Derek Kolstad

Derek Kolstad started writing screenplays after watching Die Hard on Beta when he was 13, and never really stopped. However, growing up in the Midwest, screenwriting didn't exactly seem to be a viable career choice even though his family and friends encouraged him to pursue it from a young age.

Upon graduating from Taylor University with a degree in business administration, Kolstad worked a number of jobs in line with his major before realizing that he despised where his life was heading. Knowing full well that he had to give this career a chance, Kolstad bought a '99 Golf TDI, filled it with his most prized possessions (most notably a Dell desktop and CRT monitor that took up the lion's share of the backseat) and drove out to L.A.

Over the past decade or so, Kolstad has moved up the scripting chain from collegiate short films to nonprofit educational projects to direct-to-video pieces to features, which have proven to be an absolute joy and the culmination of a lifetime's worth of seemingly groundless dreams.

Summit Entertainment