It’s a good year for James Davis and his Toronto commercial production company Reginald Pike.

Some years First Cut recognizes as many as four directors in the ‘honorable mention’ category in addition to the annual winner of a trip to the Cannes International Advertising Festival. This year there were two standouts – both out of Reginald Pike – and the selection could have gone either way.

In the end, the quirky and controversial Perlorian Bros. team of Ian Letts and Michael Gelfand wound up the winner of First Cut 2004. Perlorian shop-mate Mark Gilbert, a Vancouver-based photographer when he’s not directing, was runner-up. You can check out the reels on Adbeast (www.adbeast.com).

All three have interesting stories to tell. You’ll find those below.

First Cut was created by Playback and Toronto advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi nine years ago to recognize the best up and coming commercial directors in Canada.

The Perlorians are already building buzz thanks to their 2004 Gold Lion-winning Vim spot, plus the fact that they immediately turned around and sold the Lion on eBay. (Airline tickets are non-transferable, boys, so selling this prize may pose a bigger challenge.)

Having only two finalists didn’t make the judging process any easier, though. Judging was held in the Saatchi boardroom over plates of salmon and roast chicken, red wine and beer. But the hours-long session looked more like the ad industry equivalent of 12 Angry Men, without anyone actually, you know, getting angry. Plus, there were seven judges and no jurors, but that’s beside the point. There was a lot of passion as the merits of both reels were debated down to the wire – just before the beer ran out. In the end, the Perlorians edged Gilbert by one vote.

Playback and Saatchi congratulate both (all three) honorees.