Leila Gerstein is an American

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Gerstein has written for television shows, including ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series created and developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students on Manhattan's ...

'', ''

The O.C. ''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on Fox in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, with a total of four seasons consisting of 92 episodes. The serie ...

'' and '' Life As We Know It'', and written and produced episodes of ''

Eli Stone ''Eli Stone'' is an American Legal drama, legal Musical film, musical comedy drama television series that was created by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, who also served as executive producers alongside Ken Olin who directed the pilot, with M ...

''. She created the 2011 comedy-drama series ''

Hart of Dixie ''Hart of Dixie'' is an American comedy-drama television series that aired on The CW from September 26, 2011, to March 27, 2015. The series, created by Leila Gerstein, stars Rachel Bilson as Dr. Zoe Hart, a New Yorker who, after her dreams of ...

''. Gerstein won a 2017

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

as a consulting producer on ''

The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has ...

''.

Biography

Gerstein was raised on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, where she attended

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...

.B&C: "Comedy at the ‘Hart’ Of Gerstein’s Writing - The CW series creator’s hectic life led to show’s serene setting and family bond" By Luke McCord
December 15, 2014 After college, she attended theatre school while working as a

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

tutor and writing in her spare time. After getting several plays produced, she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. A personal essay that she read aloud at an Upright Citizens Brigade performance about her love affair with New York Mets third baseman

Robin Ventura Robin Mark Ventura (born July 14, 1967) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager. Ventura played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, New York Yankees and Los Angeles D ...

brought her notice from the

Oxygen channel Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American cable and digital multicast television network owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group unit of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast. The network primarily airs true crime television series ...

who hired her to write a pilot based on the story as well as two TV movies including ''Tempting Adam''. She wrote scripts for '' Life As We Know It'' and ''

'', and then produced ''

'' and ''

''. Gerstein won a 2017 Emmy as a consulting producer on ''

''.

''Hart of Dixie''

In February 2011,

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

ordered the pilot for Gerstein's ''Hart of Dixie'' and on May 17, 2011 officially picked up the series for the 2011–2012 season. The show is about a New York City doctor named Zoe Hart who inherits a medical practice in a small Southern town inhabited by an eclectic and eccentric group of characters. It was penned by Gerstein and is executive produced by

Stephanie Savage Stephanie Savage (born 1969) is a screenwriter and television producer from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Savage is best known for developing The CW's teen drama series ''Gossip Girl'' (2007) from the novel series, and being an executive producer of t ...

Josh Schwartz Joshua Ian Schwartz (born August 6, 1976) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for creating and executive producing the Fox teen drama series '' The O.C.'' which ran for 4 seasons. Schwartz is also known for dev ...

and Len Goldstein through Fake Empire production company. On February 2, 2011,

Jason Ensler Jason Ensler is an American film director, television director, producer, and screenwriter. Early life Jason Ensler attended Brandeis University where he earned a BA in Politics and Theater. He graduated USC School of Cinematic Arts with an ...

was booked to direct the pilot. On February 15, 2011,

Rachel Bilson Rachel Sarah Bilson (born August 25, 1981) is an American actress. Born to a Californian show-business family, Bilson made her television debut in 2003, and then landed the role of Summer Roberts on the prime-time drama series '' The O.C.'' Bi ...

signed on to play Zoe Hart, the main character. ''Hart of Dixie'' premiered on September 26, 2011. The CW renewed the series for a second season on May 11, 2012, for a third on April 26, 2013, and for a fourth on May 8, 2014. "Hart of Dixie" was cancelled following the finish of season 4. In an interview with Gerstein, she explained to the reporter that she loves writing about the character Lemon and AnnaBeth. She continues by telling the news source CW, that the dynamic between these two characters is what she enjoys the most writing about. Gerstein continues to explain in the CW Atlanta interview, "writing their Southern flavored dialogue and their cute little passive aggressive dynamic are just so much fun to write". Gerstein has a passion and love for her writing process and characters, that is shown in her interview.

Personal life

She is married to author and

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

Nate DiMeo.

Writing Credits

''Life As We Know It''

* "A Little Problem" (Season 1 Episode 9)

''Tempting Adam''

* ''Tempting Adam'' (TV movie, 2004)''Tempting Adam''
IMDb

''The O.C.''

* The Sister Act (S03E12) * The Day After Tomorrow (S03E20) * The Metamorphosis (S04E04) * The Dream Lover (S04E11)

''Eli Stone''

* One More Try (S01E05) * I Want Your Sex (S01E09) * Grace (S02E02) * Unwritten (S02E03) * Owner of a Lonely Heart (S02E08) * Mortal Combat (S02E11)

''Gossip Girl''

* Southern Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (S02E22) * Rufus Getting Married (S03E05) * The Last Days of Disco Stick (S03E10) * The Sixteen Year Old Virgin (S03E15) * Touch of Eva (S04E04) * Damien Darko (S04E13) * The Princesses and the Frog (S04E20)

''Hart of Dixie''

* Pilot (S01E01) * Parades & Pariahs (S01E02) * The Crush & The Crossbow (S01E07) * Sweetie Pies & Sweaty Palms (S01E13) * Destiny & Denial (S01E19) * The Big Day (S01E22) * I Fall to Pieces (S02E01) * Blue Christmas (S02E10) * Where I Lead Me (S02E16) * This Kiss (S02E19) * On the Road Again (S02E22) (with Len Goldstein) * Who Says You Can't Go Home? (S03E01) * Miracles (S03E08) * Carrying Your Love with Me (S03E16) * Second Chance (S03E22) * Kablang (S04E01) * Alabama Boys (S04E06) (with April Blair) * Bluebell (S04E10)

''The Handmaid's Tale''

* Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum (S01E04)

''Claws''

* Self-Portrait (S01E06)

''Looking for Alaska''

* I'll Show You That It Won't Shoot (S01E05)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerstein, Leila American television producers American women television producers American television writers Living people American women television writers Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Writers Guild of America Award winners