Joseph Pichirallo

Joe Pichirallo is an Arts Professor, veteran studio executive, producer and a former Washington Post reporter. He came to Tisch in the fall of 2011 and served a six year term as chair of the undergraduate film and TV department. As a faculty member, he focuses on teaching producing courses. He also serves as the Tisch adviser to students in the Tisch/Stern Business School dual degree program. The dual degree program enables a select group of undergraduates students from both schools to complete the coursework required for both B.F.A and a B.S. degrees from Tisch and Stern respectively.

In addition, Pichirallo works closely with the university’s Office of Global Programs and helps support and develop film, TV and visual storytelling programs and courses at the university study away sites.

Pichirallo continues to produce film and TV projects. During his time at Tisch, he executive produced “Madoff,” an ABC-TV miniseries starring Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner, and the Lifetime original movie, “The Grim Sleeper,” a thriller about an L.A. serial killer on the loose for more than 20 years.

Pichirallo began his film career as a creative executive with HBO Pictures. He was one of the original executives hired by Fox to set up Searchlight Pictures, where he worked for nearly eight years and rose to be a senior vice president. He later was an executive vice president at Universal's Focus Features. He also served as head of the feature film unit for Overbrook Entertainment, the actor Will Smith's production company. At Overbrook, he produced "The Secret Life of Bees" with Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Dakota Fanning and Jennifer Hudson, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and executive produced "Lakeview Terrace," directed by Neil LaBute and starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington. While at Focus Features, he executive produced "Hollywoodland," starring Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck and Diane Lane, and "Something New," with Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker and Alfre Woodard.

At Searchlight his films included "Antwone Fisher," the directorial debut of Denzel Washington, "One Hour Photo," starring Robin Williams and directed by Mark Romanek, "The Banger Sisters," with Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon, "Quills," which was nominated for three Academy Awards, starring Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Philip Kaufman, "The Slums of Beverly Hills," with Alan Arkin, Marisa Tomei, Natasha Lyonne and directed by Tamara Jenkins, "Girl Six," directed by Spike Lee and "The Brothers McMullen," a Grand Jury prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival.

Pichirallo previously taught as an adjunct faculty member at the American Film Institute (AFI), Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts and UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television.

As a reporter for The Washington Post, he covered national security, the criminal justice system and politics. He made the transition into the film business by spending a year as a screenwriting fellow in AFI's graduate film program. He has an A.B. in Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, "The Daily Californian." He later served as chair of the board that oversees “The Daily Californian.”