"That's like asking how do you get a cheap apartment in New York City. Each job has its own character," says Jacquie Turner. "At JWT and all agencies, we are trying to keep costs within a client's budget. You try to match what they have to spend with your creative. Ask what's the best place to shoot and who are the directors with the best vision, and always work with great agency producers. We try to keep production value for the dollars spent. Nobody wants cheap production."

Turner is now in charge of the business management side of production at JWT, including talent and contract negotiations. She has worked as an executive producer at two commercial production companies, JT Productions and Girls With Curls, and as director of advertising production for The Coca-Cola Company. At Coke, Turner oversaw production from ad agencies and negotiated celebrity deals for the soft drink giant.

"At Coca-Cola I was giving out millions of dollars so everyone was very nice. In those days [from 1981-1990] it was almost all celebrity driven," says Turner. "Here there's so much more, not only getting celebrities, but making sure talent contracts are ready. Also, we shoot a lot offshore, so it's making sure producers going abroad have everything they need."

She started at JWT as a freelance celebrity management negotiator in early 2000. A few months later, John Garland, head of broadcast for JWT convinced her to join the agency full-time. Now she oversees a department of 10, putting her ample Rolodex to work and serving as a resource for the entire broadcast department. Already, Turner has helped link actor/writer Steve Martin to a Merrill Lynch campaign.

"Steve just did his first session for us and he added a lot to it," she says. "He worked with the writer and did the voice-over for the first national campaign he's ever done."

Knowing how to deal with talent management is an asset; Turner's extensive client-side experience is another.

"Due to my experience as a client, hopefully I don't push certain hot buttons. I speak the clients' language and make everything go down smoothly," says Turner.

Turner's stint at the agency just prior to the 2000 SAG strike obviously had a profound impact on her side of the production business. Not only were new and often unusual voices and talents brought onto the commercial production scene, Turner says the strike served to educate producers with regards to shooting outside of the US.

"Probably agencies learned that it's easier to shoot offshore. At Coke, I shot all over the world, not necessarily for the money, often for the look or concept," says Turner. "The strike opened up a lot of producers who hadn't traveled before to shooting in South Africa, Australia or Prague."

Beyond the increased demand for interpreters on some foreign shoots, Turner expounds the need for a more collaborative production process, such as taking the currently rare step of involving the director and production company in editing. What's more, Turner says more client involvement in the process would result in smoother productions, provided it is responsible involvement.

"Clients have to take responsibility too. They have to judge the creative and know what they are buying into," she says. "The time to criticize is not on set but when the boards are being developed."

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J. Walter Thompson: www.jwt.com