Edward Jordon, LISFF 2026, Best International Produced Short Screenplay

- Can you please tell us about you and your daily life?

First, I apologize for any typos! Sometimes my thoughts type better than my fingers!

I am co-owner of International Originals, a film production company, along with Emmy-winning actor Daniel Neiden. Although our office is New York, I live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. One of the joys of being a writer is that I can write from anywhere -  most often at home typing onto a dusty screen. Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m staring at a comma, period, or speck of dust. Thankfully – and I say this half-jokingly (but only half!) – people who do coverage sometimes focus more on my punctuation than my content. That’s not to say I haven’t had some truly insightful and extremely helpful coverage. But it’s always the luck of the draw when it comes to who’s doing the reading.

A well-known novelist/screenwriter once said to me, “Edward, art critics would never ask a painter to repaint their picture. Yet film critics often want you to re-write a script in order to create the movie that’s in their head, not yours.”  Wow. Pretty powerful stuff, huh? Luckily, my writing/producing partner, Daniel Neiden, is also a brilliant dramaturg. Over the years that we’ve collaborated on stage and film projects, Daniel has never once asked me to “re-paint my pictures.” Instead, he metaphorically encourages me to step back a few feet and study my work. I never ask him why. I just do it. And usually I see a few missed possibilities. That’s when the creative juices really start to flow.

When I’m not cluttering my brain with character development and the all-important first ten pages, I try to schedule my time to pursuits outside of myself. Once a week, I volunteer at a farm sanctuary. It’s my Zen place, my private sanctuary where I feed and love 150 animals. Sheep, goats, cows, pigs, turkeys, chickens, Llamas, and animals I don’t even know what they are! All I do know is that they are my extended family and far more important than creating the perfect line of dialogue.

- When and how did you get into writing?

I began my show-bizzy career as an actor/waiter, never dreaming I would find writing and directing far more fulfilling.

I’m including my official bio (below), but my unofficial bio is more the real me. I’ve been at this writing side-hustle for quite a few decades now. I’m still not rich. I’m still not famous. What I am is content; content with simply living artfully. I’m also extremely grateful for any invitation to share my scripts – unproduced, produced, and everything in-between. Despite my years, I like to believe I’m young enough to still have something to say, but old enough to know how to say it. Others may disagree, but, hey…!

At any rate, he’s my official, IMDB bio which makes me appear way more successful than I am!

Berlinale-winning screenwriter. In the early 1990s, Edward Jordon wrote and directed "The Original Cast Album," an indie feature adapted from the stage play he scripted while pursuing a doctorate in Theater at New York University. In 1996, his feature documentary, "It'll Have Blinking Eyes & A Moving Mouth," co-directed with Emmy®-winning cinematographer Jeb Bergh, was invited to screen alongside Oscar® nominees and winners in the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Contemporary Documentary Series. Other prestigious venues for "Blinking Eyes" include the National Gallery Of Art in Washington, DC, the AFI Film Festival, the inaugural year of The Hampton's International Film Festival, and North American theatrical distribution at a time when very few documentaries were afforded that opportunity. He followed "Blinking Eyes" up with "Dogwalking On Jackson Crescent," a feature-length AIDS documentary distributed by Panorama Entertainment. In the early 2000s, Edward's micro-budget queer rom com, "Bollywood And Vine," starring American TV icon Skye Aubrey, premiered on Canada's PrideVision/OUTtv, the world's first 24-hour cable network exclusively dedicated to LGBTQ+ content. Years later, Edward had the pleasure of directing Ms. Aubrey again in his stage musical re-imagining of Mae West's "scandalous" 1926 play, "Sex." Edward is the grateful recipient of over twenty international screenwriting and filmmaking awards, including Omnicron Entertainment's New Century Writers' Award, sponsored by Francis Ford Coppola and the late Ray Bradbury. As screenwriter, Edward has developed projects for Sally Field's Fogwood Films, Gross-Weston Productions, and Renee Missel Productions. In between filmmaking gigs, Edward has worked extensively as a Theater Director, Director of Acquisitions for an international film sales agency, adjunct university instructor of screenwriting, special educator at the elementary and high school levels, and, as he affectionately says, "teacher of kids with a flair for the dramatic." With his own flair for the dramatic, Edward has created arts-based curriculum as a means of reaching students with special needs. His experiences as a special educator - and proud gay man - have found their way into "Whale 52 - Suite For Man, Boy, And Whale," the 2025 short film he wrote and produced with Daniel Neiden. "Whale 52..." had its global premiere at Berlinale 2026 in the Kplus section where the film won the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film. "Whale 52..." also screened in "Desires: Five queer short films of the 76th Berlinale. And – in a news flash – “Whale 52…” has been invited by Whoopi Goldberg and Tribeca to screen in the 25^th Anniversary of the festival.

- How often do you write? Do you have a writing routine? And what inspires you to write?

In Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine crafted a beautiful line spoken by pointillist painter Georges Seurat. That single line inspires me to write every single day. In referring to color, Seurat says, “White. A blank page or canvas. So many possibilities.” Staring at a white computer screen each morning fills my soul with the joy of infinite possibility. Anything can happen on the page...and in life.

- How does it feel to have your work recognized?

I was over the moon when “Whale 52…” won Best Produced Short Screenplay at LISFF/LISP! So few film festivals acknowledge writers. Some judges may even believe movies write themselves. Right now I can’t summon the right words to express my deep, teary thanks to LISFF/LISP! Maybe I’ll just write thank you a few times.

Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you…!

 - What's the best and most challenging thing about writing a Screenplay? 

LOL! Everything is a challenge. Writing – like life – presents us with challenges all day long. The best thing is when we rise to the occasion to duck whatever sh***t comes our way!

- How did you develop the idea for your LISFF/LISP-selected work? Is there a story behind your story? And, how long have you been working on it?

I finished the first draft of WHALE 52 – SUITE FOR MAN, BOY, AND WHALE in 2017 or thereabouts. Like so many unproduced scripts – even award winners – I expected Whale 52…” to live somewhere in “the cloud” for all eternity. Then – when Daniel Neiden and I pulled the script out of mothballs - the wheels began to turn. Together, we updated our Whale to reflect the international zeitgeist of 2025/26. Along the way, we persuaded two-time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton to animate it.

I like to classify Whale 52’s genre as magical realism. Bill and Daniel (as director) brought the magic. I brought the real. Much of  “Whale 52…” is autobiographical. Watching the movie is like watching my life flash before my eyes! I lost my longtime partner in 2005. The character of Kaufman is me – or, at least, an animated version of me. I like to rib Bill Plympton by thanking him for making Kaufman so young and handsome. NOT! LOL!

- Can you please give us a few tips about writing a Screenplay?

As I said, I’m not rich or famous, so far be it from me to offer tips or advice of any sort.

BUT, okay, since you’re asking:

Just write your truth from the heart. Easy to say. Difficult to achieve. But keep trying, my friends!

- What's the best thing and the most challenging thing about competitions? 

This won’t be news to anyone, but when you’re not selected, the most challenging thing is to stay positive. We all need to remind ourselves that we’re already winners by virtue of having the guts to send our scripts out into the world! To quite Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, “Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world. It's hard to get by just upon a smile.”

The best thing about competitions is that they are a “destination” for your work. Instead of being stored on a flash drive, you have a festival team rooting for each and every submission to be “the one.”

- Lastly, do you recommend the writers/filmmakers submit to LISP/LISFF?

Yes. Yes. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And not because our screenplay won. From the very onset, it was apparent that LISFF LISP is a cheerleader for writers – new and old (and very old – like me!).