He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where he majored in theater studies and minored in English literature.
Blankenship attended Yale School of Drama from 2002–2005 and holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism.
[4] While still a senior at Emory, he was hired as Literary Manager of Atlanta's Horizon Theatre Company,[5] a position he held from April 2001—August 2002.
While at Yale, Blankenship began writing for Variety, The Village Voice (where he was among the inaugural participants in the publication's University Wits series,[6] and American Theatre.
In 2008 Blankenship founded the pop culture blog The Critical Condition[8] with Art Meets Commerce, a New-York based new media advertising and marketing firm.