Carl won the Duke/MCA-Universal Scholar Award while at Duke University in part for a short story he had written called "St. Elmo's Fire" about a girl he had an infatuation with while working as a bellhop at the St. Elmo Hotel. The story would inspire the Columbia Pictures feature Kurlander would write with director Joel Schumacher starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, Emilio Estevez, and Andi McDowell. Though Kurlander identified most with McCarthy's shy writer character, Emilio Estevez plays Kurlander's alter ego Kirbo and the object of his obsession is played by Andi McDowell. Kurlander remains friends with the real life waitress from the St. Elmo Hotel to this day.
