Director Zach Merck has joined RSA Films for commercial representation in the U.S. He is often sought for his expertise in real people/hidden camera fare such as Chevrolet’s “Real People. Not Actors” campaign.  

A versatile filmmaker, Merck also directed Volkswagen’s Racing Under Green doc-style TV series about the VW SCAA Racing Team via Crispin Porter+Bogusky, The Art of Walking, a branded documentary for Nat Geo created in partnership with the Tourism Board in Victoria, Australia, and ads for Cadillac, GMC, Travelocity, Dodge and Jack Daniels, among others. 

Merck also earned a DGA Award nomination in 2010 in the Reality Programs category for 6 Beers of Separation, a project for Toohey’s Extra Dry and agency BMF Australia which later that year won an AICP Next Award in the Product Integration category.

Joining RSA marks a return of sorts for Merck, who began his career in Hollywood with RSA co-founder Tony Scott. “I started as an intern in my senior year at Emerson College before jumping aboard full time on Enemy of the State,” Merck recalled.  “I learned more working for Tony than I ever did in four years of film school. Tony and I had a talk once and he said, ‘If you wanna’ be a director, you need to go work with a producer to learn structure and cost.  It will greatly help your storytelling.’ So I went for it.”

Merck went on to work as a producer at Propaganda Films and Hypnotic before segueing to directing full-time, first music videos, then commercials. His reel quickly grew strong, something he credits in part to taking Scott’s advice and knowing how to produce and direct in order to put every cent on the screen.

Merck noted, “I’ve always wanted to ‘come home’ to where it all started for me.” He added, “As a director, I believe in a team effort to bring a vision to life, whether it’s my own vision or the clients.  There are faces at RSA and Scott Free that I implicitly trust.  I love to challenge myself—to try new perspectives—because I simply love film and RSA is a place that I can do that.”  

Jules Daly, president of RSA Films described Merck as “an accomplished filmmaker” and “one of those remarkable talents who is well-versed in storytelling and the process of filmmaking, able to deliver great creative for a diverse range of projects. We’re excited to bring him a variety of new opportunities from across the company.”

Prior to joining RSA, Merck was represented for more than a decade by RadicalMedia.