Jordan Shanks

Jordan Shanks is a screenwriter, filmmaker, photographer, and founder of Shanks Studio. Shanks has worked with leading entertainment and media companies including Complex Networks, YouTube, and Facebook. 

In 2020, Shanks was n a fellowship by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and an Artist Grant from CultureWorks.

His work as a filmmaker and photographer comments on aspects of the African-American and Latinx experience, while also giving viewers glimpses into Millennials, Gen-Z and their identities. Shanks' film 7 , which serves as a cinematic diary of his experience as a first-generation college student at one of the nation's leading HBCU's, made its festival debut at the Afrikana Independent Film Festival in September 2019 and is now on the festival circuit. 

His debut photo collection Love Letters to America which includes photos of his college classmates, Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD, and fashion in New York City, was exhibited in the nation's capital and received national media attention. 

In October 2020, Shanks unveiled Love Letters to America Part II, a follow up to his debut collection Love Letters to America, which features a series of striking images captured over a span of nearly seven years as Shanks has traveled the country documenting the continued struggle for racial equality. The show includes a special preview of his forthcoming film, Never Again, which documents recent nationwide protests and follows the dramatic removal of confederate monuments in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the confederacy. 

Shanks graduated from Howard University in 2018, where he earned his B.A. in Television & Film Production. He has also studied television comedy and sitcom screenwriting at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.

PRESS

PopSugar | What Does Social Change Look Like? Filmmaker Jordan Shanks Wants to Show You

The Root | Jordan Shanks' forthcoming film Never Again included in Trailer Roundup

Ebony Magazine | Jordan Shanks Shoots Love Letters to America 

Chicago Defender | Creative, Jordan Shanks, Documents Racial Awakening through Photography and Film

BeLatina | Jordan Shanks’ Love Letters to America Part II, An Exhibition on Racial Awakening

Voyage LA | Meet Jordan Shanks of Shanks Studio in Hollywood 

NAVESZN | Jordan Shanks: The Young Filmmaker Capturing America's Heart One Frame at a Time