"I think if you have the bit in between that you have in a movie, the second act crisis and the journey, those commercials tend to fail. You can't cram the middle act into a commercial. There's no middle. There's just the beginning and the end. Once I realized that, the whole thing became different to me."

Having shot commercials over the last 20 years, Morton's comedic sensibility has long since paid off. In the past year alone, his work for VW's Passat out of BMP DDB London (where he works through Partizan) won a Gold Lion for "Driving Test," a Bronze Lion and Clio for "Dog," and a Bronze at One Show for the entire campaign which includes a third commercial, "Safari Park."

But this year's AICP Show stopper was his collaboration with Cliff Freeman on "Milk" for Fox Sports Net. The set-up is a guy sprawled across the couch, drinking milk out the carton. It's trickling down his chin and across his chest when the house cat appears and begins licking milk from his master's nipple. The pay-off occurs the moment his girlfriend walks into the frame and asks matter-of-factly which team has won the most Stanley Cups. "If only every question was a sports question" reads the super.

"It's paid off for me because my genre really is dark comedy," says Morton contemplating his place in commercial history. "During the late '80s that wasn't really in vogue. It was more visual style. It finally, I call it postmodern irony, happened in the mid-'90s and that particular philosophy fit in with my style of filmmaking and it all seemed to click. I got out of the glamour and into what I'm more comfortable with, which is irony and character and comedy."

It should come as no surprise that Morton's stature should grow alongside the role of irony in American filmmaking. He likens the dot-com explosion to an embrace of dark humor, and believes its effects will forever impact advertising.

"The dot-com companies didn't have a lot of money so, what they did was rely on things being very odd and peculiar and funny to capture people's imaginations. Commercials were being shot very cheaply with DV cameras and the core of it all was the idea. They were allowed to do very surreal, dark and ironic ideas because they had to rely on that and not production value. I think it changed everything."

Exercising enormous influence over Morton's creative decisions is wife and former co-director Annabel Jankel. Prior to opening bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander 11 years ago, the co-directors ran their own shop in London called Cucumber. Their claim to fame was a TV film, series and later spokesman for the New Coke, "Max Headroom." The success of "Headroom" prompted a move to Los Angeles where they went on to direct features D.O.A. (1988) and "Super Mario Brothers" (1993). The latter took an emotional toll on the couple, who had collaborated since art school, and they decided to pursue professional careers separately, albeit under the same roof.

"Everything we drew on, all of our references were incredibly similar," explains Morton. "We were like one person as opposed to two directors from separate worlds. Annabel in a way is still my co-director but more as a ghost figure. She's my greatest critic and I wouldn't do anything unless I consulted with her really."

"When we started directing separately, different characteristics emerged," says Jankel. "My approach comes from gut instinct which I use on all levels, casting, storytelling, etc., but primarily it's communicating an idea with empathy and humor."

Two of Jankel's spots for Hallmark, "Flight" and "Kiss" garnered awards at the Annual World Festival and the International Broadcasting Awards. She is currently involved in with an independent feature based on the children's book "Skellig."

"Annabel consciously took a back seat allowing Rocky to find his voice," comments partner David Zander. "She's now doing what Rocky did five years ago which is to ramp up her own identity and build herself back. She tends to be a little more comedic and a little less dark than Rocky. I find her work to be more classic in style."

Originally, the founders of MJZ had intended to run a relatively small company adding a few directors to the roster. However, with each addition, the principals were able to lower overhead and increase production value.

"The bigger we got, the more economical the filmmaking process became, the better the work, the more interesting directors we attracted," states Morton. Included in the roster are Craig Gillespie and Jonathan David. Gillespie's "Language Tape" for Budweiser, Citibank "Delivery Room" and "Dad, Can I Have Some Money," for H&R Block earned him a Clio as well as awards at the One Show while David took Best Spot in the AICP's Best Music Category for Mercedes Benz "Coffee Shop."

Like Rocky says, "Nice set-up. Huge payoff."