Phil Morrison and Joe Ventura first worked together on the first season of Comedy Central's "Upright Citizens Brigade," Phil as director and Joe as writer.
Then Phil directed commercials and movies while Joe became a copywriter, working full time for Wieden & Kennedy in New York and Amsterdam; Mother in London; and freelancing for just about everybody else.
Then they decided to direct together, mashing the names Joe and Phil together to make Jill.
(They considered mashing Phil and Joe together and calling themselves Pho but were concerned that people would argue over how to pronounce it.)