The King Lear executive producer on the diversity issues in advertising and the value in keeping up with emerging technologies.
Suzy Macgregor is exec-producer at King Lear Music and Sound. Prior to this, she worked as an agency producer for many years working on some incredible multi-award winning projects for Mother, adam&eve and AMV. The thread woven throughout her career has been a focus on collaboration, building relationships and supporting people and projects get to where they want to be.
Outside of the world of advertising (and sometimes in it) Suzy is a yoga and meditation teacher, coach and trainee psychotherapist. She also hosts King Lear’s popular monthly sound healing sessions.
LBB> What advice would you give to any aspiring producers or content creators hoping to make the jump into production?
Suzy> Being passionate about what you choose to do for a career is the best way to feel fulfilled and get the most out of each day. For me, working as a producer has been an absolute privilege. I have worked with some of the brightest and most talented creatives, directors and producers in our industry and feel so much gratitude for the life experiences it has brought me.
I would say finding a discipline within production that sparks the most enthusiasm for you is essential, then work hard to learn all you can, ask all the questions you can and don’t be afraid to make mistakes and be accountable, it’s the best way to learn and grow.
LBB> What skills or emerging areas would you advise aspiring producers to learn about and educate themselves about?
Suzy> Keeping up with emerging technologies is essential. Advertising is an unfairly young industry so being able to stay in the conversation is important for everyone not just aspiring producers. That said, from my perspective nothing is more important than caring deeply about what you do and about the people you do it with.
LBB> What was the biggest lesson you learned when you were starting out in production – and why has that stayed with you?
Suzy> There are two pieces of advice that have really stayed with me although neither were at the start of my career. The first was around the importance of trying to keep up with popular culture, emerging trends and cultural shifts to be able to have an opinion regarding whatever current affairs, new ideas and up-coming talent are in the conversation.
The second was from co-CPO of Mother, Anna Murray who said to me ’I’m so happy to be proven wrong’…the comment really resonated with me as it reminded me that when we’re able to accept that we’re wrong we are also learning something new.
LBB> When it comes to broadening access to production and improving diversity and inclusion what are your team doing to address this?
Suzy> We aim to reach far beyond the traditional means of finding candidates to make sure we uncover the very best talent that is available. We are incredibly lucky that King Lear is a diverse gang that has come together organically. We also recognise that there is a need to be intentional in closing the gap that exists within the industry and companies such as Small Green Shoot are playing an essential role in this.
LBB> And why is it an important issue for the production community to address?
Suzy> Diversity makes for more interesting work. We are producing work for a diverse audience and the work needs to be able to speak authentically to that audience. That can only happen when created by people from different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, ages, genders etc.
LBB> There are young people getting into production who maybe don’t see the line between professional production and the creator economy, and that may well also be the shape of things to come. What are your thoughts about that? Is there a tension between more formalised production and the ‘creator economy’ or do the two feed into each other?
Suzy> There’s a place for everything. The way people consume media has shifted hugely over recent years and we need to adapt to keep relevant with our audiences. That means embracing new and innovative ways of creating content. Both worlds can learn from each other and share skills and insights. It’s important that brands with smaller budgets still have a voice and equally important that bigger budget projects have the luxury of marinading in the craft.
LBB> It seems that there’s an emphasis on speed and volume when it comes to content – but to where is the space for up and coming producers to learn about (and learn to appreciate) craft?
Suzy> I think there’s definitely still a place for craft. A recent stand out for me is Mother’s new KFC campaign which is beautifully crafted and executed. There’s also something to be learnt from every project regardless of budget or time constraints.
One of the first projects I produced was a Professor Green music video sponsored by Doritos using an (at the time) highly innovative 360 degree camera set up. It was one of the biggest learning curves for me in terms of the village of talent it takes to produce something unique and wonderfully crafted.
LBB> On the other side of the equation, what’s the key to retaining expertise and helping people who have been working in production for decades to develop new skills?
Suzy> I love this question because when we talk about diversity in advertising, diversity in age is an area where I think we are failing. British and American culture is obsessed with youth but the happiest cultures in our society are those where age and life experience is revered not shamed. It takes a diverse group of people to make an interesting community and I think developing more intergenerational creative teams could be really useful for sharing skill sets and creating some interesting work.
LBB> Clearly there is so much change, but what are the personality traits and skills that will always be in demand from producers?
Suzy> No amount of development in technology can replace the humanness needed to create a happy team. Compassion, enthusiasm, honesty and an ability to see the bigger picture when it comes to problem solving would be top of my list. Oh and a sense of humour, can anyone sit through a two hour meeting about the shape of a chicken thigh without being able to see the more amusing side of life?