Leigh Davenport

Writer. Director. Creator.

Leigh Davenport is a West Coast–based writer and director.

Davenport wrote the screenplay for Netflix’s The Perfect Find, starring Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers. She also wrote the screenplay for Lifetime’s highest-rated original film, Wendy Williams: The Movie.

She is the creator of the critically acclaimed Starz series Run the World, loosely based on her post-collegiate life as an ambitious twenty-something in Harlem, New York. The series was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, and its first season earned a 100% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Davenport is currently in development with BET Studios on an adaptation of Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day. She is also set to write and direct The Family, her original HBCU homecoming film, with Hoorae Media.

She is the former Editorial Director of HelloBeautiful.com. She began her career in New York City, working in unscripted production at BET, TV One, and VH1, and is proud to have written for the Black Girls Rock! Awards in its inaugural seasons.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Davenport is a proud graduate of Spelman College, with a Masters in Media Studies from The New School. She is also the proud mom of two darling daughters.

She may or may not be on social media, depending on when you ask. If she is, her handle is @leighdav.