Meet David Ruzicka

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Ruzicka. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I’m not sure you ever completely get over impostor syndrome — you just do a better job of compartmentalizing it and not letting it get in your way. That’s been the case for me, at least. Even as I’ve progressed in my career and had my skills validated at higher levels, the same outward confidence has never come naturally. It’s a muscle, I guess. To answer the question, then, what I’ve learned over the years is to stop thinking about “myself” at all in creative situations and focus on the work — how to better listen to collaborators. How to bring the inherent truth of a story out into the open. How to get lost in a particular subject, theme, or engrossing world. I try to think about what these characters, places, and scenarios want to say about themselves; and then keep the faith that others will also resonate with that perspective. In some way, it’s about falling “into the character” of the writer or director. Which, ironically, kind of makes you an impostor. But in entertainment, maybe our jobs ARE actually to be impostors some of the time — so you figure out how to work with it. Live in the story. Live in the moment. Sometimes I’m shocked when it almost feels like I’m floating somewhere behind myself as I lead a creative session or direct performers. That’s when it feels like it’s really functioning correctly. There’s a distance between “you” and the “you that’s doing the job.”

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Although there are a thousand different ways what I do *looks* like, in general it boils down to writing, directing, conceptually developing, and protecting the tone of live entertainment projects – whether that’s in theater, theme parks, brand pop-ups, or even haunted houses. My LLC is called Gryffon Creations, and the name stems from the very first for-profit haunted house I made for a local club when I was 13 years old. So, creepiness is the foundation I guess!

Sometimes the work is for myself and my teams’ artistic practice – and if we’re lucky, a profit comes from that. That’s how we ended up making a dark fantasy immersive theater show for one audience member at a time. That’s how we ended up making a puppet theater propaganda tour for the misunderstood holiday figure of yore, Krampus. That’s how we ended up re-uniting people with their long-lost imaginary friends via a penpal letter writing program.

Other times, the work is for recognized brands and stories, like Squid Game, Stranger Things, Disney Live Entertainment, National Geographic, or House of the Dragon. You might be picking up on a trend here…which is that there really ISN’T a trend. And that’s what I like the most. The endless varieties of these experiences, along with the endless types of stories that can be crafted. Truly, there’s no “right” way to do any of these things. We’re still figuring it out every step of the way. And that “figuring it out” is the most exciting bit.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I’ll cover these in order from the most general and personality-based to the most hyper-specific. The biggest quality that I’ve always been glad I have is the natural desire to explore and learn – the openness to look outside what I already know and what I’ve already experienced. That curiosity has been the core of my creative work, because so often in our business and art the most explosively powerful advancements come from finding inspiration somewhere totally different and putting it where it “doesn’t belong.” I grew up before the internet was really a thing, but it’s been part of most of my life since then. And instead of treating it like a public platform, I’ve looked at it as the world’s biggest library. So maybe folks early in their journey can try strengthening their internet-searching skills to find those “nutritional” aspects…and less of the empty calories.

Another skill or quality that’s served me well more specifically in a creative directorial capacity is to let go of needing to be a “visionary” and really listen to my team and what they’re excited about. It’s easy to get stubborn about “your way” of doing things, but I really try to prioritize the “directing” part as in guiding, instead of micro-managing the process. The ability to question if a change is “better” or just “different” is key. We have to open these things some day!

Lastly, if you’re a writer or director in themed entertainment, marketing, etc. I’d recommend sharpening your presentational skills. Making “decks” of content will be 70-80% of your job as a writer, and it’s a different type of writing than anything else out there. Economical writing is crucial.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Okay, I love this question.

Especially in Los Angeles where I’m based, my collaborators and I have a theory that there’s a lot of complementary work happening – but we’re just not aware of each other. It’s a dense little nest of people, lifestyles, and ideas. At the scale of the entire globe, it then becomes really mind-boggling.

So: what we call “immersive” theater, entertainment, etc. “Experiential.” There are so many words attached to it. At the heart, it’s about putting people in live environments and situations where they are completely “swallowed up” in a place, in a story, in a “somewhere else” that makes them temporarily forget the outside world. It’s a precious feeling. And all it takes is a mixture of physical space, lighting, sound, and [usually] live performance.

We KNOW there are a ton of people making things that fall under this umbrella that don’t call it “immersive art” or “immersive entertainment.” Who cares about the terms? We want to find the like-minded people who don’t know what this stuff is “supposed” to be, and we believe that there’s an incredibly diverse community of people out there pushing this type of experience forward in their own artistic languages. So no offense, theme park and immersive theater people, but…who are those people that are excited by this kind of experience but don’t “belong” in those buckets?

Time to bust open the silos.

I’m david.roozicka on IG. Apparently according to Blooloop, I’m a Power 10 Immersive Influencer now (thank you, Blooloop!)
So let’s influence what this term “immersive” can be. Ready?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://druzicka.com
• Instagram: david.roozicka
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-ruzicka-2b226019/

Image Credits

Counter Picture “72899248007-sxsw-mlc-0371” (Fallout):
Mikala Compton/American-Statesman

Wild Cards Picture “CW_HOUDINI_0023_f-scaled”:
Nancy Tapia

Theater Picture “NatGeo_Grosvenor-Auditorium”:
Visualizations by REDVERTEX, based on designs by Hickok Cole, Inc., courtesy National Geographic

Squid Game Picture “SquidGameActors”:
Courtesy Netflix