The First Cut Awards, cosponsored by Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and Playback, is the one chance in the year to shine the proverbial spotlight directly on the abundant up-and-coming commercial directorial talent in Canada. It is designed to recognize excellence in commercial directing for directors with less than two years spot experience.

This year, 16 judges agonized over 24 reels from rookie spot directors to get a sense of who has the potential to achieve greatness in the business and, in some cases, who already has.

This year the judges included a Saatchi & Saatchi contingent comprised of Bruce McKay and Anna Tricinci of the Toronto office, Kate Lee from Saatchi San Francisco, and David Droga from the London office. Elsewhere on the judges list was Young & Rubicam’s Doug Lowe; Louder Music’s Steve Convery; MacLaren McCann’s Franca Piacente; Jigsaw Editorial’s Jon Hopp; Ogilvy & Mather’s Janet Kestin; Publicis bcp’s Anne Marie Piran; Palmer Jarvis ddb’s Trevor McConnell; m.e.a.t. director David McNally; Playback’s Susan Tolusso and Dustin Dinoff; and chum’s Moses Znaimer.

Rounding out the judges list is last year’s First Cut winner, Jolly Roger director Wayne Craig. Past winners are Eddy Chu (1998), Jeff Eamer (1997) and Pete Henderson (1996).

Judges saw it all – from dialogue spots to stunningly visual ads, from the sad to the absurd and all points in between. The 2000 First Cut Award goes to Apple Box Productions’ Randy Diplock.

THE WINNER

Randy Diplock

Apple Box Productions

The judges say:

‘A clear winner. Versatile and visual with a sense of the big-picture goals of the spot.’

‘Nice range of stuff.’

‘Can take bad material and make it better. A good sense for people.’

Favorite spot on the reel:

St. John Ambulance ‘Meat Cutter’

‘The performance, the timing, everything. Especially our assumption of the carnage to follow. Hitchcock would have loved it.’

THE FINALISTS

Alexandra Dellevoet

Industry Films

The judges say:

‘Beautiful, understated style.’

‘Liked the real-people work.’

‘A nice range of work.’

‘Hard to choose a favorite spot, there are too many interesting options.’

Tryan George

The Partners’ Film Company

The judges say:

‘Extremely slick-looking reel.’

‘Has the visual perfection of a seasoned director.’

‘Delivers a lot of value.

Great sense of rhythm and style.’

‘A great reel with massive potential.’

Linzi Knight

Hero Films

The judges say:

‘Disturbing but effective imagery.’

‘This director takes so-so material and squeezes the last drop out of it.’

‘A modern, imaginative approach.’

‘Great style, powerful images.’

Jeremy Lynch

Industry Films

The judges say:

‘This person is scratching the edge of something extremely fresh.’

‘Felt honest. Big without being glitzy. Observed not performed.’

‘Has charming art-direction sensibilities’