Bruce Leddy
Encyclopedia
Bruce Leddy is a writer, director, and producer currently living in Los Angeles. His most recent work was directing the ABC sitcom "Cougar Town
" starring Courteney Cox
. Other recent projects include directing "Important Things with Demetri Martin
" for Comedy Central
, and sketch segments for "Jimmy Kimmel Live." His independent film "The Wedding Weekend" currently airs on The Sundance Channel and is available on DVD.
After graduating cum laude from Williams College
, Leddy moved to New York City where he started his career at MTV Networks as a Writer for VH1
. He quickly became a Producer, and joined sister channel MTV where he became a Senior Producer/Writer. After overseeing studio-based shows and VJ segments, Leddy developed and created series for the network. He created the in-depth artist profile series "MTV Rockumentary," produced the pilot and first 7 episodes of "MTV Unplugged
," and wrote/directed/produced MTV's "Half Hour Comedy Hour."
After a 7 year stint at MTV, Leddy went freelance and formed the production company BLIP Inc (Bruce Leddy Independent Productions). He continued to work with MTV, producing, writing, and directing one-hour comedy specials financed by the movie studios as promotional vehicles for their films. Several of these starred Mike Myers including the "MTV Wayne's World
" and "Wayne's World II Specials," and "Austin Powers' Electric Pussycat Swinger's Club," a show styled after the psychedelic '70's comedy series Laugh In, and Playboy After Dark
. He also directed comedy specials for HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central
, as well as a muppet holiday movie for Fox broadcast and Sony Home Video called "CinderElmo," starring Keri Russell
, Oliver Platt
, Kathy Najimy
, and French Stewart
.
During production of an MTV special promoting the Mike Myers TriStar Pictures film "So I Married an Axe Murderer
," Leddy met film producer Rob Fried who offered him the chance to direct his first feature film, a coming of age comedy called "Bad With Numbers." The film was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1994 and starred Jason London
, Tia Carrere
, Jeffrey Tambor
, Alexandra Lee
, and Zak Orth
. Two months before the film was to have a 1200 screen theatrical release, the distributing studio Savoy Pictures went bankrupt and the film was left in limbo. Eventually it was acquired by Trimark Pictures and released on DVD under the unfortunate title "My Teacher's Wife." It has also aired numerous times on the USA cable network.
Leddy moved to Los Angeles in 2000 where he landed the directing job at Fox's late night sketch comedy show MADtv
. What started as a two week tryout ended up as a 9 year run, with Leddy becoming the primary director, as well as rising through the writer/producer ranks to become Executive Producer/Co-Show Runner (along with Head Writer John Crane
) during the 2007-08 season. He continued to work with MTV as a freelancer, primarily as a writer/creative consultant on the MTV Movie Awards
and MTV Video Music Awards. He wrote and directed short films for both shows, including the show-opener for the 1999 MTV Movie Awards, "The Pitch (Titanic II)," starring Ben Stiller
, Vince Vaughn
, and James Cameron
. He also directed short films with Marlon Wayans
and Sean Wayans when they hosted the VMAs in 2000.
In 2005, during hiatus from MADtv, Leddy directed and produced an independent film based on his original screenplay called "Shut Up & Sing." Loosely inspired by his experiences singing in the a cappella group The Williams Octet—and later an alumni group in New York City called "The Lemmings" -- the ensemble comedy/drama is about a group of guys who sang together in a college a cappella group and are reuniting 15 years later to sing in a friend's wedding. With the help of renown casting director Avy Kaufman
, Leddy assembled a stellar cast of New York-based performers including Mark Feuerstein
, Molly Shannon
, David Harbour, Rosemarie DeWitt
, Elizabeth Reaser
, and Reg Rogers. The film was shot on location in New York City and East Hampton, NY. On the festival circuit, the movie won 9 awards including the Audience Award at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
in Aspen
. Just prior to a limited theatrical release by Strand Releasing
, the Weinstein Company announced that they were naming their previously untitled documentary about the Dixie Chicks
as "Shut Up & Sing." A brief legal skirmish ensued but, without adequate funds to fight the Weinstein legal machine, Leddy was forced to re-title his film. For its initial theatrical release, the film was titled "Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace." For international sales purposes, the title was changed to "The Wedding Weekend," and that title proved more popular with DVD distributors where it was picked up by First Look Studios and released in May 2008 on DVD. In May 2010, the film began airing on The Sundance Channel as "The Wedding Weekend." It has been seen in multiple countries in Europe and had a theatrical release in Mexico in 2009.
In the fall of 2010, Leddy became a director at ABC's popular sitcom "Cougar Town
".
