Jarrod grew up in small-town Alabama, and attended the University of Southern Mississippi. After saving up money working in construction, he spent a few months interning in New York, then made the cross-country trek to LA for grad school at the American Film Institute's producing program. 

Post-AFI, he worked his way up from intern to creative executive for agent-turned-producer Marty Adelstein, where he worked on Prison Break and found the script for HANNA. In 2008, he left to run development at PCH Films for producers Trevor Albert (Groundhog Day) and James Keach (Walk the Line).  In 2011, he decided to strike out on his own as a producer, and set up the David Morrell novel Brotherhood of the Rose at Gold Circle Films, and sold Dennis Tafoya's book The Wolves of Fairmount Park to RCR Pictures. He also sold an animated project to Fox with director Walt Becker.  Shortly thereafter, he segued into literary management. In 2012, he was introduced to fellow AFI alum Allard Cantor, and they joined forces as Epicenter.  Since forming the company, their clients have sold projects to CW, Spike, CBS, Fox, ABC Family, Disney, Fremantle, Netflix, and Nickelodeon.  They also represent clients who’ve been part of the writing staff of THE MCCARTHYS, ONCE UPON A TIME, NASHVILLE, CRIMINAL MINDS, CROWDED, and the new CBS series RUSH HOUR.  On the film side, Epicenter client Pat Gilfillan’s movie LILA & EVE premiered at Sundance and was recently released (starring Jennifer Lopez and Viola Davis), and Owen Egerton’s film FOLLOW  just premiered at Fantastic Fest.  Their director client Jason Cohen’s short documentary “Facing Fear” was nominated for an Academy Award in 2014.