Meet the Team: Steve Mulholland’s Storytelling Journey

If you need a complex story told in a visually intriguing way that connects with your audience, Steve Mulholland is your guy. He’s been at it for more than 30 years and continues to get excited about the ever-evolving world of video storytelling.

Fresh out of college, Steve threw himself into an internship at WCCO-TV. He spent countless long nights and weekends helping out wherever he was needed. While assisting producers with nightly sportscasts and weekly magazine shows, Steve learned his writing craft amid the tight deadlines of live TV.

“I would come in five or six nights a week and on weekends too, to help out,” says Steve. “The great thing about that experience was the producers and directors at WCCO were very liberal about giving me responsibilities that I probably wouldn’t have had anywhere else. That's where I began my craft for writing for TV and I loved it. It never seemed like work, it was always fun. Even when I had other jobs I kept working at WCCO for a few nights a week.” 

Steve’s deep commitment to learning continued as his career grew. He soon landed a job for a small sports production company in the Twin Cities, called Reflections in Video. If there’s something Steve enjoys as much as video production it’s sports. The small production company worked with the NHL, while Steve also did freelance broadcasting for Major League Baseball, NBA, NFL and ESPN. This was a fast-paced job and the hustle and bustle was exciting to Steve. He gets energized by deadlines. 

“This was a great experience,” he says “it got me out of live television and into production and longer-form storytelling. One memorable client was the Chicago Blackhawks. We would do a lot of different content for them. This is all, of course, before the Internet so the highlight videos we made would go out to season ticket holders and be sold at games on VHS.”  

Although so much of the technology has changed, Steve’s eye for editing and storytelling still shines through even if it’s on a project for YouTube or another online video platform. Steve remains a constant student of the video storytelling craft–always looking at ways to improve the final output.

HONING HIS SKILLS 

A story with emotional interest and visual depth doesn’t pop into existence out of thin air. It takes expert storytelling to weave together a script, interviews, and the right visuals to strike just the right tone and tell a compelling story. Steve has a gift for it and he cultivates his talent every chance he gets.

Working at WCCO set Steve up for a career in producing and helped him make many good connections including Storyteller's own Ed Heil and Kent Hodder.

“Kent Hodder was the Executive Producer at WCCO for many years and created what was called ‘Production 4 Studios’. They had this working production studio with producers, writers, technicians, and camera people, and they produced television spots to be aired on WCCO-TV for various local clients or regional advertisers.”

Hodder left WCCO to create his eponymously-named production company, HODDER, where Steve signed on as a writer/producer and eventually led HODDER's creative team as creative director.

HODDER took on many big-name Hollywood clients and Steve got to flex his storytelling muscles in new ways. He led creative teams to create show recaps, series retrospectives and specials, and other digital content to support popular TV shows like Pretty Little Liars, Grey's Anatomy, Supernatural, Lost, and many more.

Steve enjoyed making specials for Lost the most because of the knowledge he gleaned from working with the creators and showrunners for six seasons. 

“To bring viewers up to speed before the season one finale, we took the first 16 episodes and distilled it down into a cohesive, comprehensive story explaining what Lost was,” remembers Steve. “We were a week away from the air date and ABC had yet to show the special to the creators. When they showed it to them they basically said, ‘No, this is wrong. We need to fix this.’”

So, with a week till launch date, Steve and his crew flew out to Los Angeles to meet with the show’s creators. The team was confined to an edit suite for the next five days to get the story just right.

“It was an invaluable experience,” says Steve. “We learned so much in those five days. And when we were done, we had an entirely new special that we had come up with together.”

When that special aired, it was a big success and marked the start of a 15-year run of producing all different kinds of television specials for various networks.

TELLING YOUR STORY

Now, as our Creative Director at StoryTeller, Steve helps our clients shape and tell their best stories.

“I think stories are universal,” says Steve with a smile. “Working at StoryTeller is another opportunity to tell different kinds of stories.”