Matt Osterman (born May 27, 1978, in

Rhinelander, Wisconsin Rhinelander is a city in Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. The population was 8,285 at the 2020 census. History The area that eventually became the city of Rhinelander was originally called Pelican Rapids by early s ...

) is an American

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

maker and Entrepreneur. He wrote and directed the films ''

Ghost from the Machine ''Ghost from the Machine'' is a 2010 independent supernatural thriller written and directed by Matt Osterman. It was filmed in and around Minneapolis, Minnesota, and made its festival debut at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal, Canada. ''Ghost from ...

'', '' 400 Days'', '' Hover and The Fence and the Fox.'' He currently resides in

Roseville, Minnesota Roseville is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of two Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Twin Cities suburbs that are bordered directly by Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis (Lauderdale, M ...

Biography

Osterman began his career working with Dan Buettner on the Blue Zones project and helped him found the Quest Network. He was also research lead on

National Geographic Magazine ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

’s, "Secrets of Longevity" which was the cover story of the November 2005 edition. He started his film career by directing and producing short films and working on the

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

''Sportsfan'' with

Aaron Lubarsky Aaron Lubarsky is a documentary filmmaker known for his work on the HBO documentary ''Journeys with George'', the PBS documentary ''Seoul Train'' and '' Sportsfan''. After graduation from Stanford University's Documentary Film Program, he work ...

and

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...

. Sportsfan aired nationally on

SpikeTV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are located a ...

and played numerous festivals all over the country. After the documentary, he went on to write and direct

Ghost From The Machine ''Ghost from the Machine'' is a 2010 independent supernatural thriller written and directed by Matt Osterman. It was filmed in and around Minneapolis, Minnesota, and made its festival debut at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal, Canada. ''Ghost from ...

, a low-budget feature film shot in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. ''Ghost From the Machine'' premiered at the

Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...

and had an amazing run on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. It ended up being one of ten films in the nation to be accepted into the

Independent Feature Project The Gotham Film & Media Institute (also simply the Gotham), formerly known as the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to independent film. It offers programs that assist independent fi ...

Filmmakers Narrative Lab in 2009. In 2011, Osterman sold the remake rights of ''Ghost From the Machine'' to

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

. A few years later, Our House was produced by

XYZ Films XYZ Films is an American independent film production and sales company founded in 2008 by Aram Tertzakian, Nate Bolotin and Nick Spicer, and is based in Los Angeles. It focuses on international genre films, including '' The Raid: Redemption'', '' ...

and

Davis Entertainment Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American independent film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984. Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develo ...

. It was released by

IFC Midnight Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent features under its own name, select fo ...

and

Elevation Pictures Elevation Pictures is a Canadian film distribution and production company owned by Black Bear Pictures. The company was founded in 2013 by Laurie May and is co-led by Noah Segal. The company made its debut at the 2013 Toronto International Fi ...

in 2018. Osterman co-founded an Internet Service Provider called Northwoods Connect in 2014, a project focused on bringing high-speed internet to rural communities in Wisconsin. The company was sold to a regional provider in 2020. Osterman's next feature film project, 400 Days, starred

Brandon Routh Brandon Routh (; born October 9, 1979) is an American actor. He portrayed Superman in the 2006 film ''Superman Returns'', which garnered him international fame. In 2011, he played the title character of the film '' Dylan Dog: Dead of Night''. H ...

Caity Lotz Caity Lotz (born December 30, 1986) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. She has portrayed Stephanie Horton in the AMC series ''Mad Men'', Officer Kirsten Landry in the MTV mockumentary series ''Death Valley'' (2011), Annie in '' The Pact ...

Ben Feldman Benjamin Feldman (born May 27, 1980) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has undertaken roles on stage, including the Broadway play ''The Graduate'', along with more prominent roles in television series such as his role as Jonah S ...

, and

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He is known for his use of observational comedy, observational, often blue comedy, vulgar, and sometimes black comedy, dark comedy. He released six comedy ...

, and was inspired by

MARS-500 The MARS-500 mission was a psychosocial isolation experiment conducted between 2007 and 2011 by Russia, the European Space Agency, and China, in preparation for an unspecified future crewed spaceflight to the planet Mars. The experiment's ...

, a psychosocial isolation experiment designed to prepare for the first crewed mission to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. The space thriller was acquired by Syfy films in 2015, and premiered January 12, 2016. The film generated heated discussion with audiences around the true meaning and the messages embedded within. He then went on to direct another feature with Syfy Films, Hover (2018), a near-future Sci-Fi picture starring

Cleopatra Coleman Cleopatra Coleman (born 29 October 1987) is an Australian actress most notable for her role as Erica Dundee in the Netflix comedy series '' The Last Man on Earth'' (2015–2018). Other credits include '' Silversun'' (2004), ''Neighbours'' (2006 ...

(also written by),

Shane Coffey Shane Coffey is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Holden Strauss in Freeform's ''Pretty Little Liars''. Early life Coffey was born in Houston, Texas and raised in nearby Spring. He studied theater at the University of Southe ...

Beth Grant Beth Grant (born September 18, 1949) is an American character actor, character actress. Between 2012 and 2017, she was a series regular on the television comedy ''The Mindy Project'' in the role of Beverly Janoszewski. She is also known for her ...

, and

muMs da Schemer Craig O'Neil Grant (December 18, 1968 – March 24, 2021), also known as Craig muMs Grant and muMs the Schemer, was an American poet and actor best known for his role as Arnold "Poet" Jackson on the HBO series '' Oz''. Life and career Grant w ...

. His most recent feature film, The Fence and the Fox, a crime drama revolving around cryptocurrency, is set to air in the fall of 2024 and stars Noah Anderson, Ella Ma,

Jeremy Davies Jeremy Boring (born October 28, 1969), known professionally as Jeremy Davies, is an American actor. He is known for playing Ray Aibelli in '' Spanking the Monkey'' (1994), Corporal Timothy Upham in ''Saving Private Ryan'' (1998), Private Toffl ...

Frank Whaley Frank Joseph Whaley (born July 20, 1963) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, musician and comedian. His roles include Brett in ''Pulp Fiction'', Robby Krieger in ''The Doors'', Jim Dodge in '' Career Opportunities'', young Archie ...

Tom Cavanagh Thomas Cavanagh (born October 26, 1963) is a Canadian actor. He is known for a variety of roles on American television, including starring roles in ''Ed (TV series), Ed'' (2000–2004), ''Love Monkey'' (2006) and ''Trust Me (American TV series) ...

and Bruce Bohne. In addition to filmmaking, Osterman has worked extensively in the creative/branding industries, helping create over 25 brands that can be seen in

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

Circuit City Circuit City Corporation, Inc., formerly Circuit City Stores, Inc., is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered th ...

and

Dick's Sporting Goods Dick's Sporting Goods, Inc. (stylized in all caps as DICK'S Sporting Goods) is an American chain of sporting goods stores founded in 1948 by Richard "Dick" Stack. It is the largest sporting goods retailer in the United States and is listed ...

Osterman currently runs a marketing firm called HeyPropellant.com and Propellant Films, a production company. He hosts the Propellant Podcast, which is published on Youtube, Apple, and Spotify.

Filmography

* '' Sportsfan'' (2006) – Associate Producer * ''

'' (2011) – Director, writer * '' 400 Days'' (2016) – Director, writer * '' Hover'' (2018) – Director * '' The Fence and the Fox'' (2024) - Director, writer

References

External links

* *
HeyPropellant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osterman, Matthew Living people Film directors from Wisconsin American film producers American male screenwriters 1978 births