River Donaghey
writer and filmmaker
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River Donaghey grew up in a cult. Now he makes work about why people join them.
He is the creator of Good Cult, an investigative true crime podcast based on his life growing up inside a New Age self-help cult in Oregon. He has written and will star in the theater adaptation, premiering Fall 2026 at the Center for Theatre Research in Manhattan. At Vice, he created and ran the company’s breaking news section before going on to produce documentaries. He raced horses in Guatemala, fought forest fires with prison inmates in California, and interviewed politicians in the White House. In 2025, he joined NowThis as the company’s first Director of Development, where he built the development team from the ground up, driving the studio’s new shortform video slate. River’s childhood gave him a firsthand understanding of how belief works. Throughout his career, his work has always circled the same question: What does it take to make someone a true believer? He is currently based in New York City. |
👁 Good Cult 👁
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1,000,000+ DOWNLOADS FOR LISTENING
Premiered #1 • Apple Podcast Charts Stage show premiering Fall 2026 at the Center for Theatre Research “I know that some of you may be sitting out there, watching me, wondering whether this actually works. Well, let me tell you now: It does. But it doesn’t mean it’s going to work on you. It’s up to the student whether they want to absorb the teaching or not. What will not work is to sit back and judge. To dismiss what you hear because it doesn’t conform to your version of the way things are.
“Do you like the way things are? Are they working out for you? Are you creating and living the life you want daily? I doubt it. “Because if you were, then what are you doing here? If you can’t admit that aspects of your life are shit, and that you don’t want to live the rest of your life in shit, I have nothing for you.” |
👁 Selected Works 👁
Film / TV | ||
| Superhighway | Estuary Films | Co-creator & writer of animated series with Peter Dinklage’s Estuary Films |
| Tattoo Cartoo | Trasho Studio | Co-creator of animated shortform series |
| “Guatemala’s Drunken, Deadly Horse Race” | Vice TV | Host & producer |
| Standup Desk | NowThis | Developed the fastest-growing shortform show in NowThis history |
| Cyberfixations | Overheard | Creator of shortform series |
Audio | ||
| Good Cult | Trasho Studio | Creator and host of investigative true crime podcast |
| “Ken Kesey’s Acid Quest” | On the Media | Co-producer & guest |
| American Afterlife | Gamut | Creator of audio drama. Premiered at #1 in Fiction on Apple charts |
| “Dirtbags at Dope Lake” | The Opportunist | Producer |
| RecursiveCast | Trasho Studio | Director and writer of audio play. Premiered at 2022 Exponential Festival |
| “River Donaghey Loves America” | All Things Considered | Featured guest |
| Unsolved Murders | Spotify | Showrunner of true crime podcast |
Writing | ||
| “The Number One Killer of America's Children” | Washington Post | Writer, gun violence package |
| “I Got Drunk and Cheated Death in a Ceremonial Horse Race” | Vice Magazine | Writer, feature |
| The Vice Guide to Right Now | Vice.com | Creator and EIC of Vice’s breaking news section |
| “Follow Me” | Joyland | Writer, fiction |
| “Germs” | Sneeze Magazine | Writer, feature |
| “The Struggling Cult That Tried to Kill Demon Hitler” | Vice.com | Writer, cult exposé |
| “It Took the Safdie Brothers 10 Years to Make ‘Uncut Gems’” | Vice.com | Writer, interview |
👁 Contact 👁
| Are you ready to create and live the life you want daily? Get in touch with River here. |
River Donaghey cult belief coercion Good Cult podcast Wings self-help NowThis shortform video writer showrunner Brooklyn Manhattan stage show true crime investigative cult psychology mimetic desire belief systems group dynamics persuasion indoctrination
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