 In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles to study screenwriting at the AFI Conservatory, from which he graduated in 1996.During his time at the AFI, he wrote his first feature film script, "Till Human Voices Wake Us" which he subsequently directed as a feature film starring Guy Pearce and Helena Bonham Carter, winning several awards for the script.Since his debut, Petroni has also co-written "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002), "Queen of the Damned" (2002) and "Possession" (2009), an English language adaptation of the Korean film "Addicted".