{"podcast":{"title":"Awaiting Approval","slug":"awaiting-approval-7315994","podcast_index_feed_id":7315994,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/3603734.rss","website_url":"https://growwithadamjennings.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/3603734/c170cfe1702e26579998bbc637a3aec5.jpg","author":"Adam Jennings hosts a podcast about the messy, human side of creative leadership","episode_count":56,"summary":"I help creative leaders thrive. Trusted by: Microsoft, Salesforce, 20th Century Fox, Dolby, Ancestry, BBC, Fantasy & many more. 30 years' experience, across all creative disciplines. An FWA Judge.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-11T04:23:37.431361+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awaiting-approval-7315994"},"episode":{"title":"Awaiting Approval. Season 2, Episode 16 : David Sheldon-Hicks - Awareness","slug":"awaiting-approval-season-2-episode-16-david-sheldon-hicks-awareness","published_at":"2026-03-19T08:09:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awaiting-approval-7315994/awaiting-approval-season-2-episode-16-david-sheldon-hicks-awareness","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awaiting-approval-7315994","url":"https://growwithadamjennings.substack.com/p/awaiting-approval-season-2-episode-a79","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/191317141/ea71f786f8eb6e0eb6ffb7e4fa0bbb62.mp3","summary":"David Sheldon-Hicks, founder of Territory Studio, closes out Season 2 of Awaiting Approval with a conversation about awareness… and what it really takes to build something that lasts. We start in the garden with a hot drink. After long stretches in dark studios and edit suites, David will take any excuse to get outside. From there we move into the organised chaos of creative life: shelves of unread books, piles of film scripts waiting to be finished, and the strange comfort of a workspace that is never quite as tidy as the designer in you wants it to be. David reflects on the early influences that shaped him. Growing up inspired by animation, behind-the-scenes filmmaking documentaries, and the feeling that creativity was something you could build with your hands. That curiosity eventually led him from Portsmouth to Berlin, through AKQA, motion design studios, and onto film sets like Casino Royale and The Dark Knight, before founding Territory Studio in a small attic space in Hatton Garden. Prometheus became the studio’s breakthrough moment. From there came the work that Territory is now known for: designing the future on screen. But David is quick to point out that the work alone doesn’t build a studio. People do. The conversation moves into the real mechanics of creative leadership. The bottlenecks founders create without realising it. The painful lessons that come from trying to do everything yourself. And the moment David realised Territory could only grow if he stepped away from being the creative director on every project. There’s also a powerful thread about listening. Listening to directors, production designers, teams, and collaborators. The difference between trying to prove your creativity and understanding the intent of the project. David argues that the bes…","meta_description":"David Sheldon-Hicks, founder of Territory Studio, closes out Season 2 of Awaiting Approval with a conversation about awareness… and what it really takes t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4676,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/awaiting-approval-7315994/episodes/awaiting-approval-season-2-episode-16-david-sheldon-hicks-awareness/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/awaiting-approval-7315994/awaiting-approval-season-2-episode-16-david-sheldon-hicks-awareness.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}