Leslye Headland

Teaches at Primary Stages ESPA

Leslye Headland is an established playwright, screenwriter, and director, and holds a BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Headland started her writing for the theater, with such plays as Bachelorette (Second Stage),Assistance (Playwrights Horizons), and the rest of the Seven Deadly Plays series (IAMA Theatre Company). Several of these plays would later serve as the basis for her film and television projects.

In 2010, Headland became a staff writer for FX's television series "Terriers", created by Ted Griffin and Shawn Ryan, starring Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James. Two years later, her play Assistance was acquired by NBC for television. The pilot was executive produced by Headland, Will Ferrell, and Adam McKay for Gary Sanchez Productions, and starred Krysten Ritter.

In 2012, Headland broke out in features, when she made her directorial debut with another of her plays, Bachelorette, starring Kirsten Dunst, Rebel Wilson, Isla Fisher, Lizzy Caplan, James Marsden, and Adam Scott. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, was subsequently sold to the Weinstein Company, and went on to become one of the most successful VOD releases to date. Off of that feat, Headland set up her next script, About Last Night, at Screen Gems. Kevin Hart and Michael Ealy starred in the film directed by Steve Pink, and was released in February 2014, grossing over $50 million domestically.

Next up for Headland is a romantic-comedy feature she wrote and directed, titled Sleeping with Other People, and produced by Gloria Sanchez Productions. The project stars Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie, and had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. After a bidding war, the film was sold to IFC for Summer 2015 distribution.