Eddie Shieh 謝宗楷 (pronounced ‘Sh’+’yeah’) is a Native New Yorker, Asian Tourist, Twin Dad by day and Filmmaker at Night as writer, director and producer. His fraternal twin boys were born in 2017.
Eddie directed the semi-finalist play “That Kid” written by Jane Willis for the 2016 Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival where a transgendered child leans on their fragile grandmother in the face of bullying, adversity and mortality. In 2014, NewFilmmakersLA nominated him to the 2014 FOX Global Directors Initiative fellowship program for his film, “Mr Chavan,” that recreates his father’s banal alliance with a young caretaker. Eddie’s 2011 film, “Tu & Eu,” a Grand Prix Finalist at the Academy qualifying Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia in Tokyo, revives the impasse of a long-time interracial relationship from his past in one phone call.
His screenplay, “La Grippe,” depicting how the Spanish Flu disrupts a fatherless boy’s desire for a family, was invited to the 2015 European Sundance Screenwriters Lab by the Capalbio International Film Festival, Italy. Eddie’s first screenplay, “Me, My Father and Me,” stemmed from his cultural resistance against his father, optioned in 2010.
Eddie is a frequent annual participant of the 72 Hour Shootout by the NY Asian American Film Lab creating 5-minute stories based on themes. He often explores family dynamics and finds subtleties in performances to punctuate conflict. He also enjoys thrillers, sci-fi and rom-coms.
Eddie studied directing under John Gould Rubin at Primary Stages ESPA and Seth Barrish at the Barrow Group Theatre in New York. His screenwriting was honed at the Writers Boot Camp New York. He has served in advisory and judging roles for local and independent film festivals.
Eddie is also founder and co-executive producer of Red Rope Productions – a New York based Minority and Woman’s owned initiative – who champions unique creators and their voices through development and production. Films have screened at Academy qualifying and major international festivals. Their most recent short film production, Fraud, premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. In 2007, the Red Rope Screening and Red Rope Playhouse banners were created to present internationally acclaimed films and theater works by emerging artists. New York Magazine listed Red Rope Playhouse as a New York Top 20 event in 2008. Sponsors included Adidas Classics, Moet Hennessy brands, Heineken brands, Stoli brands, the Accompanied Literary Society, Ogilvy Worldwide, New York Magazine and others.
In a previous life Eddie was a storied advertising agency creative director for worldwide brands creating commercial campaigns for the Fortune 100 to mercurial startups for agencies Ogilvy, BBDO, Publicis, McCann, MTV and others. Clients include IBM, GAP, Levis, Pepsi, Absolut, Stolichnaya, Heineken, Doritos, Chase, Accenture, FT.com, NYSE.com, Oral B and numerous others. He was also one of the first creative leads forming BBDO’s digital arm Atmosphere during the dot-com heyday. His works have been recognized in several publications and with oxidizing paper weights in storage boxes.
Highlights
1. 2017 Fraternal twin boys were born.
2. 2015 European Sundance Screenwriters Lab (Italy).
3. 2014 Fox Studios Global Directors Initiative (USA) Nominee.
4. 2011 Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Japan) Grand Prix Finalist.
5. 2010 Writers Guild of America East (Inactive).
Other
1. Locked out of a Berlin AirBnB in boxers while his twin babies napped inside.
2. Platinum blond for two years in the mid 90’s.
3. Won a fist-pumping volley over John McEnroe in the mid 80’s.
4. Placed 3rd in the NY Queens Borough 8th Grade Science Fair in the late 70’s.
5. Predicts weather with his surgically repaired joints in perpetuity.