Dan Merchant
10 min read ⭑
“As my faith has matured I’ve tried to channel my need for validation to the only one who can actually fit the bill—my heavenly Father. ... The distinction I’ve made (and am still learning to make) is that such validation is okay for my work, but I am not my work.”
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
It’s funny how memories in life crystalize. The first image that popped into my mind when asked about a “hometown meal” was a friend’s birthday party at Shakey’s Pizza in a suburb of Seattle where I grew up.
It was a pretty normal strip mall with ordinary pizza, but this pizza place was the go-to destination for birthday parties, post-swim meet gatherings, or just a Friday night “for fun” meal. I loved the noise, all the laughter, and the chance to interact with friends without being told, “Mr. Merchant, please return to your seat.” This Shakey’s had the first Pong video game—it was pure magic and it featured a spectacular jukebox that I would graze over.
At the birthday party in question—Jimmy Frankland’s 10th, I think—I still remember the thrill of discovering the Paul McCartney & Wings single “Junior’s Farm” (B-side “Sally G”) and playing it until I ran out of quarters. Funny to contrast that memory with the streaming world we live in today where any song is available on demand and try to reconcile the thrill of “being in charge” of the music at that jukebox.
Flashing forward, a similar pizza joint was the preferred location for many end-of-season award banquets for my two sons. I’ve always liked those mediocre pizza places that were so full of life, energy, and expectations.
Ben Neale; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
If I had to pick a potentially incongruous pastime, I’d have to choose my abiding, life-long passion for a good, Marshall-stack-powered, teeth-rattling, rock show.
A good rock show is the most energetic, visceral presentation of artistic ideas that I know of. The exchange of energy between performer and crowd is not only exciting but also the most dynamic representation of community en masse I’ve experienced. Obvious comparisons to church worship are present, but when the worship leader is Bruce Springsteen or Queen’s Freddie Mercury, the music is pounding at mostly ridiculous volumes, and the lighting rig blinds us like rays from heaven, the mood is dramatically elevated. Interestingly, I find the community created in this environment truly aspirational, as in church worship, the differences between us fall away, at least while we sing the “na-na-nas” of “Hey Jude” together.
I suppose it’s worth noting that differences in belief between us in the rock crowd are likely broader than those between us at the 11 a.m. service on a Sunday, so in that respect, this rock show bonding of the disparate is even more encouraging (perhaps the same dynamic at a football game where we all agree over the home team).
Then there’s the music itself. Rock music is a language I love, a language that moves me. I enjoy the variety inside of the rock genre—smart or dumb, fast or loud, thoughtful or cinematic. And honestly, I hear God in every note. All music is his (not defending every dumb lyric ever written, mind you), and all creation is his.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
Kryptonite? Interesting. For Superman, that was a piece of his personal history, a literal chunk of the land he came from. It’s similar for me, I suppose, in that as a creative person, the first thing you do when you finish writing something is give it to someone else to see what they think.
The need to be validated by others is built into my personality and built into the creative life. I need a studio or network to validate my work, which I suppose is familiar and acceptable to me because I’m used to needing validation from others. Of course, that’s something I’ve worked years to understand and manage.
As my faith has matured, I’ve tried to channel my need for validation to the only one who can actually fit the bill—my heavenly Father. But that doesn’t make it easy not to need external validation, and it can be a tough reflex to shake because it feels good to have a piece of my work admired, respected, and enjoyed. The distinction I’ve made—and am still learning to make—is that such validation is okay for my work, but I am not my work.
Thank goodness “people pleasing” in exchange for that validation is exhausting. Mercifully, you can easily get tired of it, and thus the off-ramp presents itself!
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
I’m really excited by my most current television projects, Going Home, a dramatic hour that follows the story of hospice nurse Charley Copeland, and Live+Local, a comedic behind-the-scenes look at a fictitious morning radio show on KHUGG-FM 109. Both of these projects are produced with Sony’s Affirm Originals and are “airing” on Sony’s faith-and-family streamer, Pure Flix.
At first, Going Home might feel like a familiar medical show, but it’s one in which “saving the patient” is not the prime objective. Being able to explore our mortality, the notion of a “good death” (yes, there is such a thing) and the way we spend our limited time on this earth has been a revelation. Writing alongside my wife and my buddy Matt has been a total blast. Producing and directing alongside many of my friends from past shows like SyFy’s zombie horror and comedy Z Nation (now on Netflix) has been a cool professional continuation. And working with serious acting talent like Cynthia Geary (Northern Exposure), Cozi Zuehlsdorff (Dolphin’s Tale), Charisma Carpenter (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Tom Skerritt (Alien), and many others on Going Home as well as hilarious comedians like Dave Coulier (Full House), Emily Pendergast (Veep), and Pat Cashman (Almost Live!) on Live+Local is plenty of reason to be excited and professionally satisfied.
It’s really difficult to take the seed of an idea and bring it all the way to fruition. It requires an immense amount of teamwork, and it’s a thrill when a show comes together and is received warmly by an audience. I hope you’ll check out these new efforts, we had a wonderful time creating them.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
Interesting question. I give the Holy Spirit credit for my best ideas. One minute I’m drawing a blank, and then the next minute, a great idea is swimming around my head. Sometimes I think, This must be a show already, right?
