LOS ANGELES: 6/10
As Blood, Sweat and Tears once sang, "what goes up must come down." Welcome to the end of the first quarter. While March's board flow was encouragingly active on the sunshine coast, the clouds have predictably closed in for what's usually the slowest time on the production calendar. This spring, the EPs we polled not only cited the cyclical nature of media buys, but a new culprit has entered the fray. The worldwide web seems to have ensnared a sizeable amount of attention from clients and agencies alike.

"There's no doubt that there's a shift going on," intoned one exec. "The money that was once exclusively for broadcast is now being shared with other media." And what might seem like a dream job from a creative standpoint inevitably comes with a tinier budget. "Right now it's a bit of a feeding frenzy because we're all jumping in and supporting the creative opportunities," offered one EP who's seeing "tons" of Internet projects. "But you gotta pay the rent."

Making matters even less rosy, the few boards doing the rounds are not exactly riveting. One EP espoused great relief that some packaged goods spots being pitched contained "an actually inspiring script." As another says, "It still beats the hell out of working in a bank."

TORONTO: 6/10
While nobody in T.O. reported seeing tumbleweeds blowing past their desks over the last month, there's definitely a dry spell underway. "We were kind of on a roll in March," sighed one bemused EP over the line while a lonely wind moaned forlornly in the background (okay, maybe it was a streetcar). "It's all just...stopped." Of course, traditional second quarter slowdown is to be expected - "If you can get through these three months [April, May and June] and do okay, you should do really well in the third quarter," said one forward-thinking exec.

Summery spots for soft drinks, beer and automotive seem to be on tap as the Canadian climate turns to thaw. On the upside, the improving weather is resulting in more local shoots. "At least people want to shoot here again," said one EP, in a tone of voice that was mildly approaching enthusiastic. "For a while, it was all about shooting anywhere but here." And from a budgetary perspective, the dearth of jobs isn't necessarily making prodcos jump at just any bait. "You have to be really careful about what you choose to go after," reasoned another. "If it's under-financed and there's a reason for doing it that's one thing. But if there's no creative incentive to do it, avoid it." Sadly, from the various reports, such creative incentive is also on the wane. "There's the traditional beer shit that has the 'cottage dock/stupid joke' scenario," shrugged one exec. "But we did see one thing with really edgy creative - I was kind of shocked, actually." "There aren't many gems," sighed another. "It's just that simple. A lot of us are shaking our heads and wondering what's going to do well from Canada at Cannes, and we can't really come up with much."

NEW YORK: 7/10
If April truly is the cruelest month, nobody told New York. While a lot of the execs we talked to reported middling-to-healthy board flow, not a single one said anything about a wasteland. In other words, steady if not spectacular. "It was slow at the beginning of the month but it's picking up now," said one executive producer. "It's been a good creative month, but it's been scrappy and the budgets haven't been great."

"Cars, soft drinks and packaged goods" dictated most of the flow this month, with some of the period's most interesting boards coming from web-based initiatives. Has the likes of Adidas' adicolor and other high-profile interactive work impacted New York's production world already? Only time will tell, but the amount of people hinged to non-disclosure terms for future jobs poses a tantalizing prospect.

Which is not to say the good old-fashioned broadcast world wasn't busy as well. Boasting "workable but challenged" budgets and "a lot of shoots within the continent", there was certainly work out there to be had, in turn marking a slight improvement from last month's mediocre showing.

LONDON: 8/10
Last we checked, London was mired in a bit of a one-month slump, the relatively healthy returns of February squashed by a miserable March. Like a gnat on speed, this month shows London once again changing direction, thankfully for the better. "It's looking up," mused one company owner, only hours away from an extended Easter vacation. "We've had some interesting, fairly sizable scripts across the threshold."

With insurance, telecom, beer and a "ridiculous amount" of World Cup boards driving the action (says one sales rep of the endless stream of football work: "It's getting rather annoying and dull"), there were some choice budgets out there to be had in late March/early April. A little more dubious was the sudden preponderance of "big package" boards, jobs with big budgets and equally big demands, usually in the form of lots of additional bumpers, alternate versions, etc. Although

potentially lucrative, the added unknown of all the additional work caused one EP to liken himself to a William Hill office. "We're essentially like bookmakers," he says. "It just makes the bet more complex."

Elsewhere, others reported comedy ruling the roost, with one observing a trend back to American-style comedy in many boards. And while EPs all reported varying levels of activity, everyone agreed things were finally hopping again. "I think," said one, "we can safely say we are now back into it."