Florence Signs Director Jake Vriez Elaar

Oct. 23, 2026

Jake Vriezelaar came up grinding his path forward: a cinematographer shooting music videos for indie bands across Ohio, Michigan and Indiana, then a New York PA by day and camera op by night, then in-house at Vevo, where he began directing. With his best friend Emmanuel Terrell he formed the duo Poser, a crash course in fast turnarounds, treatments and agency relationships that taught him how to make fast turn around work that actually travels. Now he’s graduated with a keen eye for craft and culture.

He grew up in industrial Northwest Ohio, where the sunsets had a way of making power plants and strip malls look like something worth filming, and that instinct, finding the vibrant in the mundane, is still the engine behind everything he shoots.

Now based in New York, Jake directs commercials with a cinematographer’s eye and a comedian’s timing. His work for Nike, Jordan, ALDO, DoorDash and Hypebeast, and with artists like Gracie Abrams, Common, Reneé Rapp and Central Cee, shares one trait: moments of levity that stick. He thinks not taking yourself too seriously is one of the most vulnerable things a film can do, and that in a culture built to pull people apart, those are the stories that get remembered.

His ambition is simple and specific. Make work that’s respected in the big city and still lands with the guy watching the commercial break back home in Ohio.

Florence Founder Jerad Anderson said:

“Jake is a natural storyteller with a rare gift for finding the humor and heart in everyday life. He came up through camera, learned to direct by necessity and built a voice that feels both fresh and genuinely relatable. That combination of craft and humanity is exactly what we want to champion at Florence, and we’re excited to help him take it even further.”

 

Of the signing, Jake Vriezelaar says:

“I came into the commercial world sideways, through social media and almost no connections, and Florence met me exactly where I am. They care about helping young directors find a voice in a landscape that feels noisy, and they do it without a shred of pretension. It feels like family, and I can’t wait to see what we make together.”