MEN OF VALUE INTERVIEW: COLEMAN LUCK
By James Riordan

Coleman Luck is widely known in Hollywood circles as an extremely talented writer and producer who was a major force behind the success of The Equalizer and the creator of three other television series – The Burning Zone, Matrix and Gabriel’s Fire. He is also known as a man who stands up for his values to the point of being fired from his own show and refusing to compromise what he passionately believes is the truth even though such a stance was hugely damaging to his career. He has paid the price for those values and gone from being one of the most sought-after talents in television to virtually being ostracized by the industry that so embraced him. Luck believes that there was no question that the hand of God was involved in opening doors for him to enter the entertainment business, but he stresses that this does not mean it was easy. “When I was in the process of breaking in we went through some very difficult times,” Luck says. “The year before I broke into television I was ready to leave the industry. I went for a year and didn’t make any money at all and we were having a very hard time. I had some success earlier and sold a couple of screenplays. Nothing got produced, but I made some money and then, abruptly, everything dried up. I couldn’t sell anything. I was ready to leave and then, suddenly, TV opened up. It was miraculous. And it came not through agents or the usual path. It came through a bible study that I taught in the late 70s and early 80s. I met someone there who became a friend and he sold a TV series and brought me in to help write the series. I’d never worked in television. I knew nothing about TV writing, but that got me on at Universal Studios and one thing led to another.” This pattern of difficult trial and sudden favor was to become the norm in Luck’s career in Hollywood. “To have been asked to join the staff of The Equalizer was an amazing thing and what happened on that series was miraculous,” he adds. “The people who created it were never involved in actually running the show so it was up to those of us who were on staff to create that series on a week to week basis. And it just fell increasingly to me. You know there were plenty of other good writers who were terrific guys, but it just kept falling more and more to me. I don’t consider those to be things that just happened. I felt I have truly seen the hand of God in my life.” That is not to say that there were not obstacles. Often believers assume that because God is calling you to a particular profession that, not only will He open doors, but He will enable you to have an easy time of it. Not so, says Coleman Luck. “I think when God calls you into an area where you have the opportunity to reach a great number of people with the truth, then you should expect that there are going to be battles. I think you have to have the attitude of a warrior. If you follow God, the doors will open, but they will not necessarily be the doors that you expected to open. For myself, when I came to Hollywood I had no interest in television. I was expecting to be a screenwriter. That’s what I wanted to do. That’s why I went to USC and you know to this day, I’ve never had a feature script made. Over the years, I’ve written a number of them and many of them were right at the point of being produced and then something horrible happened and they didn’t get made. So those doors over the years often looked like they were opening, but they didn’t. It is such a battle.

All three of the television series that I created ended very badly for me. I don’t look at it and say God’s going to open the doors and everything going to be just smooth and wonderful. Oh no. You are entering into a war and if you are entering into a war you can expect to take some hits. And I’ve taken a lot of them.” As most people of faith realize, the majority of Hollywood does not embrace these values. While recent years have seen a few films that broke through this barrier, it is still an uphill climb. And when Coleman Luck first came to Hollywood the barrier was solidly in place. “I came to Hollywood with the attitude that I was an artist warrior. I was there to wreak a certain kind of havoc by integrating my faith into my creative work in Hollywood. That was a huge, huge challenge and it was certainly frightening at various points. You’re taking risks. My family was certainly aware of it and involved in it. My wife was always very supportive. We’ve been through lots of difficult times and often you realize that these times were caused to a certain degree by your faith and sometimes you wonder ‘what am I doing here?’ We went through periods like that but then there would always be something that would confirm that I was going in the right direction. “ Luck sees the primary role of a person of faith who is an artist is to tell the truth through their art. “As an artist warrior the issue is how do I tell stories that represent the truth and that has been a great challenge. I went through a period on The Equalizer when everything I wrote was wholeheartedly accepted. It was almost as though I could do no wrong on that show. Everyone on the series absolutely loved every script I ever wrote. I mean, how often do you find that in Hollywood? I had the support of Universal Studios and CBS. For three and a half years, it was an unbelievable experience. And then, of course, I went out and began to create my own television series and, from that point on, it was total war.” The first television series that Luck created began as if destined for greatness. The show landed a well known and talented actor, it got great reviews, very good ratings and the public embraced it as the unique program that it was. Then came the attacks: “I was under direct attack from the star,” Luck recalls. ”When it started, I felt so blessed to be working with someone I considered a fantastic actor, but it soon became clear that there was something very wrong. The heart of the series was about redemption and the lead character was to be a man that had not only been totally redeemed from his former life, but had now become a redemptive force in his community. But the star of the series resented everything that had to do with God. After three and a half years of working with a star who loved everything I ever did, I was blind sighted. We had discussion after discussion on the same issue and I refused to back down. He didn’t want anything in the show that had anything to do with God. I got fired after five episodes and the reason for that was that the lead actor came totally against me and drew other people in against me. The whole series went down the drain after that. They changed the name, they tried to completely rework it and it failed miserably. The lead actor won an Emmy for his performance on the series and, when he won the Emmy, he thanked everyone who had been on the show except me. And I created the show. I created the character he played. What made the series so successful was that there was nothing like it on television and people responded to it. Once I left and they made it like every other show on television, it failed.”

