Derek Baum is a true creative who believes the motion picture camera is the greatest tool developed to entertain and inspire audiences with every medium at our disposal, digital, TV and Film.
Uninhibited by genre, he's written, produced and directed TV, short films, music videos, and commercials.Uniquely qualified, he is one of the only producers in the world actively involved in both the Hollywood and Nollywood markets. In 2018 he will make his feature film writing and directorial debut with, International Affairs, starring Bovi, Adesua Etomi, and Chris Attoh. Derek has produced over 500 TV adverts (domestically and internationally) but he is most well known for creating and producing the critically acclaimed docu-series, Hoops Academy. Further, he directed the pilots for Champagne Travel on a White Wine Budget (Venture Channel) and TK's World (Sobe Films.) Additionally, Derek served as producer on the hit series Swamp Wars (Discovery) and numerous other music videos, live events, and web based original content. Overall, Derek's productions have been seen on Silverbird, WE, Travel Channel, ION, Oxygen, The Africa Channel (USA and UK), Fox Sports, Venture Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Channel.
Derek has spent much of the last 5 years as an international production consultant in the African market, producing in Lagos, Nigeria and Cape Town, South Africa. Primarily, he provided business and market analysis to one of the most successful TV network and multimedia companies in West Africa. Further, he handled Nigerian production services for The Africa Channel and for the documentary film CODEGIRL, which can be seen on Netflix. He also oversaw production for the Sensodyne Commercial campaign in Nigeria. Most recently, Derek produced a short film for Schneider Electric and the 2017 UNICEF campaign for Garage Films, both shot in South Africa. Derek is a firm believer in the power of African Storytelling and is known for his uncompromising belief in top quality production, as well as a firm grasp of the latest in television and commercial trends. It is his strongly held belief that the future of African content is brighter than ever.
Combining his unique work experiences in both markets, Derek is a leading proponent of fusing African stories with Hollywood production techniques and business practices. This will pay dividends two ways. First it will help the Nollywood market by opening Nollywood films more to global audiences and distribution, which will also allow films to have bigger budgets and better salaries, growing the domestic industry.
Secondly, Hollywood style business practices and a greater emphasis on infrastructure and pre-production will encourage more international production to come to Nigeria, pumping valuable money into the industry, economy, and providing priceless work experiences for Nigerian talent and crew. At heart though, whether it’s Hollywood or Nollywood, Derek is a consummate storyteller whose goal is to tell stories of value that both entertain and inspire.