Ron Leshem
Ron Leshem (Hebrew: רון לשם; born December 20, 1976), is an Israeli-American television and film writer and producer, best known for the television series Euphoria, and for the film Beaufort, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is also a bestselling author, translated to 20 languages, and a winner of the Sapir Prize, Israel's top literary award.
Writing
As a novelist he has won some of the top literary Israeli awards, among them the prestigious annual literary award the Sapir Prizefor Literature for his debut novel Beaufort [1] Beaufort was on the Israel bestseller list for 2 years selling over 150,000 copies in Israel and was translated into more than 20 languages. The film version of Beaufort, which Leshem co-wrote, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Director. Leshem’s second book The Underground Bazaar reached also the bestseller list and was translated into numerous languages. Leshem created and co-wrote the drama series The Gordin Cell, 2011), which received 11 nominations for the Israeli Academy of Film and Television awards. The TV series was adapted by NBC as an American remake,Allegiance. Furthermore, Leshem co-created and co-wrote the series Euphoria, for Hot (2012) (largest Israeli Cable T.V company).
Leshem serves as an executive producer on the HBO's series Euphoria.
The Israeli film Incitement by Yaron Zilberman, which Leshem co-wrote, premiered at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival. The film received 10 nominations for the Israeli Academy of Film and Television awards.
Alongside his long-time writing partner, Amit Cohen, Leshem co-wrote and co-created the Syrian Civil War drama Fertile Crescent, an American-French co-production, which Hulu and Arte ordered straight to series on spring 2019. He served as a story editor for the series Beauty and the Baker. On summer 2019, production began on Israel’s Biggest-Budget TV Drama Series Valley Of Tears, 8-Part Mini Set Against Yom Kippur War, which Leshem co-created with Cohen.
From 2006 until 2009, Leshem served as head of content and programming for Keshet Broadcasting. He was responsible for the development and production of some of the most popular and successful Israeli TV series, receiving outstanding industry awards. Series include: Arab Labor, the A-word, Traffic Light, and Homeland (the original Israeli show Prisoners of War adapted and screened for two seasons after being sold to 20th Century Fox Television for Showtime cable channel).
In 2019, Leshem published in Israel his novel When we were beautiful (Hebrew: יפים כמו שהיינו), and announced it will be translated to English by Jessica Cohen.
Media career
Leshem served as a soldier in the Intelligence Corps of the Israel Defense Forces. Subsequently, he spent three years as an Israeli reporter from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, later on he was promoted as head of the news division at the most widely circulated newspaper in Israel Yediot Ahronot, for which he also wrote as an analyst for military affairs. By the age of 26, he started serving as deputy chief editor for Ma'ariv newspaper (one of the three major newspapers in Israel).[2]
Additionally, he wrote short stories for Le Monde newspaper (France) as well as various columns in several European newspapers.
Leshem is often invited as a speaker to the most distinguished universities around the world, including: Harvard, Yale, BU, Berkeley, to name a few. Leshem has also taken part in more than 60 festivals and book fairs worldwide.
Filmography
Year | Title | Credited as | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Creator | Writer | Producer | Editor | ||
2007 | Beaufort | Yes[3] | Yes | No | No |
2011-2013 | The Gordin Cell | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
2012 | Euphoria | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
2015 | Allegiance | No | Yes[4] | Yes | No |
2015 | Spy | Yes | No | No | No |
2013–2015 | Beauty and the Baker | No | No | No | Yes |
2019-present | Euphoria (HBO) | No | Yes[5] | Yes | No |
2019 | Incitement | No | Yes | Yes | No |
2020-preseent | Fertile crescent[6] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
2020-preseent | Valley of tears[7] | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
As development executive
- Arab Labor (2007-2011)
- Ramzor (Traffic light) (2008-2013)
- Prisoners of War (2010-2012)
- the A-word (2010-2014)
- Polishuk (2010)
Notes
- ^ Beaufort, British trade paperback edition. London: Harvill Secker
- ^ http://library.osu.edu/sites/users/galron.1/00653.php
- ^ Based on his novel by the same name.
- ^ Based on his original series "The Gordin Cell".
- ^ Based on his original series "Euphoria".
- ^ A Hulu and Arte series, filming began on spring 2019
- ^ Filming began on spring 2019
External links
- Ron Leshem bio note at Random House, Inc.
- Ron Leshem (in Hebrew)
- Right to left VIVA SARAH PRES 12/28/2006, Jerusalem Post
- An excerpt from Beaufort appears here in English: Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture
- Ron Leshem, Our man in Tehran, Haaretz