David Scala is a Filipino-American filmmaker who received his BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. His five short films have screened at over 150 film festivals worldwide, including the Seattle International Film Festival, Palm Springs International ShortFest, Outfest, Frameline, Newfest, and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
His feature screenplays have placed and advanced at such competitions including the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, Academy Nicholl Fellowships (2023 Semifinalist), Austin Film Festival (2022 Drama Feature Semifinalist), Nashville FF Screenwriting Competition, Hamptons Film Screenwriters Lab, the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Award, and more.
His most recent short film ENGAGED (2019) starring Daniel K. Isaac (BILLIONS) and Ryan Jamaal Swain (POSE) screened at over 65 film festivals worldwide, including 5 Academy Award-Qualifying festivals. It won Best Comedy Short at the New Hampshire Film Festival, Best Short Film at ReelQ Pittsburgh, and numerous audience awards. It was distributed internationally in June 2020 and is currently available on YouTube. Another of his short films GROTTO is also available on YouTube, where it has over 3 million views.
In 2017, his full-length stageplay “Among the Furies” won the Best of Festival Award for Best Play at the New York Theatre Festival out of 86 productions, in addition to winning Best Actress and Best Scenic Design. He was also nominated as Best Director. The show returned for a sold-out, critically acclaimed run at the 2018 New York International Fringe Festival.
He is currently developing multiple projects, including his feature film directorial debut.