Biography
Martin Aguilera is an award-winning screenwriter and recipient of the 2024 PEN America Fellowship whose bold, transgressive voice has marked him as one of the most compelling emerging artists in contemporary horror.
He wrote the penultimate episode of "The Craving" for Netflix, created by Adam Robitel and Gavin Heffernan and executive produced by Darren Aronofsky. A significant contributor throughout the season, he also served as showrunner’s assistant, acting as liaison between the creators, network executives, and key collaborators. Though the series remains unproduced, his work on it highlighted the distinctive storytelling that earned him a place on The Next List as one of the industry’s most exciting emerging talents.
His original horror screenplay "Erebus" won the 2021 Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition and was an Official Selection of The Tracking Board. His pilot "Miseducated" was a Top 3 winner at the Slamdance Film Festival Teleplay Competition, where he also had the distinction of placing two spec TV pilots among the 40 finalists. Earlier, his screenplay "The Image Consultant" was accepted into the National Association of Latino Independent Producers Writer’s Lab--where he was the youngest writer selected that year--and later became a finalist for the Outfest Screenwriters Lab. He is a distinguished fellow of Film Independent’s Project Involve, where he was mentored by Rebecca Sonnenshine and participated in workshops with filmmakers including Guillermo del Toro, Paul Haggis, Marc Forster, James Mangold, Curtis Hanson, Billy Ray, Doug Atchison, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.
As a story consultant, Aguilera has provided creative insight on projects produced by GK Films, Blumhouse Productions, Sony Pictures, and Paramount Pictures--films that have collectively grossed more than $460 million worldwide. He has also been commissioned to write for a variety of independent film and television producers.
Aguilera’s creative career began at fifteen, when his play "The Derelicts" was produced by the Fourth Wall Players, earning him an Outstanding Achievement Award at the 1998 Young Texas Playwrights Competition. He later worked as a bookseller for Barnes & Noble before transitioning into television at Azteca América, where he served as executive assistant to Emmy-winning producer Flor Siqueiros and associate producer on two original series pilots that aired internationally in 2008.
Beginning in 2017, he contributed essays and features to "Famous Monsters of Filmland," and his work also appears in "The Brokeback Book" (University of Nebraska Press).
Influenced by Wes Craven, Luca Guadagnino, Stephen King, Anne Rice, Clive Barker, and Bret Easton Ellis, Aguilera’s writing is known for its visceral psychology and fearless execution. As of 2026, he is in development on his debut feature film "Rough Beast."
