Margot Leitman is an award-winning storyteller, best-selling author, speaker and professor originally from Matawan, New Jersey. She is currently instructing at the Los Angles Film School, Entertainment Business department.

A leading expert in the growing field of storytelling, Leitman has written two books on the subject: the best- selling, Long Story Short- the Only Storytelling Guide You'll Ever Need and her latest What’s Your Story? A Workbook For the Storyteller in All of Us both from Sasquatch Books. Her comedic memoir, Gawky...Tales of an Extra Long Awkward Phase is available from Seal Press/Perseus Books.

She has written for NBC, DreamWorks TV, the Hallmark Channel and the PixL Network and a variety of print and online sources including Cosmo and Backstage Magazine. Additionally, she worked as the west coast story scout for This American Life.

 

Margot is a five-time winner of The Moth StorySLAM, and was the Moth GrandSLAM winner in New York City achieving the series' first ever score of a perfect 10. Her stories have been featured on NPR's “The Moth Podcast,” “Good Food," “Unfictional,” "Strangers," and is a frequent contributor to the popular podcast “RISK!"

As a story coach, she has worked on the sold-out solo shows: Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” Anna Akana’s “It Gets Darker,” and consulted on Candice King’s “Superbloom Podcast.”

Margot travels all over the world as a public speaker, storyteller and teacher. Internationally she has performed and taught at the SPOKEN FEST in Mumbai, India as well as a six-week teaching residency at the Blue Room Theatre in Australia.

In her spare time Leitman is a puppy fosterer, exercise enthusiast and devoted bibliophile. She is a huge fan of “Survivor,” has written multiple articles about the show, and is still unsure if she should apply. A proud graduate of the Ithaca College Theatre Department, Leitman now resides in Los Angeles.