BEGINNINGS
In the 1960’s, John Goodwin was a management consultant whose skills, flexibility and expertise covered a lot of ground from administration to crisis management and executive headhunting, to name but three.
It was not until he first came to the help of companies working in the cultural sector, such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and, more particularly, in 1969, in the now legendary Théâtre de Quat’Sous, that John and his passion for the performing arts took a definitive step into his future.
A promising young writer working with the theatre group caught his attention. John offered to become his agent. Over the coming years, he would guide this client – his very first – to the heights of a decorated and award-wining literary giant whose books and plays have been translated into 40 languages. Michel Tremblay remains, to this day, a client of the agency.
During the next two decades, John founded Goodwin Management and this is where another key player stepped into the picture. His wife, Camille Goodwin, provided a crucial second wing as she skilfully covered a wide range of key, hands-on functions in the fast-growing literary and theatrical agency.
This was a time when many artists could not keep up with the business’ rapidly changing realities. Its new complexities made them vulnerable to signing contracts that were less than ideal. John and Camille took on the business of negotiating contracts that protected and furthered their clients’ interests thereby setting the tone for a fairer future for film, TV and theatrical artists. The business was growing.
Sadly, John Goodwin died in 1988 at a time when his twin daughters, Nathalie and Marie-Claude, were two years away from graduating from law school. The young women urged their mother to keep going for the next two years, and promised to come aboard and help as soon as they could.
