Jessica Russo — Sales Agent, Producer, Hat Assassin Jessica Russo (VMI Worldwide / Vantage Media) joins the tracksuit table for a genuinely rare perspective: the sales and distribution side of indie filmmaking.

She and James have collaborated on a string of films — including Darkness of Man (starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, currently on Hulu) — and BJ just wrapped The Night Driver with her. So the war stories are real, the industry takes are sharp, and yes, the dolphin kidnapping story is discussed at length.

### Key Topics

• How the indie market has shifted — quality over quantity, the death of easy pre-sales, and why the financial model for indie films has fundamentally changed post-strikes
• The Van Damme hat story — how Jess saved the *Darkness of Man* poster on day one of filming by killing James's fedora
• Library acquisitions & consolidation — Netflix/Paramount, Gravitas/Shout, Chicken Soup for the Soul/Redbox/Screen Media, and what it all means for indie filmmakers
• AVOD vs. SVOD — why ads came full circle and what Tubi's rise means for the market
• What actually gets greenlit — script, team, name, and financials that make sense in today's landscape
• Delivery schedules — the unglamorous paperwork mountain that filmmakers are never taught about in film school
• Film school vs. real-world training — why internships and networking beat most curricula
• The Sex Pistols documentary — Billy Idol cameos, Glenn Matlock, and a Netflix sale
• Jess's first producing credit — Awake (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Francesca Eastwood), shot in Oklahoma during tornado season
• Crystals, tarot, D&D, and Harry Potter — the full nerd profile of the most organized person at VMI
• Aliens, Mayan temples, elongated heads, and one architect allegedly kidnapped by dolphins (James later discovers it was an April Fools story — BJ chooses to believe it anyway)
• Advice for aspiring filmmakers — read a delivery schedule, do an internship, go to networking events, be a good person

> Want a delivery schedule? Reach out to Jess and tell her you're coming from the Tracksuit Pod.