Quarterfinalist, 2026 Roadmap Writers' Shorts Competition
BIO
Leon Masters is queer man whose writing fuses the othering of supernatural creatures and real-world horrors to explore issues facing transgender and other marginalized folks. Raised in the proudly weird, small central coast hippie-town and former Murder Capital of the World, Santa Cruz, California, he developed an off-beat sense of humor when it comes to tackling serious issues, and is heavily influenced by his background where cults, ghost-hunts and séances felt like the norm. He writes crime thriller, supernatural horror, and science fiction features, teleplays, and shorts. He and his co-writer won in the Roadmap Writers Podcasting Competition for their LGBT+ supernatural crime drama. Leon was also a Roadmap Writers Diversity Fellowship Runner-Up. He has won at Script Summit multiple years, won the Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices Screenplay Competition, and was a short screenplay finalist with Hollyshorts. Leon has an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA. Currently, Leon works as freelance screenwriter, a professional coverage writer, and a fine arts substitute teacher. He is a member of the Pre-Rainbow Pages where he works to help build community with and uplift fellow queer writers. In his free time, Leon enjoys practicing banjo, pole-dancing, and participating in seemingly successful seances and unsuccessful ghost-hunts with his black cat in tow.