We caught up with the brilliant and insightful David Puskas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

David, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

We have a drive to express, to convey what’s inside, give it form. Projects you connect with, that you deem important and meaningful are rare and the ones that connect with a larger audience are even more so. You always set about a project with your hopes high, let it be a movie script, play or music in my case, that it will be meaningful, engaging, and those projects hold a profound significance, transcending the boundaries of mere artistic expression. These endeavours become a canvas for our thoughts, emotions, visions, and enables us to communicate and connect on a deeper level. Not all work grants us entry to the altar of creation, where one can feel a sense of pride in what they created, so it is a privilege and takes luck to have a carrier marked by these works. I realize it is a purist point of view to aim for a body of work, containing these projects alone and I know for a fact that a lot of the time one must prioritise their livelihood over their pride and oeuvre. Recently had the fortune to work on project that ment a lot to me. I wrote the score for a production of Suzie Miller’s ‘Prima Facie’. It gave me an opportunity to develop and unfold a character and her story through eighty minutes of unrelenting pressure in this intense monodrama, where music accompanies our heroin almost every minute of the play. Meaningful projects enable us to be great and like Nietzsche said “There is no nobler then to fall in the pursuit of greatness”.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary by my incredible parents, both working in the show business. Me and my brother grew up in and around theatre, watching and listening, spending a fair amount of our free time there as well and of course vowing never to work in the field. Years went by and slowly but surely I could hear the soft calling of Dionysus himself. The thought of giving acting a real shot crystallised when I experienced great emotional release in drama class. I always were very self conscious about my parents being who they are, especially my mother who achieved everything that could be achieved as an actor, some of it at such a young age, it is a historic record held till this day. I knew above all I’m drawn by the challenge and pursuit of a carrier that leaves so many dissatisfied, broken even, but one that grants the possibility to work with incredibly talented, focused people, to provoke thought and above all to tell stories. By the time I finished high school I knew acting is my path forward and that this path has to lead abroad so my pursuit is my own, somewhere where no-one knows my name, who my parents are. After applying and failing at quite a few acting schools in the UK and in the US I ended up receiving admission to the New York Film Academy. While in America, writing music also came head to head with my desire to tell stories through acting, so I dedicated even more time to seeking out opportunities, to advance myself in that area as well. While at school, I met some great people and although I never had the privilege of having many friends, I did make very few, but good ones. Through connections and horrid, blunt self promotion, I landed an agent, a few jobs and the snowball has been rolling ever since.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The impact you can have on other people. No question. I often look around in the theatre, while the most important or cathartic point unfolds and just watch their faces in the dim light. It makes it all worth it when you see those tiers of joy or grief, because that is my music or my acting impacting someone in a way that helps them release something that was inside. It’s a bit trickier to watch for reactions while on stage or while a film you’re in is rolling, but talking to people, reading their massages and most importantly, knowing that you will leave something behind takes care of motivation, gives strength to do better, go further, reach higher and chase the fleeting light of excellence.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I often find that people working in less creative fields, tend to stand bewildered just how all consuming work can get in our lines of work. Corporate jobs tend to be very consistent and predictable while the entertainment industry is anything but. Weeks and months of hiatus and then suddenly you can vanish for just as long without a trace because a project envelops you. It’s hard for the loved ones, family, friends or significant others because one can be very silent and focused on the task at hand. Definitely has a learning curve to it, balancing work and life, being there for your people, because they’re the ones that will provide all that’s necessary to create anything worthwhile.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidpuskaas
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1U5HhuzQt1hCfaMKAo25tf?si=m9so8VQQTL2CX20qLnQUgw

Image Credits
Kevin Lynch