Born in 1970 in Brooklyn, New York, Todd attended NYU film school under his real name, Todd Bunzl, and dropped out before graduating. He was a regular at Tompkin Square Park and was there during the infamous riots. He worked at an all night video store which specialized in explicit material and developed an early love for 'women in prison' films.

He started his career as a documentary filmmaker. His first feature length documentary, Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies, chronicled the life and death of punk rocker GG Allin. Phillips later founded the New York Underground Film Festival and distributed a controversial documentary about NAMBLA, Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys, directed by Adi Sideman.

In 2005, he made the final table of an event of the World Poker Tour. He finished 5th and won $250,200. He was working on Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006); however, he resigned his position as director of the movie in early 2005, due to creative differences. Nevertheless, he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for his role in fashioning the story.