Brian J. Leitten

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Brian J. Leitten is an award-winning writer, producer and director, with a solid 401k and a moderate case of middle-child syndrome. His pilot script, RED STATE, won ISA’s Thriller Screenplay Competition and was chosen for The Grey List 2026.

Brian spent a significant portion of his career at MTV and Vevo, working in programming, production and development. He’s interviewed hundreds of artists and worked on a variety of shows from the VMAs to “Wonder Showzen” to “Ultimate Mashups with Jay-Z and Linkin Park.” He produced and wrote on four seasons of the documentary series MADE, winning an Emmy in 2011. In 2013 he directed two short docs with Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails chronicling their global TENSION tour.

Brian was an adjunct professor of media production and co-created the Production Master Class in the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Through his production company, Hyperion XIII, he’s produced and directed multiple award-winning documentaries and partnered on productions with Netflix, Amazon, NBC, Morgan Stanley and Spotify. Brian was recently selected for the “What If…” writers' workshop led by Ronald D. Moore at Ken Kesey’s farm.

In 2026, Brian executive produced New Heights: Live in LA and for the last three years he’s written and executive produced the official Rose Parade Broadcast. When he’s not producing, Brian is focused on crafting stories about alternate history, found family, and anything in the science fiction realm.

Honors & Awards

Grand Prize Winner, ISA Thriller Screenplay Competition - RED STATE - 2025

What If... Writers' Workshop (led by Ronald D. Moore) - 2025

Official Selection, The Grey List - RED STATE - 2026

RED STATE

Alternative History - For All Mankind, Paradise

During the height of the Cold War, a desperate Air Force pilot risks his life to escape America’s ‘most patriotic town’ – a Potemkin village hidden deep behind the Iron Curtain, designed to transform Russian soldiers into American sleeper agents.

OFFSPRING

Comedy - Platonic meets The Sex Lives of College Girls

Barrett, an only child with two mothers, starts his first day at college hoping to find a missing piece of himself. Defying his parents and upending the lives of his new found half-sister Alyssa and roommate Trey, Barrett searches for the man whose sperm donation gave him life.

AWAKENING

Sci-Fi - Altered Carbon meets The Village

In a dystopian future, technology can preserve the human consciousness. Mackenzie, a distraught security officer, is stuck between two feudal warring factions. When a mysterious man awakens with no memories of his past, Mackenzie uses the man to save her daughter from a society of sycophants.