Jacob Clifton | Cultural Critic, Author, Teacher

Writer · Teacher · Strategist · Austin, TX

Jacob Clifton

There’s a version of this sentence that’s been true since 2000: some number of people on the internet have strong feelings about how I think about television.

That number was once a million readers a week, back when Television Without Pity was the place people went to find out what a show was actually doing — not just what happened, but why it mattered, and what it cost, and what it meant that you couldn’t look away. I was there for fourteen years.

Since then: Gawker, Tribune Media, Reactor Magazine, the Austin Chronicle. A writing school that is also a little bit a coven. A Patreon. A collection of novellas. A card deck. A husband named Jason and two dogs who have opinions.

The work is the same work it always was. The tools have just gotten better. And stranger.


Are you New?

A map of everything and where to go first.

The school

Courses, workshops, and the Wild Magic card deck.

Ongoing work

Essays, recaps, dispatches. 220 members. $5/month.

The books

Novels, novellas, and the WATCHING series.

The blog

Going since 2009. A lot of it.

Content strategy

Editorial consulting and SEO for brands.

Frequently asked

TWoP, the school, the work, the dogs.

About this person

The biography, the books, the whole deal.