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-January to mid-February.
| by: | Mar 1, 2001 |
LOS ANGELES
"There's a tendency for America to turn into France," says one commercial producer equating the board flow to the school year. "Everyone's gearing up for the spring break. They'd rather spend time on vacation with their kids than on set."
Production in LA is about as slow as a group of Beta brothers after a bender at Se-or Frog's. As one rep put it, "I'm trying to make the mojo happen," but budget cuts are replacing slick spots with product inserts.
"I'm starting to think that the abundance of PSAs coming in are beards," added another. "I've gotten five scripts in the past week with budgets that are nonexistent." Just think how poetic this column would have waxed if the last guy had referenced "mustaches" instead of beards. Au revoir, mes amis!
Rating: 6/10
NEW YORK
Projects slated for production in March seemed to outweigh boards destined for quick turnaround this February. With many top directors available and bidding for jobs, competition for comedy/performance and visually driven campaigns out of New York agencies was slightly fierce.
"January was pretty much deadsville and now everyone is bidding for spots with April airdates. There's a lot of concepting going on and all of it happening at the same time," says one savvy rep, postulating that the SAG strike had the effect of calibrating production clocks for a number of agencies.
That said, the flow of scripts for products ranging from snacks, soda, beer, banking, cars and corporate identity are still not available in large enough supply to keep every production company busy all of the time.
"Now there is less work and the same number of directors trying to get work; it's like musical chairs and there are only so many seats left," says one veteran exec. "During the lean and mean times coming up, it'll be sink, swim or tread water."
Rating: 5/10
TORONTO
Messages from Toronto producers were mixed as of mid-February. Reports fell along the "It's slow"/"it's gotten a little busier"/"it's pretty good" continuum. Overall, producers here indicated that the year started off somewhat slowly and had picked up -- to what degree is debatable. "It's moderately busy now, which is a change from the standing start at the beginning of the year," said one producer in what could be described as an average summary of the state of Toronto production. Another producer said that although things were fairly slow in town, there were some "big-ass projects" to be had.
Beer and other beverages of varying degrees of fermentation were still a big board factor, with cars and telecommunications factoring in the mix. Board flow aside, Toronto production shops face another challenge, summed up by one producer thusly: "Star fucking is at an all-time high. You can't get arrested now if you're a Canadian director."
Rating: 6/10
LONDON, UK
February commenced with a slight drop-off in the new scripts descending on Soho. While more boards for beer, Web sites, soft drinks, food, airlines, telecoms, banks, cars, hotels, home furnishings and travel are again arriving, lingering doubts remain for many London producers.
