From Hollywood to Hydrogen: A Playbook for Reinvention

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The Afternoon Shift

Brady Sadler

19 episodes

1 week ago

The Afternoon Shift is a hub for mid-career marketing, media, and creative professionals navigating what’s next. Hosted by Brady Sadler, this show explores how to thrive, not just survive, during the most pivotal stretch of our careers. What started with a few small group conversations quickly became something deeper: research, newsletter, events, a growing community, and now these recorded conversations. We're sitting down with incredible leaders across a wide range of businesses, to dig into personal stories, practical solutions, and the bigger questions shaping our work and our lives right now. This isn’t just a show. It’s part of a larger effort to turn ideas into collaborations, and connections into meaningful work. Because we believe career should be more of a team sport. If this sounds like your kind of community, please hit the follow button. That's a small way you can help us connect with more people. Thanks for listening. Join Us: https://theafternoonshift.com/ Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradysadler/

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From Hollywood to Hydrogen: A Playbook for Reinvention

The Afternoon Shift

34 minutes

1 month ago

From Hollywood to Hydrogen: A Playbook for Reinvention

What does it take to really reinvent your career? This week's episode features a detailed breakdown of exactly that.

After decades of success as a Hollywood producer, and later blending entertainment and tech in Silicon Valley, Derek Stoops found himself at a crossroads. Not long after launching his own production company, the phone stopped ringing. Covid, combined with a reckoning across Hollywood, forced him to consider an entirely new path.

At first, ego got in the way, as it does for most of us. Derek had been a VP at Sony, pioneering production methodologies and international dealmaking. Letting go of that identity wasn’t easy.

Step one was simply getting out from behind his computer. He leaned into an interest in energy and sustainability and put one foot in front of the other. A few key moves followed: taking a class, applying to a local incubator, and humbling himself enough to be vulnerable with friends about the uncertainty he was facing. That openness led to more conversations, and more conviction around his new direction.

He also realized that his Hollywood experience was more transferable than he thought. Like so many of us who have worked in marketing, media, sports, and entertainment, he was a problem-solver, used to being proactive and learning as he went.

In this conversation, Derek shares not only how he came to that realization for himself, but also the tactical moves you can apply to your own shift.

Today, Derek is firmly planted in the energy sector. He is developing both expertise and a team of collaborators who focus on commercialization of IP rooted in academia, among other things.

I’m grateful to Derek for the openness he brought to this discussion, and for his friendship and support.

If something here resonates, don’t hesitate to reach out to him as well.

Let’s keep making career more of a team sport.

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Connect with Derek on LinkedIn

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Host: Brady Sadler

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Show Art: Kyle Mosher