Leslye Headland Inks Overall Deal With Fox 21 TV Studios

Denise Petski

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Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland has signed a multi-year, overall deal with Fox 21 Television Studios to create, develop and direct series for network, cable and streaming platforms.

“Every once in a very rare while, you watch some tv show or movie, and it’s so special that you think how lucky you’d be if you got to work with its creator,” said Bert Salke, President, Fox 21 Television Studios. And rarer still is when you meet them and you can’t believe that they are better than you could’ve even imagined. That’s our experience with Leslye. Her incredible work in both film and TV is surpassed only by how awesome she is in real life.”

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Headland co-created with Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler dramedy Russian Doll which is heading into its second season on Netflix. The series was nominated for 13 Emmy awards for its first season, winning two.

Headland began her career writing and directing the Seven Deadly Plays series (IAMA Theatre Company), including Bachelorette and Assistance which both transferred to NY. Bachelorette was the basis for her directorial film debut starring Kirsten Dunst. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012. Her other film credits include writing the 2014 remake of About Last Night starring Kevin Hart and writing/directing Sleeping with Other People starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie. TV writing/directing credits include pilots for HBO, ABC and NBC, as well as Terriers (FX), Blunt Talk (Starz), SMILF and Black Monday (Showtime), Heathers (Paramount) and Russian Doll (Netflix).

“I am thrilled to be working with Bert, Jane, Dana and Craig, and the Fox 21 team,” said Headland. “They championed me and helped me land my first job as a staff writer about ten years ago. I was an unpublished playwright and they fought to get me a seat at the table. It has been an ambition of mine to return to the fold and develop my personal and passion projects with them. I am so excited to get started and grateful for this incredible opportunity!”

Headland is represented by Michael Sugar at Sugar23 and Steve Younger at Myman Greenspan. She is represented as a director by UTA.

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