Stephanie Soechtig

Stephanie Soechtig was born in New York in the United States. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from the New York University. She then furthered her education from Western Connecticut State University. Details of her parents or early life are not known to the media. Her love life is also kept under wraps.

Stephanie Soechtig’s directorial debut documentary, ‘Tapped’, highlighted the high costs of the bottled water industry—to the environment and our health. It was applauded by critics as "stunning". ‘Tapped’ was praised in film festivals across the country, and picked up six awards for Best Documentary Feature. While making the film she faced a big challenge as the three major players in the bottled water industry—Nestle, Coke, and Pepsi—refused to give interviews or come on camera. However, their lobbyists spoke to her. As the corporations refused to participate, she had to narrate the film from their perspective, and raise counterarguments for them.

In January 2001, she worked with ABC News as a field producer. She was also a part of the show ‘A Fatal Attraction’. She left ABC in June 2001. The next month, she joined Fox News Channel as a producer for documentaries, and also produced ‘The O’Reilly Factor’. She worked with the channel till April 2004. She then joined E! Networks in March 2006 as a supervising producer, and launched E! News's ‘The Daily Ten.’ She left the company in April 2008.

Soechtig joined forces with Michael and Michelle Walrath to start the company Atlas Films in 2008 with an investment of $1.5 million. The company aims to create films that would educate and inspire people, and she holds the position of the President and CEO. She directed the documentary ‘Fed Up’ which was released in 2014. She had written and produced it as well, and it made a $1,538,899 collection at the box office.

Another one of her documentaries, ‘Under the Gun’, was released on January 24, 2016. It received a standing ovation when it was premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The film highlights the issue of American gun violence and gun control laws. It was an in-depth study of the ways gun control advocates have tried to counteract the power of the National Rifle Association.

Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), a Virginia gun-rights group, sued Soechtig and Katie Couric, a journalist and executive producer of ‘Under the Gun’, for $12m for manipulating the facts in the documentary. The case was filed in a federal court, and VCDL claimed that the producers intentionally manipulated the footage. They charged $12 million as compensation and $350,000 as per plaintiff.