Leigh Dana Jackson

About

Leigh Dana Jackson(Director) is the writer and director of several award-winning short films. His work has screened at major film festivals across the country, and has sold in territories around the world including the UK, Japan, Canada and Germany. In the U.S., Dana’s wrk has been broadcast on HBO and Cinemax, HBO Latin America, PBS and BET. Dana got his start in film as the Story Editor for Spike Lee’s production company 40 Acres & A Mule, where he contributed to the development of several screenplays, including “The Best Man” and “Summer of Sam”. He then went on to earn his MFA from New York University’s graduate film program, where he received multiple honors, including two Graduate Fellowships, a Graduate Assistant Fellowship, the Keiko Ibi Prize for Directing and a Faculty Commendation for Directing, awarded to his thesis film “The First Three Lives of Stuart Hornsley.” While at NYU, he also served as Spike Lee’s Teaching Assistant. Since graduating in 2003, Dana has directed and produced work for HBO Sports, HBO Documentaries, Spike TV and MTV’s college network television shows including “24” and “Private Practice.” He has been invited to lecture at NYU, Emerson College, Long Island University and the New York Film Academy. Dana lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Sarah Sun-lien Bynum, and their daughter.