Los Angeles 5/10
Predictability can sometimes be a virtue - it helps to know that your car can be counted on to start or that at some point during Cannes, you will inevitably wind up partying until sunrise. Knowing these things helps you to make like a Boy Scout and "be prepared". One can apply the same line of thinking to the traditional downturn in board flow come late spring, and judging from most of our calls to LA, many EPs have done just that. "This time of year is always slow, so it's not atypical and it's not something we're unprepared for," said one exec with nary a hint of panic. Others, however, were not as reserved in their assessment: "It's more like a board trickle. It's just dead." Scripts that are trickling through include tech, cell phone, packaged goods, automotive and pharmaceutical work. "Pharmaceutical is like the new beauty work," laughed one EP. "Nobody likes to say they do it but it pays the bills."

Adding insult to injury is the state of creative, which also tends to take a dip around this time of year, but this May seems to have plunged deep into the depths of mediocrity. "The quality is pretty darn weak - I mean, really weak," said one exec, who talked of one director turning down every job over the last month, even ones with sizable budgets. "I really couldn't blame him." But as someone once sang, the sun always shines on TV, and most execs polled predict a post-Cannes upturn.

Toronto 5/10
Alas, it seems that the Big Smoke's bucking of the traditional second-quarter lull in mid-April was nothing more than a cock tease. EPs polled in this round reported that board flow has all but ground to a halt. "It's dead, beyond dead," groaned one EP, whereas another referred to it as "a slow, steady trickle." Despite the standstill, most agree that it's just the calm before the July/August storm, where projects come out of creative development with an eye for fall launches.

Product categories ran the gamut from packaged goods, retail and pharmaceuticals to automotive and, interestingly, adult diapers - a product that one EP sees as symbolic of how dismal things are currently.

Creative was summed up in mathematical and scatological terms. "20% good stuff, 80% crap," said one EP, while another took the linguistic approach: "It's shit. Maybe if I say it in French it will sound better."

Budgets were largely considered "decent", but another monetary issue had the office at one prodco buzzing with debate. "Will this be the summer of offshore work?" asked an EP.

Whereas winter weather plays a major role in pushing shoots abroad, this EP wondered if Canada's increasingly strong dollar (it recently reached its highest level in almost 30 years) might encourage more foreign shoots, regardless of the season.

New York 7/10
It's tough being a big shot director in New York these days. People think you cost a lot of money and that you're choosy when it comes to scripts - as you should be. But the consensus among the city's EPs is that there's either great creative out there or complete crap and if you're an established name, you need to fight for the good stuff.

"This year it feels like we are fighting harder than ever for those scraps," laments one exec. "And during the first quarter, it felt like everybody of a certain caliber was available to fight the fight."

"All the top guys are seeing good things and then there's nothing but dreck on the bottom," adds another.

Much like April, board flow was busy at the outset of May, dipped (most blame holiday slowdowns in both the US and UK) and then picked up again at the end of the month, just in time for AICP and Cannes. As if booking jobs wasn't keeping producers busy enough, they're also doubling as party planners, coordinating guests and events around the annual schmoozefests.

As for product categories, scripts were coming in from the more traditionally conservative "big brother" clients like telecommunications companies, packaged goods, confectionery, banks and drug companies. Most of the big, buzzed-about car and beer spots aired in May, so EPs generally felt that the season's most exciting jobs were behind them - at least until after Cannes. "It's not that the budgets are small," lamented one EP. "It's just that the ideas are bad."

London 6/10
The numbers have been tallied and the consensus is in: no one can agree on the level of board flow in May. While some prodcos are still reeling from the flurry of activity seen in the first part of the year, others report that the mania has tapered off. For those in the middle, board activity, like the ficklest of lovers, is an on-off affair.

However, all agreed on the level of quality. EPs reported that creative is on the upswing, with one predicting that London can look forward to a better year awards-wise.

Talk of budgets elicited at least one Zen-like musing: "Never as much as they need, rarely as much as it will take to shoot and always brought down by too many people involved in the pitches." Another EP put faith in the bigger brands' willingness to part ways with their money. "They can all afford it," he says.

Work leaned heavily toward government PSAs, in part due to the country-wide smoking ban that will come into effect on July 1. Alcohol, telecommunications, retail and cars also made the rounds.

Interestingly, the automotive sector is becoming quite the canvas for highly creative work. A couple of EPs pointed to Skoda's cake car ("The Baking Of") and Ford's floating balloons ("Desire") as the forerunners of a new trend in stretching the boundaries of traditional car adverts.