Free team and I have a few cool thriller, science fiction, and horror projects we’re actively developing for 2021. Yes, there are strict NDAs, so I can’t divulge too much, but I can’t wait for everybody to see this stuff. Making movies is a completely different ball game from the grind I’m used to in advertising, but with my partner Tom Moran’s guidance and patience we are certainly getting there.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
You need to have FUN. Filmmaking is the best job in the world. We get paid to tell stories, to explore new worlds, to tell the darkest secrets. And I can’t do that alone. I simply love people, and I truly think that a warm, confident attitude towards the crew and the filmmaking craft is what has brought me all the cool projects I’ve been able to create. No matter the story. You need to be a team player – filmmaking isn’t about one person…it’s about the TEAM. I love and trust my team…and I love the process…and I think maintaining a good attitude while we are “in the heat of battle” on set is what gets you the next job….and the one after that. I imagine the Movie Director as a General, like the greats Tone, Rid, Carpenter, Stone, Hitchcock, Milius, Peckinpah, Coppola, Eastwood, Fincher, and Nolan, leading a team of very cool individuals, a platoon, into “battle”.It’s a big industry, and you’re constantly meeting new people. We are blessed to do what we do. A good reputation is everything. THANK YOU!!!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.zachmerck.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/zachmerck
• Facebook: facebook.com/zachmerck
• Twitter: twitter.com/zachmerck
• Other: supplyanddemand.tv

Image Credit:
Photo by Bill Winters, photo by Evan Rohde, photo by Ken Pagliaro

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