Life & Work with Jake Fuzak

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jake Fuzak.

Hi Jake, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I suppose it all started in 2016. I moved into the dorms at the University. At buffalo to pursue my dream of playing Division 1 football and eventually the NFL. On my second day there, I was diagnosed with a heart disease called Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy HOCL with obstruction (HCM), which meant that if I elevated my heart rate above a specific beat per minute, I ran the risk of suffering a heart attack and dying. Now, this came as a surprise because my identity is athletics. I played my whole life without any symptom or inclination that I had any deformity in my heart. So in the blink of an eye, without even doing a single rep in practice, my playing career was made. I was raised to be a fighter, not to let things such as a mere heart problem affect me negatively, so I pivoted. I began an exploration of myself, what is it that I want to do for the rest of my life? This a question I now realize people of all ages ask themselves. After months of medical testing and self-searching, two things happened to me; I was cleared to play Football again because the doctors realized that what I had was athlete’s heart (a common mistake when diagnosing someone with HCM) and that the only reason I was able to stay motived with unwavering vigor and conviction was because of stories in film, TV, and video games.

So I officially began my playing career at the University at Buffalo, and as for a major in college, all I had to go on was the filming that was granted to me by a good story. As it happened when I started playing, I was terrible. I was last string and was not even close to sniffing any playing time. Again, any hopes about playing in college or at the next level were immediately squandered. Fortunately, I had teammates and friends who not only made me want to keep playing but would significantly impact me as a person. I often say that my parents taught me about life, the ins and outs, but my teammates taught me how to live and be myself. So as I stayed the course and kept searching for a Major worthy enough for me to sink my teeth into after a conversation in the locker room about One Piece and Naruto, the idea that becoming a storyteller might be an option, so I did what any struggling college kid does, Call my mom. My parents were all about higher education and pursuing a master, so I asked her if there was a master’s program in film, and her response was an enthusiastic one. So we began looking for schools to apply to. By the time we settled on a few schools, I was able to find two majors that I wanted to pursue, which I felt could benefit me and my endeavors. One was film o production, and the other was community mental health. The reason for community mental health was that I felt it essential to learn how actually to make films; however, I thought it more important to know what to make them about, so I did over 500 hours of community service working with a wide variety of people from all across the globe and a plethora of different cultures.

When I was ready to apply to schools by my 4th year of undergrad, something unexpected happened. For whatever reason, I started to get good at Football. I became a captain, A PFF All-American, and ranked in the top 15 offensive linemen at my position in the country. I begin getting fan Letters and agents approaching me and talking to roughly every NFL team. This seemed like it came out of nowhere, but after some thought, I think it was because I work hard at whatever I do, whether it’s homework, writing scripts, or even playing Football. It was the mentality of gaining small victories every day that eventually culminated in my success at Football. After the season, I discovered that I had been accepted into Chapman University, one of my dream schools, and a snowballing potential Football Career, bringing us to the most significant decision thus far in my young life.

On the one hand, I could pursue the NFL and make a pretty decent living and then go into filmmaking, considering the life span of a professional Football career is very short, or I could move to the other side of the country and begin pursuing my absolute dream of becoming a film director. At first, it felt like a difficult decision. Still, I realized that I could not wait any longer to do for people what stories had done for me, be a shoulder to cry on, a slap in the face, a kiss on the forehead, or anything that I needed it to be at whatever time I needed it. I feel like that’s the best thing you can do for people as a director, which is to take a feeling you like and pass it on. So I walked away from status, prestige, and financial gain to walk a path of uncertainty, debt, and discomfort. To make matters worse, I was even contacted by the WWE to participate in their training program to nurture me into a professional wrestler; again, I said no. This brings me to Chapman, where in just the first year, I found who, aside from being incredibly talented, are fellow risk-takers, nay-sayers, and adventurers ready to turn this world upside down. Classmates like Juan Zuloaga Eslait, Chaewon Suh, Cathal Power and countless others have already made my time at Chapman worth it.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I think one of the biggest struggles I have had in life is the battle between being comfortable, safe, logical and being uncomfortable, taking risks, and irrationality. The way society pushes us is to go the expected route or do something with your life that yields something that’s “good enough”. Being comfortable with the unknown coupled with the understanding that anything worth doing, at least in my life, would require risk-taking, irrationality, and loneliness, allowed me to arrive at yet another epiphany in my life. Sometimes you have to disappoint the right people within your life in order to find happiness. I use feelings like unease, uncertainty, pressure and loneliness as a compass because I know if I have them, in heading inn the right direction. After all, Fortune Favors the Brave.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As far as my work is concerned, I grew up in possibly the perfect place to have a childhood. My house was built next to a cemetery, an abounded building, a small forest, a 200-year-old church, and a state park with its own waterfall. This left me with practically limitless material to construct my own mythologies. The downside to this is that there were no other kids who lived around me, let alone anyone who wanted to craft weapons, armor, and forts in order to battle unseen forces. I never lost that sense of adventure and fantasy, which I am ever grateful for because if I had, I would’ve never arrived at my Magnum Opus. Right around the same time that I was in-between football and film school, I became a mega fan of Anime. It gave me a feeling that I had not had since childhood while watching Star Wars or Lord of the Rings or breaking into my neighboring cemetery at 3 in the morning. That strange feeling of wonder it gave me was ever present in these anime shows. I began to get frustrated because the live-action content in film and tv were not giving me this feeling that I so missed. So I began to unpack what made Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and other pop culture films so influential.

I read all of Joesph Campbells literature, watched Kurosawa and read all the books that were adapted into those films. I got down to the bottom of the origins of those films but did not quite find the answer to why these anime shows were giving me the same wonderful feeling. During my time working in community centers, I often found that commonality and even trust was earned between me and the people I helped based off our mutual love for Anime. Whether these people were 5 or 50, or whatever walk of life they came from, the second I brought up what the One Piece could be or if Itachi Uchiha was stronger then Madara Uchiha their faces would light up. So, after some time of reflection, I made a decision where if I could not find that feeling in other places in film and TV, then I ought to try it myself. Meaning that my objective as a creative and as an artist is to figure out what things are happening in anime whether it be camera movements, characters aesthetics, sound design, editing or story components and plug them into live action in an original story. It is my belief that the future of cinema hides within anime, and I am prepared to wager my life on it.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Covid taught me a lot as a matter of fact, above all else, the value of presence. It truly was amazing to me to see how much people missed the sight of one another. Though we were all separated, simply calling a friend over Zoom, or face time, or organizing family events virtually became not only much more important but a way of showing community for one another. J.K Simmons in his Oscar speech said, “call your mom” while funny and perhaps a bit obvious, Covid taught us you never really know when the last time you’ll talk to someone will be and how much it might mean to you to receive a call from a friend out of the blue. Another lesson I learned was the value of consistency. Finding a routine in a world without really anything going on became not just a source of mental stability but also something that helped establish discipline in my life which has carried over into the world post covid.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Jake Fuzak (@jake_fuzak) https://www.instagram.com/jake_fuzak/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jake.fuzak
• Twitter: Fuzak D. Jake (@Jake_Fuzak) / Twitter https://twitter.com/jake_fuzak?lang=en