Miniseries on Vancouver deacon in development

For years, people told Deacon Zak Santiago he should write a screenplay about his life, but he never felt it was the right time. 

After years of half-commitments and other delays, the sign he was waiting for arrived when his friend John Cassini — a producer and actor — gave it to him, straight: “We gotta make a show about you, man!”

That show, christened Deacon, is now in development at Front Street Pictures and was introduced to potential partners at the Toronto International Film Festival Market last month. 

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The story will follow the life of Santiago “Santi” Luna, a former boxer and street criminal who finds redemption as a Catholic deacon. 

“I’ve been trying to develop a show about some things in my life for a number of years,” Santiago said. 

Originally, he thought this might take the form of a reality show centred on his life as a DJ, but he had to place the idea on the back burner “when the call to the Church (permanent diaconate) came.”  

Making a television show, even if a miniseries, is a lot of hard work, but he feels confident that this is where the Holy Spirit is leading him. 

“The Spirit told me this is going to be tortuous,” he said, but “I just trusted and it felt right.” 

This was largely due to Cassini and Jonathan Lloyd Walker’s support and encouragement. Walker is a producer and showrunner of series such as Amazon’s House of David.  

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“With them it just felt peaceful,” Santiago said. 

While Deacon draws inspiration from Santiago’s life, the series will be a fictional drama that uses the unique intersection of Santiago’s experiences to explore redemption, forgiveness, grief, community and the belief that no one should be defined by the worst thing they have ever done.

“I’m bringing everything I know,” he said about the creative process.

“At its heart, Deacon is about showing up for people, especially when they feel forgotten,” and it’s about “believing that everyone deserves the opportunity to find their way back.”

“It’s not that people aren’t wounded, or this character isn’t wounded — I am, you are — but we also don’t want to make a show that’s corny in any way,” he said. “I don’t want (the protagonist) to be a figure that isn’t true to the faith … Goodness is there, (Christ’s) goodness is there. Jesus is the driving force behind everything.” 

The story won’t shy away from the difficulties of life.

 “It’s going to be real life — like my life, like the streets of Vancouver, like our parishioner’s lives. That’s what’s really interesting to me.” 

The show will bring together the great loves of Santiago’s life: his vocation as a permanent deacon, and his passion for acting, music and the film industry. 

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“I am most excited about marrying these real aspects of my life,” he said. 

“My dream would be that I can be a professional artist and let that work be ministry. If I could proclaim the kingdom while making movies — to do either one of those is a dream. To be able to do them at the very same time, that would be grace upon grace.”

A version of this article appeared in the October 18, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "Miniseries on Vancouver deacon in development".