Cougar Town
Cougar Town is an American television sitcom that premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009. The series focuses on a recently divorced woman in her forties facing the often humorous challenges, pitfalls and rewards of life's next chapter, along with her son, ex-husband, and friends who together make...
" starring Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
. Other recent projects include directing "Important Things with Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.- Early life :Demetri Martin was born to a Greek...
" for Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
, and sketch segments for "Jimmy Kimmel Live." His independent film "The Wedding Weekend" currently airs on The Sundance Channel and is available on DVD.
After graduating cum laude from Williams College
Williams College
Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...
, Leddy moved to New York City where he started his career at MTV Networks as a Writer for VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
. He quickly became a Producer, and joined sister channel MTV where he became a Senior Producer/Writer. After overseeing studio-based shows and VJ segments, Leddy developed and created series for the network. He created the in-depth artist profile series "MTV Rockumentary," produced the pilot and first 7 episodes of "MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged
MTV Unplugged is a TV series showcasing many popular musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show has received the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Primetime Emmy nominations among many accolades.-Unplugged:...
," and wrote/directed/produced MTV's "Half Hour Comedy Hour."
After a 7 year stint at MTV, Leddy went freelance and formed the production company BLIP Inc (Bruce Leddy Independent Productions). He continued to work with MTV, producing, writing, and directing one-hour comedy specials financed by the movie studios as promotional vehicles for their films. Several of these starred Mike Myers including the "MTV Wayne's World
Wayne's World
Wayne's World was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" on the CBC Television series It's Only Rock & Roll, as the main character first appeared in that show...
" and "Wayne's World II Specials," and "Austin Powers' Electric Pussycat Swinger's Club," a show styled after the psychedelic '70's comedy series Laugh In, and Playboy After Dark
Playboy After Dark
Playboy After Dark is an American television show hosted by Hugh Hefner. It ran in syndication through Screen Gems from 1969 to 1970 and was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles....
. He also directed comedy specials for HBO, Showtime, and Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
, as well as a muppet holiday movie for Fox broadcast and Sony Home Video called "CinderElmo," starring Keri Russell
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
, Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt
Oliver James Platt is a Canadian-American actor. He is currently starring in the Showtime original series, The Big C with Laura Linney.-Early life:...
, Kathy Najimy
Kathy Najimy
Kathy Ann Najimy is an American actress, most notable as Olive Massery on the television series Veronica's Closet, Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act and the voice of Peggy Hill on the animated television series King of the Hill. Prior to her film work, she was best known for two Off Broadway shows...
, and French Stewart
French Stewart
Milton French Stewart , better known by his stage name French Stewart, is an American actor, best known for his role as Harry Solomon on the 1990s sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.-Early life:...
.
During production of an MTV special promoting the Mike Myers TriStar Pictures film "So I Married an Axe Murderer
So I Married an Axe Murderer
So I Married an Axe Murderer is a 1993 American comedy-horror film starring Mike Myers and Nancy Travis. Myers plays Charlie McKenzie, a man afraid of commitment until he meets Harriet , who works at a butcher shop and may be a serial killer...
," Leddy met film producer Rob Fried who offered him the chance to direct his first feature film, a coming of age comedy called "Bad With Numbers." The film was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1994 and starred Jason London
Jason London
Jason Paul London is an American actor, best known for his role as Randall "Pink" Floyd in director Richard Linklater's film Dazed and Confused.-Personal life:...
, Tia Carrere
Tia Carrere
Tia Carrere is an American actress, model, voice artist, and singer, perhaps most widely known for her role as Cassandra Wong in the feature films Wayne's World and Wayne's World 2, Queen Tyr'ahnee in Duck Dodgers, and as Sydney Fox in the TV series Relic Hunter.-Early life:Carrere was born in...
, Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Tambor
Jeffrey Michael Tambor is an American actor, perhaps best known for his roles as George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development and Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show.-Early life:...
, Alexandra Lee
Alexandra Lee
Alexandra Mariel Lee, also known by her stage name Alexandra Starlight, is an American singer and song-writer. Alexandra and The Starlight Band is the recording name of her current solo project in collaboration with other artists who serve as the backing band for her project.- Influences...
, and Zak Orth
Zak Orth
Zak Orth is an American comedic actor known for his roles in Wet Hot American Summer, The Baxter, Melinda and Melinda, In and Out, and Music and Lyrics...
. Two months before the film was to have a 1200 screen theatrical release, the distributing studio Savoy Pictures went bankrupt and the film was left in limbo. Eventually it was acquired by Trimark Pictures and released on DVD under the unfortunate title "My Teacher's Wife." It has also aired numerous times on the USA cable network.
