Kurt Steinmuller works on balancing his love for creating visual, horror stories with being a competitive runner on the cross country course.
From movie producer to Mid-American Conference Runner of the Week, Kurt Steinmuller balances making horror movies with excelling on the cross country course.
Steinmuller, a junior from Stonybrook, New York, chose to attend Ohio University because of its Visual Communications program in the School of Media Arts & Studies. His main priority of writing films stays constant, but cross country is not far behind.
Steinmuller’s inspiration comes from the movie Jurassic Park.
“I love it,” he said. “The story is one of the most interesting stories, and ever since I was a kid, I grew up with the movies.”
He also likes that Jurassic Park builds suspense through revealing the creatures mid-way through the movie and not right at the beginning.
As a movie producer, you can’t do all of the work by yourself, so occasionally Steinmuller will ask his teammates to help him out on the set.
Steinmuller’s teammate and junior Jarrod Genther said it’s pretty unique that Steinmuller makes horror and sci-fi films.
“It’s really creative,” he said. “Most people you talk to are doing basic things like business and science and stuff like that, and he is making films on the weekends.”
Senior Chase Robinson talked about a film previously produced by Steinmuller, saying it was similar to the newly-released Annabelle film, about a guy who is abducted and comes back from the dead as a human being.
“One of the things I had to help him out with was digging a hole for a dummy presentation,” Robinson said.
He added that it was more of a silent film and was shot in black and white.
Just like Robinson, Genther has also helped out Steinmuller in his films.
“None of us have ever been in any of his legit films, but he asks us to help out on some of his smaller films,” he said.
Steinmuller has no problem going to his teammates for assistance, but he usually works with his colleagues in Scripps and the Vis-Com program.
Currently, Steinmuller is writing a feature film, which he said will take him about two years to complete.
“It’s a lot of hard work to write a feature film. It’s going to take me about two years hopefully if all goes well,” Steinmuller said.
Along with his big feature film, Steinmuller also has to work on smaller films. He will help produce some, while contributing to an effort to fundraise for a location for the film as well as props and other necessary materials.
Steinmuller loves writing films because he is able to be creative and he loves creating visual stories for people to enjoy — it gives him a chance to be adventurous.
“My mind wanders all over the place. I think it helps with running too,” Steinmuller said.
With his recent success, he is able to use his personality to help him run and shoot movies.
Steinmuller was named the MAC Runner of the Week on Sept. 23.
Robinson and Genther also say his goofy and relaxed attitude help him on and off the course.
“I think it shows that a lot of people might have criticized him at first as being a goofy kid, to now being so competitive,” Robinson said.
With the season at its midpoint, Steinmuller — who is trying to cap the season off with a MAC Championship — must bridge the gap between writing films about horror and dark comedy to competitive running on the cross country course.
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