TV at the Pollock: Truth, Fiction, and the Making of Crime Media

Join us for a special screening and conversation with writer, producer, and former FBI profiler James T. Clemente, whose unusual career has moved from criminal investigation to television. During a 22-year career with the FBI, Clemente investigated violent and sexual crimes and spent more than a decade as a profiler. He later brought that experience to crime television as a writer, producer, and technical advisor on series including Criminal Minds, Manhunt, and Quantico, while also producing nonfiction crime programming and working in podcast and audio storytelling.

Focusing on select Criminal Minds episodes that are especially meaningful to him, Clemente will discuss what it means to translate lived experience, criminal investigation, and survivor knowledge into television and popular entertainment. The conversation will range from television police procedurals and syndicated and cable “true crime” programming to podcasts, audiobooks, and newer media platforms, asking how crime and justice media can impact public understanding—and where their limits lie.

Producer James T. Clemente will join moderator Althea Wasow (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a discussion of selections from Criminal Minds.