Theater
After graduating from Yale, Leipzig began his career in the Los Angeles Theatre Center (formerly the Los Angeles Actors’ Theatre) as an unpaid assistant stage manager, where he eventually became a dramaturge/associate director. [1] [11]
In 1984, he participated as a representative of Los Angeles theater companies in negotiations with the Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival to include local theater productions. [12]
Leipzig was one of the producers of Secret Honor, written by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone and directed by Robert Altman, which Altman had also made into a 1984 film of the same name. [13] He left his staff position at the Theatre Center in 1986, but continued to consult and do translations for the company. [14] Leipzig worked with Iranian theatre artist Reza Abdoh, and after Abdoh's death in 1995 organized the archiving of his works. [15] [16] In 1999, he contributed to the production of Bang, Bang, You’re Dead by William Mastrosimone. [17] He also produced two plays by Donald Freed: American Iliad (2001) [18] and The Einstein Plan (2010). [19]
Filmmaking
Leipzig joined Walt Disney Studios/Touchstone Pictures [11] as a creative executive in 1987 and in 1991 was promoted to senior vice president of motion picture production. [20] [21] Films he supervised included Dead Poets Society , Good Morning, Vietnam , The Doctor , Billy Bathgate , Honey, I Shrunk the Kids , Honey, I Blew Up the Kid , 3 Ninjas , The Program , [22] Mad Love , Fire Birds and Paradise . Leipzig left to become a producer with PolyGram Entertainment's Interscope Communications in 1993, where he produced films including The Associate , Roommates , Two Much and Dead Silence . [23] [24] He started his own production company called Terra Bella Entertainment in 1999, [25] where he produced films including Titus and I Was a Teenage Faust . [24]
In 2003 Leipzig became president of National Geographic Films, [6] [26] where he supervised acquisition and distribution of films including March of The Penguins , The Story of the Weeping Camel , Amreeka , Kekexili: Mountain Patrol and God Grew Tired of Us ; and he produced The Way Back , The Last Lions and Arctic Tale . [6] [24] In October, 2008, National Geographic Films announced $100 million in financing with an equity investment from Abu Dhabi Media Company and a credit facility from JP Morgan. [27] Leipzig left National Geographic Films in March, 2010. [28]
In 2005, while at National Geographic, he co-produced ‘’March of the Penguins’’, adapting the French nature film for American market. [2] [5] [6] Changes included narration by Morgan Freeman, a new script, and a new musical score composed by Alex Wurman. This approach, described by the Los Angeles Times as creating a "hybrid" genre of wildlife filmmaking [7] , combined traditional nature documentary elements with features of romantic drama, comedy, and suspense to appeal to a broader audience. The film grossed over $133 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing documentary of all time and winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary. [29] [30]
In 2024, Leipzig produced Sicilian Holiday. Working through his company Credential Media Ventures, Leipzig also oversaw the film's sales and distribution. [31]
As noted by Variety in February 2024, he was working on the documentary Lions of the Sea, directed by Luis Felipe Fernández-Salvador, which depicts the challenges faced by a sea lion orphaned due to illegal fishing. [32]
In 2014 he founded Entertainment Media Partners, a film consultancy, [33] that also produces films, [34] such as A Plastic Ocean . [35] From 2015-2016, Leipzig was the Chief Operating Officer of CreativeFuture, a non-profit organization that advocates for creative communities, and is currently their Senior Creative Adviser. He also is on the advisory board of the philanthropic social media platform and app, Pixhug.