Leddy moved to Los Angeles in 2000 where he landed the directing job at Fox's late night sketch comedy show MADtv
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
. What started as a two week tryout ended up as a 9 year run, with Leddy becoming the primary director, as well as rising through the writer/producer ranks to become Executive Producer/Co-Show Runner (along with Head Writer John Crane
John Crane
John Rene Crane is an American writer and actor, best known as the head writer, executive producer and occasional performer on Fox's Saturday late night sketch comedy program, MADtv.-Career:...
) during the 2007-08 season. He continued to work with MTV as a freelancer, primarily as a writer/creative consultant on the MTV Movie Awards
MTV Movie Awards
The MTV Movie Awards is a film awards show presented annually on MTV . It also contains movie parodies that used official movie footage with hosts and other celebrities and music performances. The nominees are decided by producers and executives at MTV. Winners are decided online by the general...
and MTV Video Music Awards. He wrote and directed short films for both shows, including the show-opener for the 1999 MTV Movie Awards, "The Pitch (Titanic II)," starring Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller
Benjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
, Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
, and James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
. He also directed short films with Marlon Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Marlon L. Wayans is an American actor, model producer, comedian, writer, and director of movies, beginning with his role as a pedestrian in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka in 1988...
and Sean Wayans when they hosted the VMAs in 2000.
In 2005, during hiatus from MADtv, Leddy directed and produced an independent film based on his original screenplay called "Shut Up & Sing." Loosely inspired by his experiences singing in the a cappella group The Williams Octet—and later an alumni group in New York City called "The Lemmings" -- the ensemble comedy/drama is about a group of guys who sang together in a college a cappella group and are reuniting 15 years later to sing in a friend's wedding. With the help of renown casting director Avy Kaufman
Avy Kaufman
Avy Kaufman is an Emmy award-winning casting director based in New York City, New York, known for her work in film and television. Kaufman has worked with directors including Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, and Wes Craven....
, Leddy assembled a stellar cast of New York-based performers including Mark Feuerstein
Mark Feuerstein
-Career:Feuerstein got his break-through on television as a recurring character on the daytime soap opera Loving. When director Nancy Meyers was casting What Women Want, her daughter recognized Feuerstein from Practical Magic and insisted that her mother cast him...
, Molly Shannon
Molly Shannon
Molly Helen Shannon is an American comic actress best known for her work as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1995–2001 and for starring in the films Superstar and Year of the Dog. More recently, she starred in NBC's Kath & Kim from 2008–2009 and on the TBS animated series Neighbors from...
, David Harbour, Rosemarie DeWitt
Rosemarie DeWitt
Rosemarie DeWitt is an American actress. DeWitt played Emily Lehman in the Fox television series Standoff, co-starring her now husband Ron Livingston, from 2006 through 2007, and played Charmaine Craine on Showtime's acclaimed original series, United States of Tara...
, Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Reaser
Elizabeth Ann Reaser is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films Stay, The Family Stone, and The Twilight Saga and the TV series Saved, Grey's Anatomy and The Ex-List....
, and Reg Rogers. The film was shot on location in New York City and East Hampton, NY. On the festival circuit, the movie won 9 awards including the Audience Award at the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
U.S. Comedy Arts Festival
The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, is a comedy festival held each year in Las Vegas, Nevada. From its 1985 inception to 2007, it was held annually at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado...
in Aspen
Aspen
Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...
. Just prior to a limited theatrical release by Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing
Strand Releasing is a theatrical distribution company founded in 1989 and is based in Culver City, California. The company has distributed over 300 auteur driven titles from acclaimed international and American directors such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Gregg Araki, Francois Ozon, Jean Luc...
, the Weinstein Company announced that they were naming their previously untitled documentary about the Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
as "Shut Up & Sing." A brief legal skirmish ensued but, without adequate funds to fight the Weinstein legal machine, Leddy was forced to re-title his film. For its initial theatrical release, the film was titled "Sing Now or Forever Hold Your Peace." For international sales purposes, the title was changed to "The Wedding Weekend," and that title proved more popular with DVD distributors where it was picked up by First Look Studios and released in May 2008 on DVD. In May 2010, the film began airing on The Sundance Channel as "The Wedding Weekend." It has been seen in multiple countries in Europe and had a theatrical release in Mexico in 2009.
In the fall of 2010, Leddy became a director at ABC's popular sitcom "Cougar Town
Cougar Town
Cougar Town is an American television sitcom that premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009. The series focuses on a recently divorced woman in her forties facing the often humorous challenges, pitfalls and rewards of life's next chapter, along with her son, ex-husband, and friends who together make...
".
External links
- The Wedding Weekend http://www.theweddingweekend.com
- Bruce Leddy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0496417/