Stept Studios Annouces Six New High-Level Hires for 2020

Stept Studios is excited to announce their recent hires for heads of production, sales, and creative, along with a managing director, brand account executive, and controller. Their growing team underscores a significant time of expansion for the company, which has added 12 employees over the past year, scaling to meet the demand for high profile projects for clients including Budweiser, Oakley, Nike, and Crown Royal.

Laura Cushing is transitioning from her previous role as head of production into the managing director role. As managing director of Stept Studios, Laura is involved in the daily management of the company, overseeing smooth functioning of various divisions including sales, business affairs, human resources, creative, production, and post. In addition to her responsibilities for the daily operations of the business, Laura executive produces numerous high profile projects each year. Prior to joining Stept in 2017, Laura Cushing honed her industry skills through producing, writing, directing, and supervising for traditional networks, HBO, AEG Live, and Red Bull Media House while helping to bridge the gap between broadcast entertainment and digital content for these entities.

Adam Rachlitz is Stept’s new head of creative. As a creative director rooted in brand strategy, he is instrumental in aligning brands’ needs in conjunction with the creative vision of Stept’s directors. He’s worked on several campaigns with Stept, including the launch of Oakley’s NFL partnership, Nike’s Super Bowl content featuring the young female football player Dalia Hurtado, and the short film, Sundays at the Triple Nickel in partnership with Crown Royal. His work lives at the intersection of culture and brands - specialising in music, fashion, film, and technology. Adam has previously worked at Deutsch Los Angeles and Roc Nation, among other top agencies.

Meredith Rodriguez, head of sales, marketing and development brings years of sales and marketing expertise to the Stept team. Previously, Meredith was the vice president of sales and interactive marketing at Fresno Inc., a Los Angeles start-up entertainment studio. Before that, Meredith spent four years at Pinterest, within the Partnerships Team, joining as the first employee in Los Angeles and was responsible for building their presence in the market and partnerships with some of the largest global advertisers. Previously she was vice president of content solutions at Demand Media and held sales and consumer marketing roles at Microsoft and MusicMatch. In addition to sales and marketing teams, Meredith will be leading Development for Stept’s Film and Television projects.

Mac Hedges has joined Stept as head of production, offering valuable insight from his 15 years of previous experience in production. From his roots in local advertising to rising up the ranks in television and film, Mac has been a freelance executive producer and branded project director for several years. He has produced projects ranging from small-budget digital content to multi-million dollar campaigns. At Stun Creative he was director of production, overseeing award-winning campaigns and facilitating their wins for PromaxBDA Agency of the Year several years running. He’s overseen Super Bowl campaigns, feature films, and branded television documentaries.

Paul Muhlbach has joined Stept Studios as a brand account executive, working directly with brands on branded content, production and post needs. Previously, Paul has produced content at agencies and studios including CP+B, Stink, and B-Reel, in which he worked with global brands such as YouTube Music, WeTransfer and Jose Cuervo across a range of mediums. Paul is a self-proclaimed cinephile and has a passion for the outdoors which blends perfectly with Stept’s rugged and sports-rooted culture.

Jeremy Needelman has taken the role of controller at Stept Studios. A Los Angeles native with an expansive background in public accounting, he merged seamlessly into the production accounting area for film and commercial. Over the last 14 years he’s held positions at Gold Circle Films, Mandate Pictures, and was most recently Chief Financial Officer at Good Universe, producers of films including Neighbors, Don’t Breathe, and Longshot.

Nick Martini, co-founder and CEO at Stept says, “In the past two years, we’ve experienced tremendous growth across both our commercial and branded entertainment divisions, an expansion that now includes a much wider range of clients and creative opportunities. In response, we have strategically hired team members that add meaningful experience to the organisation. As we deepen our internal resources, we increase our capacity for producing award-winning and powerful content. We’re thrilled to have these new faces join our family at Stept Studios.”

Stept Studios is a creative, and production studio based in Los Angeles and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Over the last decade, they’ve become known for producing impactful content featuring authentic characters, celebrity athletes, and unique locations. Stept has diversified its commercial roster to include the next generation of visual storytellers, documentarians, urban lifestyle shooters, and athletic visionaries.