Posted On: April 14, 2017
Media-Related Job
Media Organization: Jumpcut, Inc.
Company Description
Jumpcut, Inc.
Jumpcut is a Y Combinator and venture-backed startup that creates cinematic online courses with the world’s biggest influencers.
Our vision for education: http://bit.ly/2o3WpFH
Job Description
“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”- Elmore Leonard
Jumpcut is a Y Combinator and venture-backed startup that creates cinematic online courses with the world’s biggest influencers.
The founding team at Jumpcut has years of experience creating binge-worthy content -- we've created multiple viral YouTube channels that now have over 4.5 million subscribers and over 500 million views. We’re now taking that content creation experience and applying it to the monotonous world of online education.
If you’ve ever taken an online course, you already know that 99% of them suck. That’s because they all do the same thing: record a dry and uninspiring instructor who talks to the camera for hours on end. While this is fantastic for getting over an Ambien addiction, it’s atrocious for actual learning.
Think about what can be done with video: we have the ability to create things like Avatar, The Dark Knight, and Game of Thrones, but the status quo when it comes to online courses is this: http://imgur.com/a/v2I8o. In an ice cream parlor of unlimited flavors, every other online education company has opted for vanilla. We have our eye on the mint triple chocolate chip birthday cake cookie dough with strawberry whipped cream and banana nut sprinkles.
Our team is approaching online learning in a completely new way: combining educational content with compelling stories, captivating cinematography, creative soundtracks, and much more. The result is a beautiful course that feels like a movie. We believe the future of education lies in creating world-class content.
If you want to learn more about our vision, check out our blog post about the future of education: http://bit.ly/2o3WpFH
Here’s a visual example of the difference between most online courses, and ours: http://bit.ly/2naxBqx
The next course we are creating is about business and entrepreneurship. The instructor is the founder of Twitch.tv(sold to Amazon for $1 billion). To get an idea of how this course is crafted, watch this test video we created for one of our lessons: http://bit.ly/2naFrRc
JOB SUMMARY
We’re looking for a Head Writer who wants to lead the writing department at Jumpcut. Someone who will transform our department the way Ze Frank did at Buzzfeed Video. For the first 6 months of the job, you'll be the lead writer for our flagship course on social media, and create the best educational course ever produced online. After that, your responsibilities will be a mixture of writing, editing, and management; you'll be responsible for scaling up our writing team so that we can produce multiple courses at once.
The five year vision for this job is for you to literally run the entire writing department at Jumpcut, where you'll be the creative head and final decision-maker for dozens of educational courses per year.
THE JOB
For the first six months, you'll be the lead writer for our social media course, Viral Academy (see: app.jumpcut.com). We already have all the source information for this -- your job will be to take these dry concepts and make them entertaining. There's no research involved here; you're purely taking a dense topic and turning it into a creative, entertaining masterpiece.
A good example of the type of writing we're looking for is this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWveXdj6oZU
After the first six months, in addition to the responsibilities outlined above, your job will expand to:
User research, interviewing expertise, and background research for other courses, like the Justin Kan startup course we're putting out next.
Learn educational course design -- how to structure video lessons to produce the best educational outcomes for our students.
Project and people management skills. You'll need to coordinate a large team and motivate them to do their best.
Work with our production team to plan out visual elements and storyboard.
FINAL CALL
The salary for the position starts at $80,000 and increases based on experience. Jumpcut benefits include stock options, catered lunch and dinner every day, a 401k, and full health care benefits. We're extremely excited to meet you, and see if it's a potential fit.
To apply, please click the button below to visit our jobs page. Scroll to the bottom, and submit your resume, cover letter, and 2 writing samples that demonstrate your ability to write for video.
To Apply
Please apply at https://www.jumpcut.com/
Hiring process:
1. Submission of application online.
2. Call with Chief Content Officer.
3. Small writing project.
4. Call with VP of Content.
5. Full day in-office interview.