Board Flow is a regular feature that will act as a gauge to monitor the activity of upcoming commercial production. The following chart is intended as a snapshot view of the level of "board flow" (i.e., potential scripts from ad agencies) that commercial production houses in various markets across North America experienced during the preceding month. The synopsis of each market is based on conversations with anywhere from six to a dozen production house executives in each market who were asked to comment on the number and type of "boards" they had received from ad agencies over the most recent month. The chart reflects "board flow" from mid-September to mid-October.

CHICAGO
Production companies in Chicago, reeling from a lethargic summer, reported a more active board flow in October. Larger companies received boards from insurance companies, healthcare providers, automotive, tourism, retailers and utilities, while smaller companies reported a stable flow of tabletop and regional projects such as state tourism campaigns. The slowdown experienced by many companies is widely attributed to the continuation of runaway production to Australia, Canada and South Africa.

LOS ANGELES
California production companies were extremely bullish about recent board flow, which peaked during the third week of October. "Everybody wants the same delivery dates: December 23 and January 17," says one delighted but inundated production exec. October's windfall followed about three months of consistent board flow, says one executive producer. The work included a lot of automotive business, plus a full spectrum of other categories, including the dotcoms, although millennium-oriented boards have yet to appear. One producer speculates that millennium storyboards may not have enough longevity for advertisers. A few shops say they receive a new dotcom board every week. Spot work is coming primarily out of California agencies, although Chicago and Detroit are factoring heavily. The dark side for sunny California's board flow? "We still see a lot of runaway production," notes one producer.

NEW YORK
"Thank God for the dotcoms." That was one of the common sentiments coming out of New York for the month of October. The month was, by most accounts, warm, and made more so by the high pressure systems created by the dotcoms sweeping across the continent. (Out of the larger shops, the report is that there can be three to five dotcom-based boards in the house at any one time). Typically, this month benefits from a last-minute pre-Thanksgiving rush, followed by a flurry of activity in the coming weeks. The reports have ranged from "decent" and "pretty busy" to "quite heavy." The month started off a little chillier than September had been, but many reported a warming trend as the month closed and a good forecast for the next several weeks. Most agree, however, it's a vast improvement over spring and early summer, which saw unseasonably cold temperatures in the production environment. While that bad patch seemed to affect most in the area, it looks to be business as usual now.There was also the strong desire to make hay while the sun shines and hit the pre-Christmas deadlines for holiday spots and thus have a peaceful Noel.Many shops also reported an influx of good comedy/dialog work, driven by not only dotcoms but work from home-related products like furniture and housewares.