---
name: "Lucia Aniello"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lucia-aniello"
fi1m_id: "lucia-aniello"
imdb_id: "nm3622659"
tmdb_id: 1480620
wikidata_id: "Q27988184"
roles: ["Director","Writer","Producer"]
born: "1 January 1983"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 83
average_as: "director"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-10-05T04:32:11.687726+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Lucia Aniello

## Identity

Lucia Aniello

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/lucia-aniello
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** lucia-aniello
- **IMDb ID:** nm3622659
- **TMDB ID:** 1480620
- **Wikidata ID:** Q27988184
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_Aniello, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27988184, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3622659/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1480620

Director and writer. Born 1 January 1983 in Italy.

## Details

- **Work:** Director, Writer, Producer
- **Born:** 1 January 1983, Italy
- **Active:** 2014–present
- **Also known as:** 루시아 애니엘로
- **Frequently works with:** [Paul W. Downs](https://film.one/person/paul-w-downs.md), [Ariel Karlin](https://film.one/person/ariel-karlin.md), [Ilana Glazer](https://film.one/person/ilana-glazer.md), [Jen Statsky](https://film.one/person/jen-statsky.md), [Joanna Calo](https://film.one/person/joanna-calo.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 83, as director, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 80 (1), 2020s 84 (2)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 83 to 80 across 3 titles
- **Score spread:** 3 at 80+, 0 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Comedy 2, Kids 1
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_Aniello, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27988184, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3622659/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1480620

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*The Baby-Sitters Club*](https://film.one/tv/the-baby-sitters-club.md) (85)
- **HBO Max:** [*Hacks*](https://film.one/tv/hacks.md) (83)
- **Apple TV:** [*Broad City*](https://film.one/tv/broad-city.md) (80)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Lucia Aniello

> Lucia Aniello finds good comedy in people who make working together unnecessarily difficult. We rate her feeling for performers, though *Hacks* also shows how readily a lively disagreement can become a predictable complaint about another generation.

In *Hacks* (2021), two women make a difficult job harder for each other. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are excellent together, particularly when a discussion about work becomes personal. We laughed at those exchanges because the irritation is recognisable, even when the women are being unreasonable. Aniello is good at this: letting a professional disagreement expose the feelings of the people having it, while keeping it funny enough that we want to spend more time with them.

Aniello began with digital shorts and improv sketches alongside Paul W. Downs in 2007. She went on to direct and write for *Broad City* (2014), then co-created, directed and wrote the miniseries *Time Traveling Bong* (2016). *Rough Night* (2017), which she directed and co-wrote, was her first feature. Her work has been concentrated in television, and we see no reason to wish she had hurried away from it.

She co-created *Hacks* with Downs and Jen Statsky, taking on writing, directing and showrunning duties. Aniello has explained that being in the writing room lets her understand why a scene is needed and the characters’ points of view. We can see the value of that approach in a programme so dependent on conversations going wrong. The shared credit matters, too: Smart and Einbinder contribute much of what makes the difficult partnership worth our attention.

The caveat is in the scripts. When they lean too hard on the women’s ages, the exchanges grow predictable, and Ava is sometimes reduced to an example of what is wrong with younger people. Einbinder gives her more life than that, but having an excellent performer is no excuse for handing her an obvious objection. We would like Aniello and her fellow writers to trust these particular women more and the generational shorthand less. Start with *Hacks* for the pleasure of watching Smart and Einbinder make a difficult partnership funny.

## Biography

Lucia Aniello is an Italian-born American director, writer and producer. She graduated from Columbia University in 2004 with a degree in film and media studies.

She is best known for co-creating, writing and directing episodes of the series *Hacks* (2021–2026), for which she has won multiple Primetime Emmy Awards. She has also directed and written for *Broad City* (2014–2019) and directed the feature film *Rough Night* (2017), which she co-wrote with Paul W. Downs. Other credits include directing episodes of *The Baby-Sitters Club* (2020) and *Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens* (2020).

Aniello is married to comedian and collaborator Paul W. Downs.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, televisionacademy.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Hacks* (2021), Fi1m 83, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/hacks.md)
- *The Baby-Sitters Club* (2020), Fi1m 85, Executive Producer, Director, Writer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-baby-sitters-club.md)
- *Broad City* (2014), Fi1m 80, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/broad-city.md)

## Complete filmography (13)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Studio* (2025), series, as Lucia Aniello — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-studio.md)
- *Fuzzy Feelings* (2023), Director
- *Hacks* (2021), series, as Meredith · Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Creator — Fi1m 83, [page](https://film.one/tv/hacks.md)
- *The Baby-Sitters Club* (2020), series, Executive Producer, Director, Writer — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-baby-sitters-club.md)
- *Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens* (2020), series, Executive Producer, Director
- *The Other Two* (2019), series, Consulting Producer, Writer
- *Why You've Never Met the 4th Haim Sister* (2017), Director
- *Rough Night* (2017), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Time Traveling Bong* (2016), series, Executive Producer, Director, Writer
- *The Last Man on Earth* (2015), series, Director
- *Barely Legal Pawn* (2014), Director, Writer
- *Broad City* (2014), series, as Donna Donatachi · Director, Writer — Fi1m 80, [page](https://film.one/tv/broad-city.md)
- *Untitled Kevin Hart/Malcolm D. Lee Action-Comedy*, Screenplay, Executive Producer

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lucia-aniello