Richard Martz founded MagicMartz Media, Inc. in 2005 after 30 years in the film and video business. He attended University of Georgia where he majored in Marketing with a minor in English literature. After attending University of Georgia he began his career at Emory University where he was director of audio visual services. In 1979, he accepted a position with Contel Corporation where he was a director, producer, and video editor. He moved up steadily and by 1983 he was managing all corporate video production efforts.

In 1990 GTE Corporation purchased Contel Corporation and Richard accepted a position with GTE as the Southeast Region Director for GTE VisNet. In this position he managed all production and personnel throughout the 9-state region. In 1998, GTE was sold to Verizon. At that time Richard decided that he wanted to leave management to be more directly involved in the production business. For two years he participated in a start-up production company but it just wasn’t a good fit. He began questioning whether or not he should stay in the media production business. After a long period of soul-searching he decided that he loved the business and wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. The very thing he was most passionate about was helping clients achieve their goals with media solutions that really mattered.

In 2001, he joined Crawford Communications, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia and became the Senior Account Executive serving a variety of clients. In this position, he managed both sales and projects for selective clients. After five very successful years he wanted to return to his roots as a director and producer. In 2005, he founded MagicMartz Media as an extraordinary high-end media production company dedicated to high-quality media production, outstanding customer service, and to operate with values of honesty and integrity.

Richard has been a musician since he was a teenager and has participated in leading contemporary Christian worship for the last 15 years. He has a fine collection of vintage acoustic and electric guitars. He loves the outdoors and enjoys wilderness backpacking. He also likes to do woodworking and enjoys designing and building fine hardwood furniture. He is married to Tammy and has 4 children, two of whom have careers in creative arts.

The name MagicMartz Media is actually a play on words that goes back to a significant time in Richard’s life. When he was growing up, there was a chain of convenience stores in Atlanta called Majik Mart. He says “In those days, parents didn’t lavish their kids with every luxury. I learned that if you wanted something you had to work for it.” He and his friends collected glass soft drink bottles and took them to their local Majik Mart store and sold them for 5-6 cents each. In that way he learned intimately the value of hard work with calluses and blisters. Later he had a paper route and did other odd jobs until he was old enough to have a legitimate job. He worked his way through college by singing and playing musical gigs, painting houses, and by mounting tires and installing batteries at a local automotive store.

Richard remarks “I know that I learned the value of hard work early in life. And now, when we work for a client, I make sure we bring that same work ethic and personal responsibility to bear on their projects. We want every client to know that we care enough to give them our very best and that we take ownership in their project. We always have the same stake in the outcome as our customer and as a result give every project the fierce intensity and passion that it deserves.”

The most significant event in Richard’s life was when he came to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. “In 1973 I was at a crossroad and realized that there was an eternal dimension to life that I was just not experiencing”. He gave his life to Jesus and says that everything from that moment on changed. Richard explains, ”I’m not a ‘nice Christian’. I’ve had lots of struggles through the years and I’ve gotten it wrong a lot, done stupid stuff and sometimes hurt the ones that I love the most. But through it all God has kept working on me to get me to a point where I am usable as a tool. To do that He first has to put you in the furnace. When you feel the heat of His fire you can be sure that something good is going to come out of it.”