# Debora Cahn

Debora Cahn is an American writer and producer of television and film. She was a writer and executive producer on the Showtime series Homeland for its final two seasons (2018–2020), and executive producer and showrunner on the Netflix political thriller series The Diplomat. Cahn has won two Writers Guild of America Awards and has received multiple nominations.

## Early life and education

Deborah Cahn graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University, and received a master's degree in acting from the Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

## Career

Cahn began her career as a writer and producer on The West Wing from its fourth to seventh and final season (2002–2006). From 2006 to 2013, she was a writer and producer of Grey’s Anatomy.
She was a writer and co-executive producer for Martin Scorsese's HBO series Vinyl (2016).
In 2018, she wrote the HBO film Paterno, starring Al Pacino and directed by Barry Levinson. She was a writer and executive producer on the Showtime series Homeland for its final two seasons (2018–2020).
She was also a writer and consulting producer on FX's Fosse/Verdon (2019), for which she won a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Long Form Television.
In 2022 Cahn signed a multi-year overall deal with Netflix. Under the deal, she is serving as executive producer and showrunner on the political thriller drama series The Diplomat.

## Production company

Cahn's production company is Let's Not Turn This Into a Whole Big Production.

## Awards and nominations

In 2005, Cahn won the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Episodic Drama for the fifth-season episode "The Supremes".
In 2006 and 2007, Cahn was part of the writing staff for two television series nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Dramatic Series; The West Wing in 2006 and Grey's Anatomy in 2007.
In 2020, Cahn won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Long Form Television for Fosse/Verdon.

## Personal life

In 2006, Cahn married Michael Heller.

## Episodes written

* The Diplomat
** Four episodes of season 1 (also showrunner)
* Homeland
** "Two Minutes"
** "Deception Indicated"
** "Useful Idiot"
** "Active Measures"
** "Enemy of the State"
* Fosse/Verdon
** "Me and My Baby"
* Vinyl
** "Rock and Roll Queen"
** "The Racket"
** "Whispered Secrets"
* The West Wing
** "College Kids" (story, with Mark Goffman)
** "Red Haven's on Fire" (story, with Mark Goffman)
** "Privateers" (teleplay and story, with Paul Redford and Aaron Sorkin)
** "Jefferson Lives" (story, with Carol Flint)
** "Abu el Banat"
** "The Supremes"
** "No Exit" (teleplay, with Carol Flint)
** "Liftoff"
** "Impact Winter"
** "Drought Conditions"
** "The Ticket"
** "Undecideds"
** "The Cold" (teleplay and story, with Lauren Schmidt)
** "Requiem" (with John Wells and Eli Attie)
** "Institutional Memory"
* Grey's Anatomy
** "Sometimes a Fantasy"
** "Scars and Souvenirs"
** "Love/Addiction"
** "Losing My Mind"
** "Brave New World"
** "Wish You Were Here"
** "Now or Never"
** "Blink"
** "Push"
** "Not Responsible"
** "Unaccompanied Minor"
** "She's Gone"
** "Dark Was the Night"
** "Run, Baby, Run"
** "She's Killing Me"
** "I Want You With Me"
** "Somebody That I Used To Know"
* Private Practice
** "To Change the Things I Can"
** "Ex-Life" (with Jon Cowan, Robert Rovner and Krista Vernoff)
** "The End of a Beautiful Friendship