Luck says this is a classic example of the kind of battles a Christian artist can expect to face: “If you’re going to go out and represent the Lord, then you expect that there are going to be doors that are opened, but they might well take you straight into chaos and straight into the battle. Then there will be other doors that just won’t open and you are going to really wonder why. There is a huge amount of mystery when you are trying to do God’s will. After I did it a few times, I began to know what the consequences would be. If I got slammed down for talking about God and truth in one series and I took it further in the next one, I knew what the risks were. There is a mentality in Hollywood that says you’ve got to push the boundaries, push the edge of the envelope. But that idea is only accepted by them if it falls within the constraints of what they want. You can push the envelope as long as that envelope is inside of the larger envelope that they value. I’ve never fit into that large envelope. It wasn’t that I was pushing the boundaries outward in my work, in their minds I was completely outside the boundaries to begin with. I created three television series that were pushing those boundaries and that in itself was miraculous. Ultimately they were not successful because they clashed so hard with Hollywood’s traditional liberal values.”

Naturally, if you enter a career area where most of the people have decidedly different values than yourself, it is very important that you maintain some sort of discipline to keep your values from being influenced and distorted by the environment you have chosen to work within. “I spend time reading the bible everyday and praying,” Luck says, “and that is the most important way that I can stay on track. I’ve done that for many years, including all my years in Hollywood as a producer and writer. It’s important to have examples you can turn to as well. My father was a great example of a righteous man and a man of great faith but he’s been gone since I was 30 years old. So I’ve turned to men from the past whose writings I read regularly and they’re like mentors to me in a way. There was a pastor from England named F.B. Meyer and I read his commentaries. I read Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”

Luck has also turned to his family as a means to stay grounded in a world which is increasingly rootless and pleasure seeking. Luck’s wife Carel, is a visual artist and they have been a mutual source of encouragement through the years. “Carel and I’ve been married forty-eight years. We met as seniors in high school and we’ve been through so many things. I’ve always felt that, when it came down to it, it should be God first and then your family second and then your career. Our three kids are all following in the faith and they’ve been through tremendous difficulties themselves, but we’ve always hung in there together. It comes down to wanting to follow Jesus Christ and make Him Lord of my life and my work and that’s a pretty simple perspective, but it’s very difficult to live up to because it impacts everything. “

Like many people of faith, Luck does not like the track our nation has been taking but, unlike many, he is not so sure that it is reversible. “I love this country,” Luck states. “I’ve served in its military and I’ve been so appreciative of the opportunities that I’ve received. I do love this country, but I think that it’s all over. I think it’s all over but the screaming. We’re on the way down and we’re not going back up again. That’s my personal belief. I’ve written a little book called The Curse of Conservatism in which I take apart the idea of the marriage of evangelical Christianity and politics. I see increasing difficulty, increasing chaos, increasing darkness. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve believed for a long time, based upon my understanding of the Bible, that before the return of Christ the King, every nation, every system of government is going to be proven inadequate and a failure, including the greatest one in history, America. This is not a thing people want to hear. I don’t think there is much we can do to save this nation, but on a personal level we need to be speaking the truth, calling people to repentance for the evil that’s taking place in the country. It’s also a matter of speaking the truth about Jesus Christ whenever the opportunity comes. All of those things are vital, but I don’t believe there’s going to be a new great awakening in this country that changes everything. Instead, I see increasing difficulty and we could easily face catastrophe. Judgment comes in different ways. Sometimes it’s slow and sometimes it comes quickly. “Luck is semi-retired now, living in the beautiful Yosemite area. While his time in Hollywood did not produce everything he was hoping it would achieve, he also recognizes the many blessings he received. “When I was a Christian in the entertainment business in Southern California I was totally a fish out of the water. There were very few others and I saw God opening doors for me in some amazing ways. The vast majority of writers in Hollywood never get the opportunity to create their own TV series. Only a very few people ever get to do that, but I got to create three of them. I mean, the war that I fought doing them got me cast out of them but nevertheless, those were three opportunities that very few people ever get. So you use the opportunities and take the risks. You live what you believe and you put it down on the page if you’re a writer.”

And Coleman Luck has shown himself to be exactly that and one of the very best.