Adam Fasullo (BSBA ’11) is a man who wears many hats. He is a jack of all trades at his company Anomaly Pictures. He is also a voracious reader and media consumer. Leading the Chad Powers charge with best friend and business partner Michael Waldron and actor Glen Powell, Fasullo is also a Pitt Business alumnus.
Can you tell us about your current role and your company?
I’m president, co-founder, producer, and executive producer of a company called Anomaly Pictures, which I started about three years ago with my partner Michael Waldron, who is a writer and director.
Day-to-day, I’m meeting with filmmakers and writers, reading books and articles, finding ideas that Michael and I can develop and sell. We’re a full-service company — we’re there from the original idea all the way through to when something is released.
It’s a job that touches every single facet of the entertainment industry. Incredibly creative and incredibly business-oriented at the same time.
What’s been your proudest career accomplishment so far?
I’m so proud of Chad Powers. It’s a very stupid show, and I love it. It was the first thing I got to make with my best friend, and we built this show with Glen Powell at exactly the right moment. If we’d been a couple of days early or late, it wouldn’t have worked. Everything in this business is telling you no, and this was one we just believed in.
But honestly, the best answer is that I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve always done the thing that scared me most. I’ve never been timid about a career decision. The advice I give to everyone is: always bet on yourself. It doesn’t mean you’ll always get the outcome you want, but you will always learn something about what kind of life and career you want to have. Do the thing that scares you most.
What’s your favorite memory from your time at Pitt?
My favorite memory happened within my first few months at school, in 2007. It was the Pitt vs. West Virginia game, the Backyard Brawl. West Virginia was the second-best team in the country; Pitt had no business winning, but we won. I remember feeling a level of jubilation I didn’t know I was capable of. That moment really cemented my love of Pitt football and of competition in general.
Another great memory is that I worked for the basketball team during the season when they were ranked number one in the country. The time of DeJuan Blair, Levance Fields, Coach Jamie Dixon. I really came alive that year. I thought, “how lucky am I to be here for this?”
That instilled something in me — a real obsession with brand and the association between a logo and success and prestige. That’s honestly why I went to work at the biggest talent agency in Hollywood, then HBO, then Paramount. I became obsessed with how you associate yourself with a great brand.
And I think what I’ve always loved about Pitt is that there’s a real underdog mentality. We’re never going to get the best recruits, but we’re going to work harder than everyone else. That gave me a chip on my shoulder competing against my peers with deep alumni and industry connections, and it made me a real advocate for our school.
Is there anything you learned in the program that still impacts you today?
I learned how to network. That’s a heavy part of what I do now. And I learned how to put together a resume, which I still help other people with. Pitt Business gave me structure, it challenged me, and it helped me narrow my interests.
What’s the best thing you’ve read lately? And the best thing you’ve watched?
The best thing I’ve read lately is a debut novel called Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash. It’s about a family, and things get weird. I’ll leave it at that. It was optioned by Ari Aster, director of Hereditary, so that tells you something.
For TV, I need to talk about The Pitt. The best shows generate empathy, and that’s very hard to do in today’s landscape. It’s ultimately a show about being kind in a world that has really lost its ability to be kind, and I deeply respect that.
For film, The Drama with Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. It’s about an engaged couple navigating a revelation that comes out at a dinner party, and it is so brave in what it’s trying to say and how it says it. Everyone I know is talking about it. Those are the kinds of movies and TV shows I want to be involved in, things that make people want to have an opinion.