Merchant Welcomes Director Matt Lenski

Merchant welcomes award-winning director Matt Lenski to its roster.

LBB sits down with Matt to learn more.

LBB> What appealed to you about joining Merchant? 

Matt> I noticed everyone in Canada was angry about Merchant having all the best directors and jobs. Seeing Canadians get angry outside of a Leafs game was weird, so I had to check it out. Turns out Merchant isn’t a bunch of evil business robots — they’re really nice people??? Who also have the best directors and jobs. All admirable qualities that I’m excited to join. Maybe we’ll fight some business robots. Not sure but looking forward to finding out. And I’m thrilled to be kicking it off with a great job right away. 

LBB> Can you give us a brief rundown of your career so far? 

Matt> I graduated from Cornell University (The Harvard of “Ivy League Schools that aren’t exactly Harvard”) then interned at MTV for directors like Kuntz & Maguire. I got to watch these creatives direct a bunch of amazing stuff and also get them a ton of Molly. Both huge learning experiences. From there I started directing music videos, then commercials, then films with success at places like Sundance, and TedTalk, and then partnered to open the movie theatre 'Metrograph' in downtown NYC (come by!). Now I’m talking to you so it all turned out pretty great. 

LBB> Do you have any particular career highlights that you’d like to share?  

Matt> It’s probably flying Business Class - I mean it’s really amazing - very hard to go back. But if you twist my arm I’d say I feel incredibly fortunate to have worked with so many TRULY WONDERFUL PEOPLE over the years. I mean it. I would fly premium economy every day just to hang out with these creative fun amazing people I get to call colleagues, and you know I hate economy because I just said how much I love business! 

LBB> What are you most looking forward to achieving with Merchant? 

Matt> To make great work with people who care. Ian, Tim, Janet, Hayley, and Farrah have wonderful brains and I want to see their brains brain more. 

Plus, very honestly, working in Canada is always a dream - from the crews to the casting, I’m constantly blown away by the thoughtfulness that goes into the work in the North. And as a born and bred New Yorker, commuting to Toronto from NYC is easier than driving to Brooklyn from my place in Manhattan.

LBB> What does the next year look like for you? Any exciting projects in the works we can tease? 

Matt> I’m in development at HBO on a wonderful show AND I’ve got a book coming out in 2025 about outlaw design in New York City in the '90s titled '(212) Wee-Dlvr'. Also I might go to the gym a couple times, we’ll see.

LBB> Anything else you’d like to add?  

Matt> It’s not uncommon to find me pulling up to some heavy hitter on Wikipedia like 'The Renaissance' or the TV show 'Glee' (which is unsettlingly long). I love odd explorations of all things human, but especially those unusual comments on random reddit thread or a rogue Yelp review about a local deli being a front for a crime ring. I can (and will) lose hours investigating a petty crime, not because I believe in justice, I just love a good mystery. 

Also - I love being a dad. And I think the world of my mom. And of my kid’s mom. Who is my wife. I love my wife is what I wanted to start with actually. Plus I am very cool, please put that in bold. 

Ian Webb, EP at Merchant said, Matt Lenski has an impressive reel that speaks for itself. His clear comedic tone and effortless storytelling abilities feel original and grounded. We are so excited to begin this new chapter together, starting with a great job to kick things off. 

Check out Matt's reel here. 

Merchant is a Canadian based production company founded by award-winning director Tim Godsall and executive producer Ian Webb.

For more information on Matt Lenski or Merchant, please contact: Ian Webb, executive producer, Merchant.