Call it the Paradox of the Emerging Director: less work often brings better boards. As winning formulas go, that one sounds pretty counterintuitive, but England's Nic Osborne and Norway's Sune Maroni swear there's something to it, and after two years of learning to be more selective, they've got the reel to prove it. While the pair have been directing together in Norway since 2000, one of the most pivotal points in their career came in 2004, which is when they decided it was high time to start mastering their rejection faces. Osborne explains: "We wanted to start getting real quality scripts, and that meant in our opinion that we had to say no to a lot of stuff," he says. "We started doing that and it was quite scary, but also it worked. That's how we got the scripts on the reel."

Those scripts include a series of hilarious riffs on the dubious practices of certain foreign medical facilities for travel insurance provider Europeiske, a teenager's failed attempt at concealing his duplicitous, car-thieving ways for Fiat, and most memorably, a German coast guard attendant's slippery English language response to a panicked American distress call (intercom: "We're sinking!"; coast guard: "What are you... sinking about?") for language tutors Berlitz.

In other words, they've come a long way from the frozen foods counter at a Surrey supermarket, which is where they met while enrolled in the film program at Farnham's University College. Maroni's strength was film, and Osborne's was photography; they collaborated together early on, and according to Osborne, their chemistry was so strong that, "not only did we develop a good working relationship, we became best friends." These days, the pair share directorial duties, but Osborne says they still complement each other perfectly. "Sune is far more into the acting and I'm concerned with the structure, editing and style."

With a good variety of world-class caliber work to their name, Nic & Sune (pronounced 'soon-eh') are looking forward to testing the international market more thoroughly. While the Oslo-based directors are happy with their status as seasoned Norwegian commercials circuit veterans through Motion Blur, they're also eager to build relationships with their UK affiliate M-A-D-E and their American affiliate Sandwick. "In the past few years we've had the chance to work in places like Germany, where the budgets are much bigger," says Osborne. "You suddenly stop worrying about whether you can afford three actors rather than four."

As for the frozen foods counter, we have to ask: did their hands touch while reaching for the same packet of peas? "It wasn't normal peas," jibes Osborne. "It was petis pois! We have very high taste in food."

Motion Blur http://www.motionblur.no
M-A-D-E http://www.m-a-d-e.net
Sandwick Films http://www.sandwickfilms.com