Josh Levine is a queer Jewish writer whose unique perspective infuses his storytelling with humor, heart, and authenticity.

Josh creates stories and characters that explore unconventional relationships and the special - yet sometimes blurry and messy - line that separates family from friendship.

Josh's love for writing is rooted in the collaborative process, a passion that stems from his theater background. He thrives on working with others, whether it's brainstorming new feature ideas with a producer, utilizing his story skills and obsession with structure in the writers' room, or setting lyrics to a new composition.

In television, Josh worked in the writers room on Steve Levitan’s REBOOT (Hulu), MS. MARVEL (Disney+), Peter Tolan’s BELATED (FX), and Hulu’s critically acclaimed PEN15. He wrote the celebrated “Sleepover” episode which was ranked as one of EW’s Best TV Episodes of 2020. Josh has written an original comedy feature for Paramount Studios with Alex Hardcastle (SENIOR YEAR) directing, and he wrote an animated feature for Mattel and Curiosity Ink.

For his work as a playwright, Josh received the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Comic Playwriting for his play HOMEMADE, which was also a finalist at the 2019 Austin Film Festival, and his play PERFECT was a Heideman Award Finalist and featured in 2019 Short+Sweet Hollywood Festival. Josh’s play BARUCH HASHEM was presented in IAMA Theatre Company’s New Works Festival, and his other plays have been developed through the IAMA Emerging Writers Group, Primary Stages New American Writers Group, The Playwright’s Union, Blank Theatre Company, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Chicago Dramatists. Josh’s plays have received productions around the country in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas, and his short play, I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU, is published by Smith & Krause in The Best Ten-Minute Plays 2014.

A lover of musicals, Josh is a proud alumni of the BMI Musical Theater Librettist Workshop in NYC. He also had the distinct pleasure to serve as assistant to Terrence McNally on the Kander & Ebb musical THE VISIT during its premiere at The Goodman Theater in Chicago. Josh is currently co-writing the book for the musical OY BAND by Bonnie Gleicher and developing others.

Hailing from Orlando, FL, Josh spent many years honing his craft as a playwright in Chicago and New York before making the move to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue a career in television and film and to start a family with his husband. As his mother is happy to report to anyone who asks (and even those who don’t), Josh and his lapsed Catholic husband couldn’t be happier as the proud parents of two adopted biracial daughters and one clingy rescue dog.

Josh is a proud member of the WGA, and he is represented by CAA, Untitled and Cohen Gardner LLP.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION:

  • PEN15 2nd Season nominated for Best Comedy Series by the Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America and the Critic’s Choice Awards

  • KENNEDY CENTER ACTF MARK TWAIN AWARD FOR COMIC PLAYWRITING for Homemade

  • AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL, Finalist for Homemade

  • WARNER BROS WRITERS WORKSHOP, Finalist

  • SEWANEE WRITERS CONFERENCE, Tennessee Williams Scholar

EDUCATION:

  • MFA Dramatic Writing, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University (Lee Blessing, head)

  • BFA Playwriting, The Theatre School, DePaul University (Dean Corrin, head)

  • Playwrights Horizons Theatre School (Keith Bunin, teacher)