Warren Donald Leight (/laɪt/;[1] born January 17, 1957) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer.

[4] In the 1950s, his father played with jazz musicians such as Claude Thornhill, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich.

Leight's uncle, Larry, and paternal great-grandfather, Harry Gurovitch, were also trumpet players of Russian descent.

[6][7] Leight began his writing career with the 1980 horror film Mother's Day,[8] followed by the documentary Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982) (as the voice of "Terrible Teddy"),[9] the indie Stuck on You!

[12] In the 1980s, he was the creative director/writer for a quartet of "witty" female comics known as the "High Heeled Women," which included actress Arleen Sorkin, who performed in cabarets in New York City.

For his first stage project, Leight teamed with composer-lyricist Charles Strouse on the musical Mayor, inspired by Ed Koch and his dealings with Leona Helmsley and Bess Myerson.

[17] Stray Cats was presented by All Season Theatre Group (New York City) on May 14, 1998, directed by Kevin Confoy.

[23][24] He contributed works to The 24 Hour Plays, a unique theatrical event in which several short plays are written, rehearsed, directed, and performed within 24 hours, in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009 (Daily Bread starring Billy Crudup, Rosie Perez and Rachel Dratch).

[25][26] No Foreigners Beyond This Point had its world premiere at Center Stage in Baltimore, Maryland in November 2002, directed by Tim Vasen.

[27] The play opened Off-Broadway, produced by the Ma-Yi Theater Company at The Culture Project 45 Bleecker Theatre, on September 17, 1995, in previews.

Directed by Loy Arcenas, the cast included Laura Kai Chen, Ron Domingo, Wai Ching Ho, Francis Jue, Karen Tsen Lee, Abby Royle, Ean Sheehy and Henry Yuk.

The play was inspired by Leight's experiences teaching English in Guangdong (Canton), China.

On a suggestion from playwright Theresa Rebeck, Law & Order: Criminal Intent executive producer René Balcer hired Leight to join the staff of the series in its second season as a writer/producer.

In 2008, he left Criminal Intent after its seventh season to be the showrunner for HBO's series In Treatment, a year after CI moved to cable.

[32] On April 11, 2011, Variety reported that Leight would serve as showrunner for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit starting with the thirteenth season.

In an interview with TV Guide Leight noted "I'm aware of how successful and well-liked this show is.

"[35] When Leight was asked how he felt running what was then the last remaining Law & Order series, he responded, "It's a storied franchise, and I don't want to go down with the last ship.

Ratings "roller-coastered" in season 13, from its lead-in at the time, Rock Center with Brian Williams with competition from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS and Revenge on ABC.