Galletta's first screenplay, Toy's House, was written as the thesis of his degree at Columbia University. In 2009, the script made the Black List, a survey of the best unproduced film screenplays, and was purchased by Big Beach Films the same week that the list was published, before Galletta had graduated from Columbia. The film was directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and renamed The Kings of Summer. It premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews. Elements of the screenplay are based on Galetta's experiences as a youth living on Staten Island, but the producers of the film changed the location to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a move that Galetta endorsed for giving the story "an 'any town' type of feel."