The USC School of Cinematic Arts Cinema and Media Studies Division
invites USC Students of ALL YEARS & MAJORS
to Register for the Spring 2026 Semester Course:

CTCS-402: Practicum in
Film/Television Criticism

Taught by Instructor Katie Walsh
Film Critic - Tribune News Service & Los Angeles Times
Vice President - Los Angeles Film Critics Association

"In the arts, the critic is the only independent source of information. The rest is advertising."
- Pauline Kael

In this course, you will expand your skills in writing about film and media, while learning about the evolving industry of media and culture journalism, with a focus on film reviews, long form analysis, and audio and visual criticism.

CTCS 402 is an opportunity to hone your analytical eye, develop writing technique, and find your own personal voice within a collaborative environment. The goal of this class is not just to learn to write media criticism, but to deepen your understanding of the industrial landscape, and to engage in the current world of film criticism, and above all to learn how to think critically.

Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. - 1:50 p.m.

All USC Students are eligible to enroll.
NO D-CLEARANCE NEEDED. 4 UNITS.

Find CTCS-402 on the USC Schedule of Classes:
https://classes.usc.edu/term/20261/catalogue/course/CTCS402

About Katie Walsh

Katie Walsh is a Los Angeles-based film critic. She reviews weekly film releases for the Tribune News Service and the Los Angeles Times, and is the Vice President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. She co-hosted the One Heat Minute Productions podcast Miami Nice, and guest-hosted the Maximum Fun podcast Switchblade Sisters. Her writing has been published in GQ, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Vulture, The Wrap, MEL Magazine, The Playlist, Nerdist, Slate, Certified Forgotten, The Hairpin, indieWIRE, Women and Hollywood, and Town & Country, and she frequently appears on KCRW’s Press Play with Madeline Brand, and on various film podcasts. She’s covered international film festivals as a critic and journalist, and at this point, has moderated probably hundreds of Q&As with filmmakers and actors in Los Angeles. She has also taught the Film Studies class “Practices of Writing About Film,” at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University.

Katie earned her B.A. in Film Studies from Wesleyan University, and her M.A. in Critical Studies from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, where she also worked as an associate programmer of screenings and special events, and dropped out of a PhD program at the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism. Her first job in the industry was in the publicity department at Lionsgate Films, and she produced the short film “The Better Half,” which premiered in competition at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival.

She is a native Virgin Islander, born and raised on the island of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Check out Bluesky, Letterboxd, or Rotten Tomatoes for links to recent reviews.

Contact Information

Email: critstudies@cinema.usc.edu