Biographie
A native of Scarsdale, New York, Steve Leon was schooled in the intricacies of the network television business from the time he was young.
While an undergraduate student at USC, Leon served as an intern at CBS in Program Development while still in college. While there, he had the opportunity to sit in during the development of hit series such as MASH and The Waltons.
After spending two years in the Graduate Filmmaking Program at U.S.C., Leon was able to land the position of Coordinator of Program Planning at ABC, which was the number one network in television at the time with shows such as Happy Days, Three's Company, and Family on the air.
Leon served as an assistant in Scheduling and Promotion to legendary Network President, Fred Silverman and was trained in current programming by Brandon Tartikoff, then a young programming executive at the network. At the age of 24, Leon was the youngest member of ABC's management team.
Shortly after he left ABC to become the President of NBC Television, Silverman and Tartikoff invited Leon to join them in Comedy Program Development at NBC. During his time at the network, Leon was involved with the creation of long-time NBC hits, Different Strokes and The Facts Of Life.
Leaving NBC, Leon moved to Paramount Television, where he eventually became Executive Director of Comedy Development, supervising all the programming in that area. Among the many shows Leon had a hand in developing while at Paramount was the ABC hit Webster. He also, personally, created the hit series, DUET, which ran on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four years.
Soon thereafter, Leon reunited with his former mentor, Fred Silverman, becoming Vice President Programming for The Silverman Company. During his tenure there, he helped it become one of the most prolific suppliers of one-hour television dramas of the era, producing Matlcok,Diagnosis:Murder, In The Heat Of The Night, and The Perry Mason Mystery Movies, among others during that period. He also expanded its reach into the television movie area while supervising all its new series development.
Soon thereafter, Leon left the Silverman Company to go to work for two more of his former bosses from his ABC days, Tony Thomopoulos and Gus Lucas, as Vice President Programming at The Family Channel, which soon became Fox Family.
As the number two executive at the network, Leon played a large role in helping The Family Channel and Fox Family become the fastest growing cable network of its time. He supervised all of its original programming, its entire production and development staff, and well as much of its on-air promotion and scheduling.
During that period, Fox Family and The Family Channel produced an average of a dozen Television Movies per year, four hours of original reality and series programming per day, and 30 hours of Specials per year under Leon's supervision. The network's ratings increased over 70% during his tenure and the network's programming achieved significant critical acclaim.
Among the movies produced under Leon's direction at were The Ditchdigger's Daughters, which was nominated for The Cable Ace Award for Best Picture, as well as the special effects-laden spectacular, The Night Of the Twisters, which was the second highest-rated film of the year on Cable Television.
Additionally, Leon also supervised a number of award-winning shows, including the network's critically acclaimed, two-hour daily talk and information series, Home And Family as well as the Cable Ace Award-Winning series of Comedy Specials, The Beef..
Following his tenure at Fox Family, Leon built Collaborative Artists into one of the most influential management companies in the teen and young adult talent areas. Additionally, Collaborative Artists represented a number of the industry's top writers and directors including Jimmy White, who wrote the Academy Award nominated film, Ray.
Most recently, Mr. Leon has returned to his television production and development roots. His television movie, Love At The Thanksgiving Day Parade, a romantic comedy about two people who fall in love working for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, premiered on the Hallmark Channel during the 2012 holiday season and has become a yearly staple of Hallmark's holiday themed lineup.
His talk and information series, Home And Family a revised version of the one that aired under his aegis at Fox Family, has been picked up for its fifth season, which begins in October. Mark Steines and Debbie Matenopoulos host the show, which focuses on how to make your life the best it possibly can be. It airs original episodes two hours a day, five days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, on The Hallmark Channel.
Leon's most recent film, I Do, I Do, I Do, a Valentine's Day themed movie about a woman, who is forced to relive her wedding day again and again and again until she gets it right, premiered in February of 2015 to high ratings on the Hallmark Channel.
He is presently readying another film for the network as well as a variety of series and film projects.
