During this period, Valenti appeared in several LA stage productions, and took roles on sitcoms and soap operas, including NBC's The Facts of Life.

During his three-year tenure, Hughes produced ten films, including Home Alone, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Uncle Buck.

This was followed by a flurry of screenplay spec sales to DreamWorks (Planet Fred), Nickelodeon Movies (Bob the House), ABC Family (Like Father, Like Santa), and Hallmark (The Christmas Pageant).

In 1999, Valenti was recruited as story editor at Nickelodeon Studios, working with the writing staff of shows like Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, CatDog, The Angry Beavers, and Rocket Power.

In 2000, Valenti was awarded a platinum record for writing the spoken-word portion of Mannheim Steamroller's The Christmas Angel, signifying over one million units sold.

In 2022, Valenti was nominated for an Emmy award for STEM Explorers, a PBS show aimed at bringing science concepts to young viewers.

Valenti also engineered an AMA on Reddit, featuring Karl - with the help of his wife Steinunn Olina - which led to a live YouTube event that December.