This Pitt alum’s Hollywood dreams came true

In Hollywood, success is built upon relationships.

So, it's not surprising that, in an interview with his alma mater, film producer Adam Fasullo pays homage to the relationship that started it all: He wears a Pitt baseball cap.

"And did you see this?" he asked, grinning and pointing to a miniature Pitt football helmet sitting on a bookshelf behind him. "I still watch Pitt football every single Saturday."

Today, Fasullo (BUS '11) is the president of Anomaly Pictures, a company he co-founded with Michael Waldron (who created, wrote and produced the Marvel Studios series "Loki"). Anomaly's inaugural project, the comedy series "Chad Powers," was just renewed for a second season on Hulu. Based on former NFL quarterback Eli Manning's viral prank, the series stars Glen Powell as a disgraced college football player who attempts to revive his career at another school by trying out in disguise. Powell earned a Golden Globe nomination for his duplicitous portrayal.

Fasullo admits the premise is a bit absurd, as is putting one of Hollywood's most recognizable stars in prosthetics for much of the series, and the initial reviews reflected the gamble. But it ended up paying off.

"People started watching the show, and the tide started to turn in our favor, which is exactly what we predicted would happen," Fasullo said. "They realized we took an insane premise and made something interesting out of it."

Fasullo grew up outside Philadelphia with a love of movies and competition - a combination that would end up serving him well in Hollywood (and keep him invested in Pitt sports). But he hadn't yet realized that dream when he arrived at the University in 2007.

"I basically polled all my friends. I was like, 'What are you doing?' They're like, 'business.' So I said, 'Okay, I'll do business.'"

It wasn't until Fasullo met Carl Kurlander that he understood how he could use his marketing major to break into the film industry.

Kurlander was a Hollywood screenwriter best known for "St. Elmo's Fire" when he traded California for Pennsylvania, taking a teaching job in Pitt's film and media studies program. For more than two decades now, he's been helping his students find a foothold in the film industry, including offering Fasullo the opportunity to promote "The Shot Felt Round the World," Kurlander's documentary about the polio vaccine.

"It was then I realized, if I meet one person, that person will certainly know at least one more person who they can introduce me to," Fasullo said. "And that kind of chain reaction of interactions might get me to a meeting or a conversation that will give me the opportunity to get my foot in the door in a meaningful way."

And so it went. The promotion gig led to an internship with a Pittsburgh-based casting agency which gave him the confidence to send his resume - carefully crafted with the help of a business fraternity workshop - to "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson." He spent the summer following his junior year working in L.A., and the sarcastic Scot took such a liking to Fasullo that he put in a good word for him at William Morris Endeavor, one of Hollywood's premier talent agencies.

Fasullo was just completing an accounting internship he claims he was "woefully underqualified for," and lamenting his impending graduation when he learned he got the job. He soon moved west with fellow Pitt grad Kyle Loftus, and together they took the well-worn path from agency mailroom to industry success story.

"All information flows through talent agencies," Fasullo said. "Regardless of what you think you want to do, it's the best place to start, because not only will you meet people who you'll be friends with for the rest of your life, but you'll also start to get a sense of what you want to do and what you don't want to do."

Fasullo, after realizing he certainly did not want to become an agent, made fruitful stops at HBO and Paramount, working on the hit series "Jack Ryan" and "The Haunting of Hill House," before co-founding Anomaly. Loftus, meanwhile, climbed the agency ladder and is now the president of Independent Artist Group (IAG).

Despite his packed schedule, which includes prepping for the second season of "Chad Powers," which begins filming in January, and pitching new projects to partners at Hulu, FX and Disney+, Fasullo carves out time to help Hollywood hopefuls forge the relationships that could propel them to their own Tinsel Town triumph.

Last year, after meeting Pitt student and Hollywood hopeful Aden McGlynn (A&S '25), during Kurlander's Pitt in L.A. summer program, Fasullo helped him get an internship with Loftus at IAG.

"I want to be that Pitt alum who helps start that pipeline from Pitt to Los Angeles," Fasullo said.

It's a sentiment Kurlander loves to hear and one he knows bears fruit - more than three dozen of his former Pitt students are now working in Hollywood thanks to help from alumni like Fasullo.

"It's a cutthroat industry, but these kids keep paying it forward," Kurlander said. "It's Pitt students helping Pitt students; it's like a real-life 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.'"