Los Angeles 8/10
And now, the deluge. As if on cue, the board flow pendulum has swung from the uncertainty of late February to a full-on, last-minute rally from which most execs we talked to could barely catch their breath. "It was slow for a couple of weeks but now we're seeing a cavalcade of boards," said one exec, citing "lots of projects that need to be done by end of the month." "All of a sudden we're getting slammed," sighed another. "We've got things we were awarded yesterday that we're shooting next week."

So why the recent script surge? Some EPs point their fingers at clients eager to part with the remains of their spends for the fiscal year, especially in the automotive sector. Retail, fast food, telecom and cable boards are also making the rounds, with most adjectives used to describe the creative being complimentary (with the exception of that one exec who's seen some "hideous, bottom-of-the-barrel stuff"). "I don't know if it's luck or a passing fad but it's been good," exclaimed one EP.

Enthusiasm is curbed for budgets, however, with some jobs being "respectable" and others "completely undoable." Still, the work is out there, and welcome, even if it does need to be turned over with lightning speed. "These days, if we have six or seven days of prep, I don't really have a problem with it," shrugged one exec.

Toronto 7/10
When March Break hits Toronto, many clients and creatives take their offspring on holiday leaving behind the city's production-types to enjoy one week of easy commuting. "This is what the world would be like if there were no children," said one exec, hopefully. "But, unfortunately, we have to advertise to them."

The icing on the cake would be for that company to win the oral contraceptive bid floating around, but if not, there are other jobs out there to get excited about. Credit cards, financial institutions, candy, cell phones, PSAs, lottery, beer and painkillers are all in the mix this month. Although early March was marked by a bit of a slowdown, things are picking up and everyone has something to be excited about.

Creatively speaking, March has been pretty good, but the quality of the boards either prompted disgust or elation. "There are always good ones but the good ones never have any money and it's just a big clusterfuck," observed one.

Budget-wise $125,000 CDN per diem seems to be the ceiling, but execs say they're used to doing a lot with little. Said one: "We're finding people are being honest about the amount and that we don't mind because we know the parameters."

New York 6/10
After a fast and furious couple of months for New York's production community, the board flow had slowed to a trickle for about a week in early March. "It's kind of like stragglers coming in from the cold," observed one exec.

The analogy was an apt one, as a shoe-ruining layer of slush on the streets threatened executive footwear outside the city's production houses. But most EPs were taking the slowdown in stride, characterizing it as a blip, preferring to focus instead on exciting projects and creative in the works for spring.

"It's still pretty steady, but it definitely tapered out a little bit - for about five days - and then it picked up again. But it's worlds better than this time last year," surmised another EP.

Product categories were all over the map: beauty, condoms, cars, cell phones, banks and credit cards were all making the rounds, but the general trend seems to be visual sight-gags, aided by subtle and ironically-placed special effects.

"I've been seeing an incredible amount of storytelling with humor and comedy and slight effects," said an exec. "Visual work is always so trendy. One day you see something and go 'that's cool,' but will it be in tomorrow?"

London 9/10
Soho was suffering collective headaches in the aftermath of the BTAAs in London, and generally musing that after the creative quiet of last year, London's production boom has continued almost unabated.

Although in some cases not as ferociously busy as last month, boards are still coming in droves from within the UK and abroad with two top execs describing it as "the busiest start to a year we've ever seen." That's in part due to creatively interesting projects, gestating since Christmas, that are finally coming through. "It's protracted - like a big baby to give birth to," joked one.

Creatively, the song remains the same: generally the quality is better, but the best scripts are few and far between. Categories were a mixed bag with an increase in car, as well as the usual alcohol boards, and the trend for PSA boards and green, environmental scripts from those looking to clean up their image continues.

Budgets, the perennial bugbear of every EP are tough and rarely more than alright but not disastrous. One exec even admitted that they "could always be better but they seem bigger than this time last year."

Talk of the new media revolution never ceases but most executives reported little activity on that front, prompting one to describe the situation as, "All gong and no dinner."