Nellie Andreeva

Warren Leight, a screenwriter and Tony-winning playwright, found himself a hot new career in TV as a sought-after showrunner with back-to-back gigs on USA’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent, HBO’s In Treatment and FX’s Lights Out. Now Leight is venturing in series development with his own project, a drama for Fox set in the area of medical ethics, which he is writing and executive producing. Serving as consulting producers are Lori Andrews, a law professor and leading expert on the legal and ethical aspects of biotechnologies and genetics who has written more than dozen non-fiction books as well as several mystery novels, and movie producer and autism activist Jon Shestack (Air Force One) who, along with his wife, founded Cure Autism Now. (Shestack also has been a member of task forces on issues of ethics, genetic research and gene patenting.) The project is being produced by 20th TV and studio-based Chernin Entertainment, with Peter Chernin and Kathrine Pope also exec producing. WME-repped Leight joined the staff of CI in its 2nd season on a tip from Theresa Rebeck to then executive producer Rene Balcer, who subsequently recommended Leight to take over as the show’s executive producer and head writer in 2006. Leight departed CI in 2008 to take the reins of In Treatment. He left the HBO therapy series last year to join FX’s boxing drama Lights Out, on which he retooled the original pilot by creator Justin Zackham and currently serves as executive producer/showrunner. Lights Out premieres on Jan. 11.

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