Bio

Since graduating Magnum Cum Laude from Arizona State University with degrees in both the school of “Film and Media Production” and the “Walter Cronkite School of Journalism”, Award-Winning filmmaker Joe Russo has worked as Director, 2nd Unit Director, Assistant Director and Writer on several features, commercials, television programs and short films.

Most recently, Joe completed work on his latest directing effort, Take-Out.  Take-Out is an award-winning horror short that was shot using the state of the art Red One Digital Cinema Camera, capable of matching the look and resolution of 35mm film. Bill Goodykoontz, film critic for The Arizona Republic called Take-Out “Gleefully creepy and most enjoyable”. The short film made its big screen debut at the 2009 Phoenix Film Festival and has since screened at numerous film festivals both domestically and internationally. 

Take-Out was selected as the "Best International Short" at the La Gona Film Festival, was nominated for “Best Horror Short” at the Terror Film Festival and International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival and was one of six national finalists for the horror genre in the IndieProducer Short Film Contest. It was one of the first shorts to be selected to be part of "Cinematic Shrimp", a new feature on entertainment website Ain't It Cool News spotlighting achievement in short filmmaking.

Joe’s other short films, Misfire, Finger Food and Movie Screening Security Guards were selected by various film festivals across Arizona including the Phoenix Film Festival, The International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, The ASU Student Film Festival and the OneNightCinema Film Series in Tempe, Arizona.

Joe’s production experience includes being one of three students selected to intern on the Universal Studio's feature film The Kingdom. Additionally, he served as Assistant to the Director on the micro-budget, Lions Gate release The Graves. Joe was also involved with productions for such national networks as Fox, Fox Reality, Fox Sports Network, Sy-Fy and A&E in various capacities on programs like Sex Decoy: Love Stings, Paranormal Investigators, The Love Shaq, So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol.

Over the last year Joe worked with the principles of the Arizona Investment Center developing a startup entertainment company, Tri-Core Entertainment. There he helped develop feature length and television projects, including properties that are planned for Joe to direct. His responsibilities also included creating business plans, giving presentations to investors and collaborating on negotiations with distributors and television networks.