The list of directors at Montreal production house Jet Films reveals helmers with first names including Sylvain, Louis-Pascal and Guillaume. Nestled amidst all this testosterone is Mireille Veillet, the shop’s lone female director. Do industry folk perceive her any differently in this business that is so top-heavy with men?

‘I don’t see a difference,’ she says. ‘Sometimes people have to ask [my gender], because on my demo, [Jet] puts ‘M. Veillet,’ so they don’t know. So if they choose me, it’s for my work. It’s my job to work properly and show them that there’s no difference.’

And show them she has, with spots for clients including GM, Volkswagen, AT&T, Loto-Quebec, Tele-Quebec, Boomerang Lemonade, MasterCard and Eaton’s. If there is a common thread in her work, it’s a sense of fun, with the ads often featuring young people in motion, shot in a fast-paced, funky style.

Veillet originally started as a classical animator, first coming into contact with Jet four years ago when collaborating with the shop on an animated spot. Although modest about her animation abilities, she says that visual effects remain a big part of her predominantly live-action work. In fact, she cites her most recent job, a spot for Assurance vie Desjardins-Laurentienne, as the first involving no special effects at all.

One example on her reel that demonstrates both her upbeat approach and reliance on digital tools is a pair of PSAs, ‘Sensible’ and ‘Saveurs,’ which she did through agency Marketel for the Quebec government promoting condom use to teenagers. Problem is, teenagers usually tune out this type of campaign when it adopts a heavy-handed message about the threat of AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.

‘I proposed to them ‘Forget about the [message] and just do a condom ad, and maybe put a little government tag at the end,’ ‘ she recalls. ‘It was funny because the guy at the editing house who was digitizing those ads asked ‘Which brand of condom is the commercial for?’ I was so happy that he didn’t notice it was a government ad.’

Each spot shows a young woman talking about the passion of love. This is followed by playful graphics incorporating condoms with images of flowers and butterflies, and in the case of ‘Saveurs,’ various fruit. If you didn’t pay attention you might think it was an ad for Jolly Rancher or Five Alive.

Veillet’s artistic endeavors extend into the world of video installation pieces and TV work. She is currently working as director on a weekly cultural entertainment series called Dans ma camera. But it’s not as though she finds spot work at all artistically stifling.

‘I’m a bit tired of [commercial] people complaining ‘I don’t get to do what I want to do, and the plan was this but the agency wanted that,’ ‘ she says. ‘At a certain point I just feel like saying ‘Change your job if you aren’t happy with that.’ ‘ The key to career satisfaction, she says, is in your own attitude. ‘When I have a board that on first glance may not be really exciting, my job is to make it exciting.’