Meet Bryan Kreutz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bryan Kreutz.

Hi Bryan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story? 
My childhood was a critical part of the human story that had me in the middle seeking attention, not getting it usually, as the middle child of three kids. I wish I’d known when I was younger: no one ever fully grows up, but I had a creative imagination., When my cousins would come over, all three girls, we would begin building full-size tents made of blankets that had Christmas lights, TV screens, and formations depicting exploratory or haunted house-style elaborate designs. In the Midwest, more specifically, St. Charles, Missouri (I was born in St. Louis), I had a vast, finished basement as my playground beneath the house, which is quite typical in this part of the country. This led to me wanting to also be creative as a performer and sharing that creativity with dialogue by playing someone else who does, in fact, get more or all the attention. I started acting in church plays alongside St. Louis Muny theater kids at the age of eight; this was no small feat. I was the lead actor alongside three other biblical kings with thirty lines of dialogue playing on stage in front of 400 people. Truthfully, what most made me feel appreciated and gave me that Ah-ha moment was when I would mimic car or food commercials in 1980’s television, not necessarily the whole ad, but parts that intrigued me in the delivery. Doing this thousands of times and even repeating it back to my parents and sometimes siblings and cousins helped me realize If I deliver a solid statement, like a commercial does in an announcer voice, I have inner fulfillment and the attention I desirably sought after. 

My father worked for Boing Aircraft for 45 years; he worked so much overtime it taught me that you work hard and be rewarded. He would teach me how to fix basic to moderate stuff like changing the oil changing the brake pads and calipers, which was amazing, but I soon learned hogging all the work myself and not sharing the wealth with a teammate meant more work on my shoulders to get the job done. This is indicative of how I worked early on in my production career, starting at 15 years old. I would build these elaborate sets for Star Trek, similar to what Seth MacFarlane would do. Staple gunned or hot glued Christmas lights layered with tiny squares made of cardboard as a first layer, accompanied by another layer of wax paper, then top it off with plexiglass and “whallah!” you have a Star Trek bridge console that looks next to nothing like the real thing, So, because the lights blinked then you can touch the Plexi-glass, the imagination and possibilities to make a homemade fan-film Star Trek show was a success! Being surrounded by all these set creations, at age 15 and 16, the acting then came even more naturally for me to want to sit in the captain’s chair and be the captain while all my friends and cousins were the Star Trek ship crew members in the script. Essentially, it was guys and dolls in Star Trek costumes with our homemade Star Trek badges on our shirts every couple days. We made dang near 60 episodes with an RCA VHS camcorder, so old you would take the full VHS tape and pop it into the camera for a direct recording on tape. 

I was heavily into sports, so that justified me not being labeled as a nerd, more of a jock. I took pride in hockey, playing on both streets plus roller hockey skating rinks and later ice hockey to build my confidence while relying on teammates to help with the workload dynamic. 

