Joe Piarulli knows a thing or two about what makes a good story.

The 2009 College of Arts & Letters graduate has worked on many TV shows throughout his career, such as Girls, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Tick, F is for Family, and Obliterated.

But it might be his own story that’s scripted best — a tale of passion, pursuit, and persistence.

Over the past 14 years, Piarulli has worked his way up in the entertainment industry. Now, he’s an Emmy-nominated executive producer, writer, and director for Netflix’s hit Cobra Kai, the legacy sequel to The Karate Kid.

“I'm an Italian kid from New Jersey, so Cobra Kai is as close as you could get to writing your dream job,” he said.

Piarulli never thought he’d be writing for TV shows watched around the world, but he’s now telling the types of stories he loved growing up and will continue that work in a new upcoming movie project.

“It’s a high-energy, unpredictable life,” he said. “But it’s one of the best jobs in the world.”

From passion to tangible fruition

Piarulli always loved storytelling. As a child, he was constantly writing stories and watching movies or TV shows.

“My mom would take me to Blockbuster like every week, renting four or five movies. So by the time I was 14 or 15, I’d seen everything in the store,” he said.

At the University of Notre Dame, his interests led him to the student newspaper, The Observer, and he initially envisioned a career in journalism.

"Notre Dame did help me with getting a couple of internships, and that got me in the right starting spot out in LA."

“In journalism, you want to understand someone's point of view,” Piarulli said. “The more you can understand them, the better overall picture you’ll paint, and I think that’s true of TV also.”

Through the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT), Piarulli developed a deeper appreciation for and knowledge of film, taking courses in film history, theory, and production. Faculty such as associate teaching professor Ted Mandell provided Piarulli with critical hands-on experience that prepares students for the real world of production.

“I remember going out with our equipment in the freezing snow and shooting shorts and learning how the camera works, learning how to be on a set,” Piarulli said. “It is all extremely valuable knowledge now that I spend months a year on set.”

After graduating with majors in FTT and Italian, Piarulli decided to give Los Angeles and the entertainment business a chance, with assistance from Christine Becker, an associate professor of television who also serves as FTT’s internship coordinator.

“Notre Dame did help me with getting a couple of internships, and that got me in the right starting spot out in LA,” Piarulli said.

Piarulli’s first roles involved reading and analyzing scripts for talent agencies. He worked as an assistant to a television agent at Creative Artists Agency, where he is coincidentally now represented as a writer. Even these early experiences provided a glimpse of what a career in TV could become — when he would soon be the one working on such scripts.

“The phone never stops ringing all day, but you are getting to work with clients and you're seeing celebrities in the elevator,” he said. “That's when I kind of felt like I was really in LA, doing something.”

Putting the pieces together

One of Piarulli’s first major breakthroughs was working as an assistant to Jenni Konnor, the co-showrunner and writer for HBO’s Girls. In this role, he experienced firsthand what working on a set was like.

“We're filming in the neighborhoods where people love the show, and that was just the best,” he said. “That was really the crash course to see what it was like to be a working writer, producer, and showrunner.”

About a year later, Piarulli received a call from renowned screenwriter Dan Fogelman — known for his work on Cars, Tangled, Crazy, Stupid, Love, and the popular television show This is Us. Fogelman read one of Piarulli’s scripts and wanted to hire him and co-writer Luan Thomas as staff writers for the ABC musical comedy Galavant. There, Piarulli found himself surrounded by screenwriting industry idols.

“I was learning from people that had really been doing it in the golden age of sitcoms,” Piarulli said.

One of the key things Piarulli learned was the art of piecing a show together.

“When we get into the writer's room, it is like looking at a giant puzzle,” Piarulli said. “You have to figure out the main plot points that you need in the season, the main character arcs, then you're playing a game where you're zooming in and out of this puzzle and you're putting together little sections of it.”

Writing a season of a show can take between three-to-five months, Piarulli said, but once that’s finished, the job is far from over. Writers often incorporate notes from the showrunners and studio, and even work on set with the directors and actors.

“Somebody's gotta tell them what color you want the props to be, what kind of phone a character has, and how messed up their hair should be after a karate fight,” Piarulli said. “Everybody on a TV shoot needs those answers, and the writers and producers are the ones that have them.”

In addition to writing and producing, Piarulli was recently able to direct for the first time — one of Cobra Kai’s final episodes, which will premiere on Feb. 13.

“Directing was a goal that I've had for a long time,” he said. “And it was one of the coolest experiences you could hope for.”

Versatility and valuable experience

As Cobra Kai’s chapter comes to a close, Piarulli is energized by new projects and possibilities, including several developing projects with Sony Television, as well as a franchise movie with Sony Pictures Entertainment, details of which are still under wraps.

For Piarulli, studying FTT and Italian at Notre Dame was the perfect place to explore his creative potential.

“You had encouragement to write and tell stories and go out and make things, and you're in an environment with a lot of people that want to do that,” he said.

With the versatility that TV writing and producing demands, the breadth of a liberal arts education offered Piarulli the skills, connections, and confidence needed to pursue a challenging, but incredibly rewarding, career.

“Notre Dame made me feel like I could take a shot at a very, very competitive field,” he said.
“And have a chance to make it.”

Originally published by Hailey Oppenlander at al.nd.edu on January 31, 2025.