By Louise Cameron

After colleagues and friends have had the opportunity to ruminate on her accomplishments, Playback’s Louise Cameron talks to Bette Minott about her three decades in The Business.

How did you get started in the business?

I started at Spitzer Mills & Bates in 1968 as a receptionist in the creative department. I was a single mother, and I needed a job.

Shortly after that I was offered a position in the broadcast production department as a junior assistant. At that time, the creative director was a wonderful man by the name of Leo Brouse, who is now I believe a professional bridge player and enjoying his life immensely.

One thing led to another and I was [promoted to] a junior producer. I was there until 1978.

Then I got a call from someone in the industry saying that J. Walter Thompson was looking for a broadcast assistant. So I moved over to Thompson, for money, of course. There I was promoted to junior

producer and then to producer. . . although I was very, very junior at that time.

Who were your mentors?

Jim Niosi was a wonderful mentor, and he was the person I worked closely with at Thompson as a junior producer. He was a great friend and very helpful. He left Thompson to run Sebert Productions, and that’s when they promoted me to producer.

Another influential person at that time was a writer by the name of Marlene Hore. We were both babies, although she was a little more senior. That’s where we originally met and started working together as a creative team. She went on to great fame.

Also, Ron Grittani, executive producer with Blink Pictures, and my daughter Andria, who is an executive producer at Avion Films.

I was a producer at Thompson for a couple of years, and then I went over to Young & Rubicam.

I was hired by Peter Barchou, who is another great mentor of mine. There I was part of Peter’s group, and the creative director was a fabulous woman by the name of Barbara Demaray. She is retired now, and Peter has passed on, bless his heart.

That was a great experience for me. It was such a wonderful creative department, we were all friends, and, in fact, remain friends today.

That was from 1976 to 1980, at which point I was a little bit bored of what I was doing. I thought, I could go to another agency but it would probably be the same thing only with a different group of people.

I went to Mexico with my good friend Jan [Reilly] for a vacation, went back and I ended up working at y&r in Mexico.

I worked for y&r in Mexico from 1980 to 1986. I didn’t speak Spanish when I went there, which made it very difficult being a producer, because a lot of my work is done over the phone. And I needed to be in front of people, so I would use my hands and face, my pencil. But it was a great experience and I became fluent in Spanish.

It was a wonderful experience for my daughter as well. She was 14 at the time and hated it to begin with, because I had taken her out of her world. In the end she was grateful for the experience and still has friends in Mexico.

Then Peter Barchou called me one day as I was sitting in my office. He said, ‘Minott? Barchou. You want to come home?’ I said, ‘Gee, I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.’ I went to Acapulco for the weekend and thought about it. I decided that maybe it was time.

I came back to y&r in Toronto and was there for exactly a year. It was going through some upheaval at the time. I did get to work with a wonderful man called Roger Mader, who was one of Young & Rubicam International’s icons, he’s a lifer.

I got a call one morning from Alan Kazmer [at ddb], whom I can’t say enough wonderful things about and what he’s meant to me and still does. I went to work with him at ddb. Wayne Twaits was the president at the time. I worked with Marta Cutler, Philippe Garneau, Howard Alstad and Duncan Bruce. It was a great department that Alan put together. That was always one of his great talents throughout his whole career. I was there for five years.

Then I got a call from one of the best creative directors I’ve ever had to good fortune to work with, Marty Cooke from Chiat/Day. I was very happy at ddb, and I kept saying, ‘No, no, no.’ And he kept making the deal sweeter and sweeter, to the point where I honestly couldn’t turn it down, between his personality, energy, and love for what he does and…other things.

I had to tearfully say good-bye to Alan and all my friends at ddb. But shortly I was very happy that I made the move; Marty was such an inspiration, and still is.

I was at Chiat/Day until last August. I was so blessed to work with some great people – Marty, for a short, but very meaningful time. After he left, Jack Neary became creative director. I would do anything for Jack…except for walk on hot coals. Also Peter McHugh, and then Duncan Bruce.

Now I’m freelancing. I had been at Chiat/Day for seven years. We used to fondly call it Chiat Day and Night because you work very hard at that agency. After a while, I thought maybe I’d like a little time to myself. My first job out of the gate is an international project for y&r.

What are the highlights of your career?

I tend to think of people more than projects. Although I’ve been lucky to have worked on some great projects because of those great people.

The traveling I’ve done has been a highlight – living and working in Mexico, and also traveling for location work. Coming home from Mexico was a highlight too; I was terrified that no one would remember me and my work wouldn’t stand up. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. The reception I had when I returned to Canada was wonderful.

What are the low points?

I don’t know…every experience I’ve had has led me to something, or opened a door, or introduced me to another great person or group to work with.

Has being a woman in the advertising industry been a handicap?

I don’t think being a woman has been a handicap at all. There was a time when producers were all men, but by the time I entered the field a lot of women had taken the place of male producers.

But youth, certainly, at one time was a handicap. People didn’t take you seriously – it can emanate from anywhere: writers, artists, directors. But the more experience you gain, the more good working relationships you establish with people, they do start to take you seriously. I find now, at my age, that sometimes people take me seriously when they shouldn’t be.

Has the business changed much over the span of your career?

Technology, certainly, has changed a lot. But as long as you’re working with it daily, you keep up. You have to change with it.

I can remember when we were sending 16mm prints to stations and you’d have to make black-and-white and color elements because a lot of people didn’t have color television sets. The switch from film distribution to videotape was a big change.

On the production side of things, there are so many directors now. There are rosters upon rosters of directors, whereas at one time you knew every director in town, and every production house. Looking for a director to bid on your work is a different process from what it was when I first started.

New trends in the business?

Things go in and out of fashion. I think there are times when humor is particularly popular in advertising, although I happen to believe that humor will always do you good. Alan Kazmer used to say, ‘You should always make a friend of your consumer.’ It’s an entertainment medium.

I think the video age, with music videos and electronic games, has changed the face of a lot of our commercials. You shoot a lot more footage, a lot more scenes, because you have so many cuts. Ten or 15 years ago you could shoot a 30-second commercial in a day, but now to do justice to a good piece of creative you’re looking at two days and up, depending on the complexity.

What are your favorite spots you’ve worked on?

I love the Canadian Airlines spot called ‘Signatures.’ We painted signatures on a full-sized airplane. It was around the time when the airline was not in very good shape and the employees bought into the company.

Philippe Garneau was the writer and the main creative force on it. Nick Rafter from Other World shot it. It was a great experience.

Another favorite is the Nissan Canada campaign that we shot with Jim Sonzero. Peter Grech was the producer. We traveled across the country and shot in Vancouver, Calgary, Quebec, and Toronto.

The main spot was called ‘Manifesto.’ Marty Cooke was the creative genius behind it. It was innovative for car advertising at the time; other car companies had never spoken that way, with that tone of voice. It was one of those times when everything came together.

What aspect of the job do you find most challenging?

I’ve often said that a producer is a combination of a baby-sitter, a mother, an organizer, a partner. The first part of the process, quoting, is often a challenge because there is rarely enough money at the time. Also working with a creative team, selecting directors and production people, getting that process going is always a challenge, both with the agency and the client.

The best part for me is when the group you’ve selected really clicks. When you get that working, it’s a very exciting, fun thing to do.

What’s next?

Now that I’m freelancing, I’m finding that all sorts of interesting doors are opening for me. I’m listening to whatever interesting proposals people bring to me. I’m curious about what’s going to happen in the next year, and it’s kind of fun right now because there are lots and lots of people freelancing.

It’s another phase, and I’m not sure where it will take me, but I’m very excited about it.