He rewrote the prequel to Director John Carpenter's 1982 remake The Thing. In April 2010, Heisserer signed on to write Final Destination 5, the fifth film of the horror film franchise.
Heisserer's professional screenwriting career was launched with the sale of The Dionaea House to Warner Bros. in 2005, based on an online epistolary story of the same name that he wrote in October 2004. He then developed an original television pilot for Paramount Pictures and CBS, and wrote feature projects for Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Warner Bros.. In 2007, he sold a pitch to Regency Enterprises and Fox called Inhuman, a supernatural thriller set in Tokyo that combines live action and anime sequences.
In December 2008, Heisserer was hired to re-envision and rewrite the script for the franchise reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street, produced by Platinum Dunes. An early draft had been written by Wesley Strick. The script went on to land Director Samuel Bayer, actor Jackie Earle Haley, and began filming in May 2009.
In July 2013 Heisserer was set to write the script for the then upcoming thriller book Bird Box by Josh Malerman. Universal Pictures acquired the rights in February 2013 and now set the script for Andy Muschietti to direct the film. In July 2017, the film was picked up by Netflix with Sandra Bullock starring and Susanne Bier as Director. Heisserer co-wrote The Conjuring 2 along with the brothers Chad Hayes and Carey Hayes. Heisserer wrote along with Artist Felipe Massafera and Colorist Wes Dzioba, the comic book series Shaper.
Heisserer wrote the 2016 film Arrival based on Ted Chiang's short story "The Story of Your Life". Heisserer has said that he was attracted to the challenge of adapting the non-linear story by its emotional content. After the release of the film, he was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 89th Academy Awards.
On 27 September 2017, there was an announcement that Heisserer would write the script for the live-action adaptation of the sci-fi romance anime Your Name.
