Lisa Russell

Lisa RussellAug 19, 2026

ATTENTION AI FILMMAKERS! 🎬 Day 19/31 building REPPED - The AI Artist Manager in public. Today I'm working on the REPPED Chrome panel AND testing it with a real opportunity. CLOWD FILM FEST — one of REPPED's first AI festival partners — is closing submissions (deadline extended to Aug 22!) So this is perfect timing. The idea behind the Chrome panel is pretty simple. You're online. You find a festival, grant, residency, fellowship or other opportunity. Instead of opening 12 tabs and trying to figure out whether it's worth your time 😂... You just open REPPED panel and you can: 1️⃣ Analyze This Opportunity. 2️⃣ Save to REPPED. 3️⃣ Apply with AI. And because REPPED knows your work and your projects as the #sourceoftruth, I'm building it to analyze whether the opportunity actually makes sense for the project you're considering submitting. (So you're not submitting blindly and saving money on a festival that's not a great fit.) That's what I'm working on today. Launching September 15th... Don't forget to submit your film! Link in comments. #buildinpublic #creativeeconomy #creatoreconomy #aifilmmaking #aifilmmaker #aifilm Curt Doty Antler

Lisa RussellAug 17, 2026

We've been mapping the creative economy all wrong. I keep seeing conversations about how we need more data on the creative economy. We do. But we also keep asking artists to fill out surveys or circulating forms so cultural institutions or intermediaries can understand how we work. I absolutely HATE those surveys. 😂 I'm an independent filmmaker. I don't have one job. I have gigs. I make films. I write. I curate. I teach. I speak. I consult. I build things. Sometimes I'm doing 3 of those things AT THE SAME TIME just to pay the bills. So where exactly do I fit in? And when do I have time to do this? And here's the part that really bothers me. We keep asking creatives to give away our insight over and over again while someone else is usually being paid to collect it, analyze it and write the report. That's so backwards. Our experience is valuable. Our networks are valuable. Our knowledge of how the creative economy ACTUALLY works is valuable. That's creative capital. And artists aren't just sources of data. We're sources of intelligence. Especially for the informal creative economy. I've been thinking about this a LOT while building REPPED - The AI Artist Manager. What if instead of extracting more information and data from artists, we built something useful enough that artists actually WANT to participate? Something where the artist gets the intelligence first. Where we support and protect creator data sovereignty. And maybe, in the process, we can finally start seeing the parts of the creative economy that are not showing up in the data. The independent. The informal. The multidisciplinary. THE UNDERGROUND. I wrote about it 👇🏽 You Can't Map the Creative Economy If You Can't See the Creatives. Would love to know what you think. #creativeeconomy #creator #creatoreconomy #datasovereignty #CCI #culturalindustries UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Rebeca Grynspan AI for Good United Nations Global Pulse United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies UNICEF Innovation HEVA Fund

Lisa RussellAug 16, 2026

Day 16/31 Building REPPED - The AI Artist Manager has been strangely healing. Being an independent filmmaker or artist is REALLY HARD. (Ask anyone.) Especially creating a career in spaces like the United Nations can be even harder. You’re often working inside systems that know how to value academics, consultants, NGOs and the private sector — but don’t always know how to value an independent artist. Plus you are CONSTANTLY HUSTLING to survive, especially in a city like New York. I tell emerging artists I mentor that to survive financially you almost always need 3 projects moving at once: One in development. One in production. One in distribution. Because you can never have time to BREATHE when a project is over. And even then, you’re probably wearing a million hats - teaching workshops, taking speaking gigs, pitching, fundraising and sitting through countless meetings. Some go nowhere. Some lead somewhere — just without you (because someone with more money or power takes it from you - this just happened to me again this week!) So why have I kept doing this for 20+ years? MY FREEDOM! The last time I had a full-time job was in 1999 and I hated it! The worst boss, the stress, the lack of sleep, the building of someone else's empire - everything. Plus, I just genuinely love creating. Not just films or art - but ideas and programs and new systems. I love being able to dive completely into something I believe in — and be able to walk away from spaces where I don't feel valued. And that's what I'm discovering again through AI. Gaining the skills to build, to code, to create something with my own hands has given me a completely new kind of creative freedom. An idea in my head can become a product. A problem I've experienced for years can become a feature. I'm literally building the artist manager I said I needed a million times! One that will find gigs, apply for me, review contracts, get press (they say the difference between a good artist and a great artists is a PUBLICIST.) I have had artists I work with around the world ask me to manage them. (But how could I when I have my own creative career to take care of? I would suck at it.) And once you learn that you can actually build? You start looking at the world differently. Because suddenly, you can imagine something...and then actually make it. Maybe that's why building REPPED feels so much like editing to me. It's another way of saying: I don't have to wait for someone to give me permission to do what I want. I'm building in a space that is new and exciting. It's not easy, but I love it. AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU ALL! I'm convinced it can help build sustainable livelihoods for us! Lauching 9/15! Save the date! #buildinpublic #creativeeconomy #AI #solofounder Creative Africa Nexus - CANEX Jean-Elie Ilunga African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) Perplexity Perplexity Fund Artists Who Code Freelance Union Sundance Institute SXSW Mozilla