When I reached high school, I played ice hockey and cross country but realized being outside of the classroom is where I wanted to be in a more hands-on career. My mentor Alan H. Shiller, who helped me and his son create a gameshow called “Circle Lock” in the production studios at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, encouraged us to write up a narrative plan and then we recorded it as a mock pilot, where he sad he would pitch it to the All-new Newlywed game producer, who was a family friend. We soon realized this was more than motivation, by preparing us to be creative and even try and fail a few times to tweak then craft something better on a blank canvas. Alan eventually recommended me to go to Broadcast Center in a nice part of the city of Clayton. This was a vocational college with an associate degree equivalent form of education where there were no classrooms, only production studios, recording and editing bays, and microphones accompanied by audio equipment. This had me self-taping then taking my recording into a round table room with a set of revolving door instructors who would literally be the local NBC, CBS, ABC TV news channel weatherman, or a Deejay from local radio giving us advice to make an extra buck. Ultimately, this prepared me to graduate and become a Deejay on the radio, learn to edit, and present as a host in front of a camera. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The challenges in my young days and even into adulthood were often seen as opportunities for improvement to fine-tune my personality with positivity as an outlook on any situation. I always seek to find a silver lining in every bit of life’s challenges, whether that be personal, career-oriented, or in my faith for something better. Looking at my situation and comparing it to another person’s is not a comparable situation. Success is in the eye of the beholder, but happiness and self-worth start from within and are supported by a solid set of friends as a foundation, plus family at times. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
After graduating from college in St. Louis, Missouri, with a broadcast communications degree, I began a career as a deejay while also hosting and producing a football call-in show for the CBS radio affiliate, WKEI, on the outskirts of Peoria, Illinois. While building a quick resume voicing over 100 commercials and almost as many promos for two radio stations in my first year, this officially set me into a career on-screen as a commercial TV actor, landing an amazing agent, Mandi Morris. I also married the beautiful Tiffany, who’s super smart, in 2003. Smarts are very important to me in a woman, we were engaged for four years, she was only my second girlfriend. We have three kids, all of them are making our house a loud house as teens ages 19, 15, and 14. Lexie, my 19-year-old, is a stupendous actress, by the way, attending college in Temecula and pursuing a radiology career after she graduates from Chaffey College in Ontario, California. My career has launched commercial spokesman opportunities front-lining on national cable TV commercials for Fidelity Communications cable company in six states and Sono Bello TriSculpt, airing more than 200,000 times in every major U.S. TV market nationally. I’ve had bit parts in a few television shows. Currently, I’m co-hosting the only broadcast television Star Trek talk show on 14 local channels nationwide, including in Manhattan and in Portland. We’re in the fourth season of production as of now where we’re interviewing top Star Trek celebrities. I’m more than blessed to have the greatest friend and beautiful co-host, Lili Fox-Lim, who has taught me high energy in making art on television is a sustainable thing to put full energy into while also being patient. Our writer/producers are superb, particularly Dustin Serrano, who aims to put this Star Trek talk show “A Captain’s Log” on the map via a huge production company now that were networking in L.A. with top production houses. 

Acting, I’ve played a diverse selection of roles, ranging from bit parts on Nickelodeon TV series up to co-starring roles in major studio Hollywood film productions. I played the spit bag passenger in an airport scene with Kate Upton in the William H. Macy film The Layover. Shortly thereafter, as the “host with the most” (lines), I would appear in a supporting role as a fictional TV talk show host named Larry Thrunkleman in the Tom Green comedy film Interviewing Monsters and Bigfoot. My first big gig was as the character Brody, and I wrote, directed, and produced a family drama titled Up on High Ground, which landed on PureFlix and late-night The CW Network stations for 9 episodes in 2014-2015. 

What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
The film and television industry has no doubt changed its dynamic and business model in the last two decades. Big studios must change with the times and are doing so, like Paramount who owns Pluto TV and a number of other streaming apps while still having their own cable network and high-quality streaming service, plus, of course, being a movie studio with the most historic Hollywood backlot, As for me as an actor in Los Angeles, I’m seeing this shift still have a need for the tried and true broadcast television platform, both live and syndicated because sometimes it’s nice to step away from the vast library of content in an on-demand play button world. Live sports and nearly live delayed newscasts or entertainment magazines like Entertainment Tonight and TMZ are still very interesting and relevant. Humans’ needs are very different, and were not all the same in habitual pastimes. So, to me I still see a need for newly released TV shows in pre-planned time slots on a network, on a particular day and time still works as a logical choice. As a talk show host, I see opportunity in broadcast television and coupling it with using those recordings to open an even wider audience who stick to streaming only. The biggest shift is for filmmakers and producers who must keep their written content fresh and free from AI and canned types of content creativity or plagiarism. Having a good lit agent or even talent agent like mine, Charlie Comet, over at Serenity Talent, that pays close attention to my needs, is of paramount importance. The same can be said for others here in our magnificent creative haven of L.A. Whether an entertainer or writer, or producer, a good agent or manager goes a long way. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://up-on-high-ground.fandom.com/wiki/Bryan_Kreutz
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/a_captains_log_show/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-kreutz-503b9918/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ACaptainsLog
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3840743/

Image Credits
Kymberli Boynton
Hashtag Selfie Experience Gallery
BK Studios
Lens & Light Co. Photography
David Elfanbaum
Fourworlds Creative – Studio