THE First Cut Award, sponsored by agency Saatchi & Saatchi and On the Spot, is an important way for young directors to send the message that they are an emerging creative force to be reckoned with.

In years past, First Cut has helped to further the market value of directors including Eddy Chu, Wayne Craig, and last year’s winner, Randy Diplock of Apple Box Productions.

Given that the year has been slow for the industry, and the commercial landscape rocky, launching a young director properly has been difficult, according to a number of producers On the Spot contacted. Many of these producers manage the commercial careers of novice directors, but neglected to send in their reels for First Cut for varying reasons.

Some suggest that, due to the ongoing trend of Canadian creative teams lusting after big-name and (in some cases) foreign directors, work for newer helmers is scarce. This is reflected in the number of First Cut entries received this year, as only 15 Canadian production companies saw fit to enter their young directors into competition. This is down from 24 entries in 2000, which was a slight drop from 26 in 1999. Of the 15 reels entered, 14 were from Toronto-based production houses, with the remaining one coming from Montreal.

Organizers were surprised by the smaller pool of entries this year – but should they have been? Many producers (all of whom will receive anonymity here for their comments) feel this is a very accurate reflection of just how difficult the state of the market is for young Canadian directors.

One producer says his shop’s young directors were clearly not ready for competition.

‘The reels have to be something pretty exceptional to cut through, otherwise why bother entering?’ he says. ‘It’s an international market and the creatives have recognized that. Canadian, schmanadian for all they care. They really favor the imports, unless they don’t have the money to spend on them.’

Other producers agree. Whether or not there is a bias in favor of imported directors, and despite creatives’ repeated claims to the contrary, other producers faced a similar dilemma when contemplating entering their directors.

‘Our younger directors didn’t shoot that much,’ says another producer. ‘One of the directors we launched this year shot one little campaign and we didn’t feel it was worth sending. It’s okay, but you don’t want to have them represented by these small campaigns that are not really worth their talent. Otherwise, you [expose them to the industry] in a very negative way.’

A third producer adds: ‘There are a lot of talented young people who really would like to be commercial directors but they can’t get a break, therefore they haven’t done anything, so I’ve got no reel to send in. Any commercial advertising they’ve done is probably quite embarrassing and they don’t want to be attached to it.’

This may be bad news for the industry and the gaggle of young, hungry commercial directors who want to make an impact, but it was good news for the 15 young, hungry directors who sent in reels. When next year’s First Cut comes around, likely all that will be remembered is who won, not how many competitors Matt Eastman of Radke Films was up against.

When reviewing the commercial work of the contest entrants – Canadian directors with less than two years of spot-making experience to their credit – judges were asked to watch for and recognize the potential on display.

Flashcut editor Mick Griffin is a first-time First Cut judge and he admits he was pleasantly surprised by what he saw on the judge’s reel.

‘I was really quite impressed with the quality of the work overall,’ he says. ‘It was way higher than I thought. A lot of these people have done really good work in a really short time. It wasn’t all spec spots. It was a lot of stuff that was on air.’

Griffin says the judging process was a lot more difficult than he anticipated. He was even slightly torn during the process. ‘Are you awarding the best reel or are you awarding the person you think has a lot of potential and just maybe never had [a substantial budget] to work with yet?’ he says. ‘That’s the hardest thing to do.’

Joining Griffin on this year’s First Cut judging panel were Saatchi & Saatchi executive VP, creative director Jeff Finkler; Saatchi & Saatchi VP, director of broadcast Anna Tricinci; Young & Rubicam senior VP, director of human resources and broadcast (and First Cut co-founder) Doug Lowe; Pirate Radio & Television partner Terry O’Reilly; Diesel Marketing senior art director Daniel Andreani; BFS creative director Lisa Francilia; Zig creative director Elspeth Lynn; Diplock; and Playback/On the Spot writers Dave Lazar and Dustin Dinoff.

WITH files from DAVE LAZAR