Lucia Aniello

Aniello also met Ilana Glazer of Broad City through the same Upright Citizens Brigade class where she met Downs. Aniello and Glazer were dressed nearly identically at the time of their first meeting, which they now think was a sign for their future work together. As Aniello and Downs began to make digital shorts and build the foundations of Paulilu, Glazer and Abbi Jacobson worked on the prototype of Broad City. The two comedic duos supported each other's work, occasionally acting in each other's shorts or directing them.[3]

When Broad City moved to television Glazer and Jacobson asked Aniello to direct the pilot and cast Downs as Trey, the trainer and boss of Jacobson's character on the show. After the pilot did well and the show was picked up by Comedy Central, they asked both Aniello and Downs to join the group of writers for the show.[8] While collectively, the group was relatively inexperienced and self-taught, they shared a passion for a feminist perspective on comedy and attribute their success to their collective vision. Broad City is widely known for its social commentary. The show is groundbreaking in how it breaks gender roles, positively portrays female sexuality and polyamory in hookup culture.[8]

Aniello also co-created Time Traveling Bong. Her interest in the subject began in college when she wrote a thesis on time-travel movies at Columbia University. The movie is a stoner film comedy about two cousins who acquire a bong that acts as a time traveling device. While the comedy is rather goofy, there is also a lot of underlying social commentary about how tough it was to be a minority throughout American history.[9]

Aniello directed and, with Downs, co-wrote the comedy Rough Night, which was released in June 2017. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Demi Moore, Ty Burrell and Colton Haynes.[10] During the time of the film's release, Aniello was the first woman to direct an R-rated comedy in nearly 20 years.[11]

In 2020, she directed and executive produced the Comedy Central series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens as well as Netflix's Baby-Sitters Club.

Aniello is showrunning and directing the HBO Max show Hacks, starring Jean Smart. The first season of Hacks garnered 15 Emmy nominations and 3 wins, including “Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series,” “Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series,” and Jean Smart won “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.”[12][13] The series won two Writers Guild of America Awards in the categories of “Comedy Series” and “New Series,”[14] and Aniello won a Directors Guild of America Award in the category of “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series.”[15] The series also took home two Golden Globe Awards for “Best Musical or Comedy TV Series” and “Best Television Actress in a Musical or Comedy”.[16] Hacks was honored as one of the “Outstanding Television Programs of the Year” at the American Film Institute Awards[17] and won a 2022 Peabody Award.[18] Season 1 of Hacks also received various award nominations at the Screen Actors Guild Awards,[19] Critics Choice Awards,[20] Producers Guild of America Awards,[21] and the Gotham Awards,[22] among others.

In its second season, Hacks received 17 Emmy nominations and 3 wins, including “Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series,” “Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series” and “Outstanding Contemporary Costumes.” [23] The series won a Writers Guild of America Award in the "Episodic Comedy" category,[24] and was honored as one of the “Outstanding Television Programs of the Year” at the American Film Institute Awards for its second consecutive year.[25] Jean Smart also won a Critics Choice Award for “Best Actress in a Comedy Series” for her second consecutive year. [26]The series was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards,[27] two Writers Guild of America Awards,[28] two Screen Actors Guild Awards,[29] and a Producers Guild of America Award,[30] among numerous others.

More recently, Aniello and Paul W. Downs signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television.[31]