Head of West Coast Operations. A graduate of the USC film program, Steve Bender was brought in by Will Smith and Westbrook Inc in 2018 to strategize, finance and develop intellectual property to be fully exploited across all platforms in a vertically and horizontally integrated ecosystem. 

After setting Westbrook on track, Steve was recruited by the late Ken Block of Gymkhana fame to build out his content farm and brand Hoonigan as a multi-platform, multi-vertical entity. Steve began his career working with Joel Silver at Warner Brothers who produced some of the biggest franchises in history such as Lethal Weapon, Die Hard and The Matrix. 

After a prolific 13 year run at Warner Bros. and with such talent as Robert Downey Jr., Guy Ritchie, Sean Penn, Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Liam Neeson and many more, Steve left to work with Westbrook and the Smith family. 

Steve has produced films and television series, and is credited on over 30 projects. Steve lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.