Despite a dramatic downturn in Swedish commercial production, Stockholm's EPA International is expanding into new businesses at the same time as its directors travel to the US to work.

"It's very slow in Stockholm. The market has gone down like, 30 per cent and there are only four or five companies that are really doing fine - they are the ones that are not working only in Sweden," says EPA partner and executive producer Henrik Ihre. "We do maybe 25 to 30 per cent of our work in Sweden, the rest is in Norway, Denmark, Holland, Finland and the UK."

EPA (named for an old department store slogan: One Price Only) has been around since 1997. Operating with a Scando-Traktor hive mind approach to both directing and production, the company is owned by partners Ihre, directors Calle Åstrand, Björn Stein, Axel Laubscher, Christoffer von Reis, Henrik Lagercrantz and Johan Rheborg, as well as producers Johann Persson and Annlie Lindstrom.

The company's show reel scans like a "Best of Northern European Commercials" compilation: spots from New Deal, JBR and Paradiset DDB, Oslo through Hasan & Partners exemplify EPA's connection with the most creative agencies in the region. What's more, EPA's Åstrand, who is represented outside of Scandinavia by @radical.media, has directed hilarious Lynx and Calleing spots for London's BBH and The Leith Agency. Laubscher, too, has ventured beyond the fjords, most recently directing an EPA-produced AllState Insurance campaign in the US for Leo Burnett Chicago.

"The representation of all our directors, except Calle, is through EPA. Opening in another European country would help us produce for ourselves. Happy directors do good work, and traveling and seeing the world makes them happy. We are looking into the possibility of putting a sign on a door without yet knowing how much it would cost," notes Ihre. "A key market for us is of course the UK, and since we are doing a bit of stuff from Holland, Amsterdam is interesting too. Since we choose projects with the best scripts, not the best budgets, the country doesn't matter."

Keeping the directors happy and creatively sated has also led to the launch of EPA Content, devoted to developing content and storytelling for digital media, and People's Front, a music video production division. Back in the commercial arena, Laubscher and executive producer Persson recently traveled to LA where, with production assistance from comrades Traktor, they shot the Allstate campaign.

At press time, three spots, "Eric" and "Coach" (both created for the Olympics), and "Tree," were cleared for air. "Eric" recreates the youthful leaping antics of freestyle ski jumper and Olympic gold medallist Eric Bergen. "It's about his parents and their concern with his safety, wanting to encourage but not endanger him," says Laubscher.

Bergen does not appear in the spot, but his youthful exploits (such as backflipping off the roof onto a mattress) were faithfully recreated and scored to a rocked-up version of "Greatest American Hero."

"DP Jo Molitoris and I spent a lot of time on old-looking film. We used old Cooke lenses that are not as sharp, and made a print of the negs, then did telecine on the print. As the years progressed, we zoomed out on the print as we did the transfer so as he gets older it gets clearer," explains Laubscher.

Meanwhile, "Coach" features stock footage of famous athletic motivators; Laubscher says clearing the stock footage made this spot the most difficult to complete. Editing was handled by Kathryn Hempel and John Dingfield of Cutters.

"Tree" uses a supersaturated and well-lit palette, showing a family's change and growth while the Beatles classic "When I'm Sixty-Four," performed by Julian Lennon, carries the emotion. "On my reel and with the films I've been doing lately, there is less irony and fake people and more real human emotions. In Scandinavia and Europe, the trends are moving away from irony, sarcasm and making fun of people," says Laubscher of his work. "Humor is key for storytelling, but maybe now it's more humor you can relate to that makes you smile, not crack up and lie on the floor."

Creatives on the Allstate campaign were exec creative director Jonathan Hoffman, CD/art director Mike Valenti, CD/copywriter Jeanie Caggiano and associate CD/art director Lisa Leone. Exec producer Ron Nelken and senior producer Sean Pinney produced for Leo Burnett.

Webfiles: EPA International> http://www.epa.se