The thing these mystery ideas have in common is that they are deeper and better than what I believe I would’ve thought of. And when I’m discovering the idea, it feels as though I’ve tripped over it rather than created it.
There’s often also an emotional wave that follows. Seriously, I’ll get tears, laughter, and a deep emotional resonance—a dynamic physiological response to this idea gifted to me. In contemplating this phenomenon, I think it might be an involuntary response of gratitude for being entrusted with the idea. Not wanting to sound too grand here, but that is how it feels to me.
I usually think about how the idea might be reinforced by Scripture or if the idea could be helpful or if it seems like it’s possible a higher purpose could be involved, such as with a meaningful message or something similar.
Oftentimes, I experience a delightful string of “coincidences” and “happy accidents” that may then fall into place to suddenly usher the said idea to the front of the line. In the case of Going Home, the high degree of difficulty involved in selling a show about “death and dying” during a pandemic was not lost on me. All this to say, I don’t take much credit here—I just want to be a good steward of the ideas I believe have been handed to me as a gift.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So spill it, which spiritual practice is workin’ best for you right now?
Morning meditation—followed by a brief Scripture dive, a reading (at present a book about spiritual formation), a few moments of prayer and gratitude, sometimes a little journaling, and a walk—is my ideal way to start a day. And I actually pull most of that off on most days.
It’s easy for me to spend a whole day inside my head, intensely focused on whatever creative thing is running laps in my brain or whatever scene I’m trying to break. So to start a day with quiet contemplation and spiritual nourishment has proven to be a beneficial routine.
When I’m working, I’ll put music on—music that inspires me or that is well worn into the grooves of my brain (new music is tough because then I stop working to listen). It’s sort of like a playlist with a mood consistent with what I’m trying to create. It’s the same thing, sometimes, with movies and TV shows. They can put me in a certain mood and be a helpful spur in the ribs to the creative process.
It’s interesting that both of those things (music and movies) can also serve as a totally relaxing escape. I guess it depends on the music or the movies—or the project deadline!
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources—lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are three resources that have impacted you?
What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Phillip Yancey, Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller, and The Deeply Formed Life by Rich Villodas. Beautiful writing, honest contemplation, deeply human anecdotes, a genuine sense of humor, and likely someone yelling, “Heretic!” are the ingredients that these three books have in common. I like them as humble, thoughtful efforts to figure out what Jesus was talking about and how the heck we translate first-century Palestine to 21st-century North America without messing up the message.
Each of these works presents lots of excellent challenges about how to live in a community with people who don’t think like us, shine a light on our all-too-common weaknesses, and remind us of the beautiful, transformative power of the gospel.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season—and tell us what it’s done for you.
I’m going to mine The Deeply Formed Life again—that and The Truth About Lies by David Takle are the two books I’m rotating. The Deeply Formed Life’s subtitle is Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus, so I appreciate the direct, practical breakdown. The book explores the busyness of the modern world, the “exhausted life” as Villados puts it, racial reconciliation, the perils of a world living on the surface, our need for interior examination, sexual wholeness, and maintaining a missional presence in a disengaged and distracted world.
Villados is the lead pastor at New Life Fellowship in Queens, New York. Appropriately for a teacher, the book includes a guide for reflection and discussion to help put the concepts discussed into practice. The book has helped make the way of Jesus a more visible path to follow.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So, give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I started writing in the seventh grade, starting with comedy skits for a summer camp talent show—months before camp. There always seems to be a story I’m trying to bring to life. Sometimes, like with Going Home, the idea feels blessed and just appears (and then the work begins). Other times, it’s more craft than inspiration.
All that to say, it always feels like there’s a term paper I’m supposed to be working on! Working as a writer and director is a lot like summer camp with a paycheck, but it’s also full of perpetual homework. Who knew?
Being judged on your most recent project and perpetually creating your next job offer an incredible amount of freedom and require a lot of faith. There’s always the concern that whatever project I’m trying to bring to fruition is the “wrong one” and that I should be working on “that other one.” Ha!
Sometimes it’s tough to discern the difference between divine inspiration and a wild lark. That’s what the meditation, praying, and gratitude each morning are for—to give direction to a productive day. In my view, a productive day is one in which you don’t have to throw the pages out at sunset!
How do we love this world like Jesus? It’s perhaps a question the church has debated for a long time, and it’s certainly one we can’t afford to ignore.
But maybe the answer is closer than we think. One of the most mind-blowing aspects of the gospel is that, while we were still sinners and enemies of God, he loved us and rescued us.
First John 4:10 describes it this way: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (NIV).
Our Jesus didn’t give us a spiritual band-aid and tell us we were okay as we were. He drew us in by his kindness, washed away our sins with his own blood, and gave us his Spirit so that we could follow him into freedom and abundant life.
That’s radical love. It’s all-consuming. All-welcoming. All-transforming. And it’s worth sharing. So as we ask ourselves how to love this broken, hurting world… what if we started there?
Dan Merchant is a veteran television writer, producer, and director best known for SyFy’s Z Nation (2014-2018) and is currently executive producer and creator of Pure Flix’s Going Home (2022) and Live+Local (2022). Dan also directed and hosted Lord, Save Us From Your Followers (2010) the award-winning documentary film about the collision of faith and culture in America.
