[Jon Steinhorst]

Hey Y’all.. my name is Jon Steinhorst. I live and work professionally as a producer/director/AD/PM in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The market here survives mostly on indie films and a lot of commercial production (which sometimes grinds away my creative soul as a guy with two art degrees and roots as a painter/graphic designer… I’ve been fortunate for the variety of work I do get, and for better or worse, on the producer/AD/PM side, a lot of that has to do with Covid restrictions since the pandemic started. Last August as the delta variant picked up steam here, I actually authored a 15-page, network-approved covid protocols policy as the Line Producer for a new History channel “re-enactment” show called, “I Was There,” (which has it’s network debut next week!), and I can tell you firsthand, secondhand, and with too many hands that Covid production is a beast.

That said, I did not get into filmmaking to crunch numbers or manage logistics and schedules and be a de facto HR department and having had taken the Profound Screenplay class at the very start of the pandemic I jumped on board here to -hopefully- use the structure of the class as a motivator to help flesh out one or several contained ideas. I have always loved the concept of containment in films, which contrary to the many that are less enthused with horror, may have started for me with films like Carpenter’s The Thing and Alien.

I hope the class re-sparks my engine for writing and my mission to ‘prove myself right’ that I’m meant to be a creative. I have written many short scripts and a couple features and self produced many projects for myself and others, first in chicago where I rec’d my MFA as a writer/director and now in Minneapolis. I’m currently juggling two projects as a freelance producer and only hope I’ll be able to manage my time to make it here enough to capitalize on the opportunity. I love that we can attend when able.

Maybe there was something unusual or interesting in the above? If not, here’s an 8-minute short film I finished last week for the Science Museum of MN that might be worth a watch: https://new.smm.org/truant Cheers!

[Jon Steinhorst]

I, Jon Steinhorst, agree to the terms of this release form.

As a member of this group, I agree to the following:

1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.

2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.

I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.

3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.

4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.

5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.

6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.