After receiving his MFA in Film Production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television, Josh became a staff writer for John Landis' Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: the TV Show.  He later wrote several episodes of Disney's So Weird and Dic Entertainment’s Sabrina: the Animated Series.  He also helped develop and write the pilot episodes of the popular Nick animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender.  

Josh has developed pilots for WB, Fox, NBC, Universal, the CW, Alloy Entertainment, CBS Studio, Syfy and Dreamworks Television. 

Josh's first feature spec, Bad Nougat, sold to the Bubble Factory shortly after graduating from USC.  His next spec, the romantic comedy Closers, which he co-wrote with screenwriting legend Monica Johnson (Mother, Lost in America), sold to Dimension in a pre-emptive million dollar sale.  Josh sold his next script, Joe Simon: Mankind’s Last Hope, to Comedy Central.  Next, Josh took on two rewriting assignments: the first for Disney, and the second for mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Next, Josh took a detour off the road of good taste and commercial movie-making to co-write the cult-inspired script, The Last Rites of Steve Guttenberg (which is currently in production as a audio podcast, with Josh directing, and will be released later this year).  Josh's next spec, entitled Good Luck Chuck, was purchased and produced by Lionsgate and stars Dane Cook, Jessica Alba and Dan Fogler.

After a seven studio bidding war, Josh’s next spec, The Passion of the Ark, sold to Sony in a multi-million dollar deal. The script, which he co-wrote with screenwriter Bobby Florsheim, was eventually developed into the sequel to Bruce Almighty (Evan Almighty) which starred Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman. After that, Josh and Bobby wrote a comedy for Fox, which has The Girl Next Door/Let's Be Cops director Luke Greenfield attached to helm.

Josh’s writing slate expanded to include several new high profile projects. Extra, Extra, which he and Florsheim wrote for Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg, is an ambitious, special-effects romantic comedy set in 1939 Hollywood.  The other film, Man-Witch, being produced by Original Films, is a special effects tent-pole comedy about a man who learns he has witch-like powers and is sent off to the witch training academy with a horde of pre-pubescent little girls to learn to control his craft.  The film will also be produced by Todd Phillips (Old School, The Hangover).  

Josh co-penned the book adaptation of Lisa Lutz’ amazing novel The Spellman Files for Laura Ziskin and Paramount Pictures.  The book, which follows a family of private investigators, is close to Josh’s heart because his father (Pete Stolberg) was a P.I. himself.  The script landed on the coveted black list.  

Next, Josh co-wrote (with Pete Goldfinger) a new update of the camp horror classic Piranha which was helmed by horror film master Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes) and which was produced by Dimension.  The film, shot in 3D, opened theatrically in August, 2010 to impressive reviews.  It stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ving Rhames, Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Adam Scott, and Jerry O'Connell.  Josh also received a co-producer credit on the sequel, Piranha 3DD.

Josh and Pete’s spec script for a new update of the horror film The House on Sorority Row was bought by Summit Entertainment and released as Sorority Row.  It stars Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis, Jamie Chung, and Carrie Fisher. 

In recent years, Josh has written scripts for the updated remake of To Catch a Thief at Paramount (soon to be shot with actress Gal Gadot), an adaptation of the amazing Helen DeWitt book "The Last Samurai" (his script, called "Genius" landed on the The Hit List), and a family film for Hasbro Entertainment titled: The Toy Factory.  He recently helped with rewriting duties on another script that teams him back with producer Mike Karz and star Jessica Alba, currently being produced at Netflix for a 2023 release.

2017 was a busy year for Stolberg, having co-written Jigsaw, the 8th film in one of the most popular horror franchises of all time, Saw! The film has topped over 100 million dollars world-wide. He also is working on two television projects with horror writing and directing icon, Clive Barker, one based on his world-famous Weaveworld novel, and another for a television series based on one of Clive’s other creations, Nightbreed.

Last year, Josh sold and wrote one of his dream projects about Prince. The film is being produced at Paramount with Elizabeth Banks as Executive Producer and star.

