Roy Johansen began his professional writing career with his original screenplay for "Murder 101," written in college and for which he won the national FOCUS (Films of College and University Students) award, a competition sponsored by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Martin Scorsese. The screenplay was later produced for cable television and starred Pierce Brosnan. The "Murder 101" script was awarded the Edgar Allen Poe award from the Mystery Writers of America in the Best Television Miniseries or Movie category.

Later, Johansen collaborated with comic book legend Stan Lee in creating The Accuser superhero character, which appeared in a series of animated adventures from Stan Lee Media. Johansen has written screenplays for Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Disney, and MGM.