leight received a b.s. degree in communication from stanford university in 1977, planning a career as a journalist. leight began his writing career with the 1980 horror film "mother's day" followed by the documentary "before the nickelodeon: the cinema of edwin s. porter" (1982) (as the voice of "terrible teddy") the indie "stuck on you!" (1983), and the miramax film "the night we never met" (1993), which he also directed, starring matthew broderick, and which earned him a nomination at the deauville film festival. he wrote the screenplay for the 1996 greg kinnear comedy "dear god."