David Leidy (born 2 July 1991 in Muscatine, Iowa) is a film director, screenwriter and producer. He was raised by his artist mother, who lived her formative years on a covert military base on Kwajalein Island, and businessman father.
While studying film production and theory at Santa Monica College (SMC) on the pacific coast, David Leidy sought a mentorship from Justin Lerner, an Emmy® winner of the 2008 College Television Awards. During this time, he also interned for Mike Medavoy at Phoenix Pictures (production company of Shutter Island (2010) and Black Swan (2010). He then wrote, directed and produced Atonia (2013) with cinematography by SXSW® nominated cinematographer Tobias Deml under Prodigium Pictures (production company of Gaming Wall St (2022) and Monster Party (2018). This led to David being requested by another film director to be a screenwriter on Paradise (2014) starring Cortney Palm of Sushi Girl (2012).
Along with earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Creative Writing minor from New York University (NYU), he became one of the founding members of the reinstated cinema society Delta Kappa Alpha (DeKA): an organization whose members include George Lucas, Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg. During this time, Leidy wrote many published articles as a staff writer for Washington Square News. After graduation, David audited a theater acting class taught by Lyle Kessler (playwright of Orphans starring Alec Baldwin and Ben Foster). In the class, Kessler would workshop scenes with SAG and Actors Studio members from unreleased and classic Broadway plays.
At the 2018-2019 Annual Awards of Independent Shorts Awards (ISA), David Leidy's short film Faded Love (2015) won for Best Film Noir of the Year. His film Platonic (2016) won for Best Director of the Year at AOF MegaFest (highest honors among 16 interrelated festivals) of the Action on Film International Film Festival and acquired limited theatrical distribution from Fourwalled in 2019.
Made in association with his production company Eidetic Pictures, David Leidy was an executive producer on the feature film Unidentified Objects (2022) starring Golden Globe nominee Sarah Hay. Unidentified received a Certified Fresh status on Rotten Tomatoes® for 100% positive reviews from critics. Furthermore, the film made Official Selection at Fantastic Fest and won the audience award for Best Narrative Feature at LA Outfest.