Josh wrote the NEWEST installment of the Saw franchise with writing partner Pete Goldfinger. The film is the ninth film in the storied franchise, and stars Chris Rock, Samuel L Jackson, Marisol Nichols and Max Minghella. The film opened in May of 2021, one of the first films released in theaters after the Covid pandemic. He has ALSO been contracted to pen the NEXT film in the Saw world, tentatively titled Saw X.

Josh got his first taste of film directing at USC, where he directed his award-winning documentary, TEENAGER: a State of Confusion.

Next, Josh toiled with his wife, Leila Charles Leigh, and her producing partner, Jennifer Jostyn, to create the comedy, Life Coach: the Movie, which features such actors as Jonathan Silverman, Lauren Graham, Carla Gugino, George Wendt, Ron Livingston, and Connie Britton. The film (about, you guessed it, a life coach) was produced for less than 30K and made the festival circuit and won awards for best comedy and best director at the Queens International Film Festival and Moondance Film Festival.

In 2005, Josh co-wrote (with Andrew Shaifer) and directed the indie film, Kids in America. The movie, about a group of students who fights against the school administration for suppressing their first amendment rights, stars Gregory Smith, Malik Yoba, Julie Bowen, Adam Arkin, Rosanna Arquette, Nicole Richie, Charles Shaughnessy, Elizabeth Perkins, George Wendt, W Earl Brown, and Samantha Mathis.

Tribeca Film picked up and released Josh's next directorial effort in 2011.  Conception, which follows nine different couples on the eves that they conceive their children has a huge ensemble cast which includes Julie Bowen, Connie Britton, Jonathan Silverman, Jennifer Finnigan, Leila Charles Leigh, David Arquette, Moon Bloodgood, Pamela Adlon, Alan Tudyk, Jennifer Jostyn, as well as many others.

Josh's next indie film, Crawlspace, starred Steven Weber, Jonathan Silverman, Dave Koechner and Lori Loughlin.  The film was produced by Vuguru Entertainment and is produced by Mike Karz at Gulfstream Entertainment.  This team also financed and produced Josh's next digital indie, Feels So Good, a teen comedy starring Brendan Robinson, Matt Shively, Shanley Caswell, Jamie Kennedy, Charlotte Ross, Lisa Ann Walter and Stephen Root. Both films were released under a distribution deal with Hulu Plus.  

Josh's next directing gig, a spoof movie called The Hungover Games, was recently released on all platforms.  Produced by Silver Nitrate, the film stars Ross Nathan, Herbie Russell, Ben Begley, Rita Volk, Jamie Kennedy, John Livingston, Tara Reid, Hank Baskett, Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn), Brandi Glanville, Kyle Richards, Camille Grammer, Leila Charles Leigh, Dat Phan, Robert Wagner and Johnathan Silverman.

Josh and partner Pete Goldfinger wrote a Halloween special for CW Seed, which debuted in 2020 called Kappa Kappa Die. As writers, producers and showrunners for the series, they are put together a talented team (including director Zelda Williams) to bring the project to life.

Josh wrote his first novel, titled Incarnate, which was released by Simon & Schuster, in July of 2017. The book will soon be a major motion picture, produced by Alloy Entertainment.

Next up, Josh wrote and directed the slasher film Skill House (which stars influencer Bryce Hall and produced by Ryan Kavanaugh) which is set for a Summer 2023 release. The film also stars 50 Cent, Neal McDonough, Caitlin Carmichael, Leah Pipes, John DeLuca, Paige VanZant, Hannah Stocking, McCarrie McCausland, Emily Mei, Ivan Leung, Jacob Skidmore and Dani Oliveros. Following that, Josh will be directing the horror/thriller Red Wedding in the Spring of 2023. He’s also currently writing Teddy and the Guardians of the Night (aka: The Good Knight) for Netflix, which is being produced and stars action legend Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

In addition to his writing and directing, Josh is a professional photographer. His pieces were most recently on exhibit at the K.L. Fine Arts Gallery in Chicago, The Melrose Lightspace in Hollywood and were featured on the short-lived Fox show Skin.  See the link in the main menu for an example of his work.  And find him on Instagram as @joshstolberg.

He is a member of both the WGA and ASCAP and is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.