Ad Age is marking Black History Month 2024 with our fourth-annual Honoring Creative Excellence package. (Read the introduction here.) Today, our guest editor Helen Hollien, executive producer of production company Little Minx, writes about scrambling to cast the Fox Sports ad “Feet” when she was eight months pregnant.

I was eight months pregnant and about to burst when I got my first job as a line producer. Rocky Morton, the M in MJZ, had won a Fox Sports job and he wanted to work with a new producer. I had been a production manager at MJZ up until that point, and he took a chance on me.

This was 1998. I didn’t know any Black line producers in commercials back then, let alone an eight-months-pregnant Black female line producer. Ironically, it was a classic Cliff Freeman & Partners comedy script that called for an actor who could change a baby’s diaper with no hands, and part of my assignment was to find the talent. It was the perfect metaphor for me, a numbers-crunching manager with zero hands-on producing experience, totally pregnant, waddling around the set, a Black female managing a crew of white guys—a job above my pay grade and as challenging as changing a baby’s diapers with no hands.

I scoured the planet looking for this unique talent. Rocky said to me, “Helen, look everywhere. This is America. We have money!” Even though we didn’t. We searched for a disabled actor who could function without the use of arms or hands. We looked in the Third World, because at the time we figured an unfortunately poor country would be the place where such a person could be found—someone who would have to make do with what they had.

Of all places, I finally found a guy in San Diego! His name was Mark Goffeney. He was born without arms and was an accomplished musician who went by the stage name “Big Toe” and played guitar with his feet.

This was a pivotal point in my career because I hadn’t produced before and there were no Black people on commercial crews anywhere. There was just me. This was the ’90s, when they only wanted Black people in front of the camera, not behind it. At one point, I started having contractions on set. Rocky was yelling, “Boil water, the baby’s coming!” And the crew was running around panicking—“The baby’s coming!” It was mass chaos. Of course, the baby didn’t come then. I was having contractions from the anxiety.

The spot, “Feet,” was nominated for an Emmy and won lots of awards. It made my career. Four days after wrapping the job, I gave birth to my first child, Ethan.

The next pivotal moment in my career came when Rhea Scott asked me to be her executive producer at Little Minx. She founded the company in 1998, the year she had given birth to her daughter, Cuba, and coincidentally the same year I had given birth to my son.

Initially, I had reservations. I had spent 25 years on the road as a line producer and I really didn’t know what an executive producer did. I had line-produced for Rhea before and she told me I was her favorite producer, so she offered me the job. I said, “No, I can help you but I still need to be a line producer.” I wanted to continue being part of the creative process, on the road, scouting locations, sitting in on casting, working closely with my director, putting the entire job together. I knew nothing about what happens behind the scenes as an EP.

Rhea and I came to an agreement that I would do both. I would half line-produce and half executive-produce. As an EP, I had to learn how to deal with reps and publicists. I had to learn what good talent is and what a good commercial is. Most importantly, I had to learn how to be an advocate and champion for directors. When you’re on the line, you don’t know these things.

On the upside, as an experienced line producer, I brought to my new role a hands-on capability that many EPs don’t have. I was familiar with the thinking and needs of the agency and client. I had always been right there with creatives as they flipped through the decks, scripts and shot lists.

At the time, I didn’t know any Black executive producers. I still don’t. There are a few Black line producers today—James Graves, Natalie Hill and Amanda Leya Andrews, who works for her uncle, Little Minx director Malik Hassan Sayeed. In music videos and TV there are many more Black producers than in commercials. It’s still a wide-open field with lots of opportunities. 

Obviously, on some level, when Rhea offered me the job, I was ready.

After a year, holding down both jobs was too much. I told Rhea, “OK, I’m ready to jump into full time executive producing.” And that’s the way it’s been ever since.