Are you a keen blogger with a flair for creating original content? Are you interested in supporting emerging playwrights? Then we want to hear from you!
London Playwrights’ Workshop is seeking an Editor to oversee and expand the original content put out on London Playwrights’ Blog.
The post is ideally suited to an experienced content writer/ blogger with a passion for new writing. Whilst you don’t have to be a playwright to apply, you’ll need to have an in-depth knowledge of the challenges emerging writers face, so that you can create engaging content for our readers.
About the job: The Editor will take a leadership role in programming and delivering all creative content for the London Playwrights Blog website.
The role will involve commissioning original content, liaising with writers to ensure content is delivered and editing their work. Working closely with the London Playwrights’ Blog team, you’ll be expected to produce your own original content and respond to the needs and interests of our online readers.
The Editor would be responsible for designing and executing an editorial calendar of original content, with support from the other members of the artistic team.
This is an exciting opportunity for someone looking for the opportunity to put their own stamp on the editorial voice of a digital publication. We are planning on making updates to the site later this year, and the Editor would have the opportunity to play a key role in providing input for this redesign.
Key skills: Previous experience of writing original content is essential.
The right candidate will have excellent editing skills and a sharp eye for detail, as well as the creative vision required to deliver engaging content that is consistent with our brand. You must be highly motivated and to be able to work to tight deadlines. You’ll also need excellent communication skills in order to work well as part of our team and the content writers you will be looking after.
Previous experience of WordPress or other blogging software is expected. An affinity for design and ability to use images and graphics effectively in their content would be highly desirable.
We would also be interested in hearing from someone with ideas about how to integrate other digital content (video, etc) into our editorial offerings, although creating written content currently makes up the primary responsibilities for this role.
You must be 18 or older to apply for this role.
What you’ll get out of it:
- The opportunity to put your creative stamp on LPB content and help steer the future direction of the blog
- Access to a dedicated readership numbering of thousands
- Experience commissioning content and working with other writers
- A new platform for your own writing on London Playwrights’ Blog
- An opportunity to expand your professional network, both online and through LPB events
- First-hand experience working closely with the founders at a non-profit arts startup
- The chance to make a genuine difference to people in the new writing community
Hours/Duration: 6-8 hours per week (approx). The hours are flexible and designed to work around other professional and personal commitments, as the majority of the work can be completed from home. As long as deadlines are met, you can work when you please!
We are looking for someone who can commit to the role for at least six months and preferably someone who wants to make the role ‘their own’ and work with us on a permanent basis.
Payment: This post is unpaid. London Playwrights Blog is run on a voluntary basis by its staff and writers, and this currently applies to the Editor role as well.
What to submit: Please send us:
- Your CV
- A cover letter explaining why you’re interested in working with LPB and why you think you’re right for the role
- Three links to previous work/clippings demonstrating your experience
Please also include an equal opportunities monitoring form if you are comfortable supplying this information. (Why do we ask for this information? Click if you’re curious!)
How to apply: Send your application materials to jobs@londonplaywrightsblog.com, including the job title in the email subject.
Because our website is essentially ‘the face’ of our organisation, it’s important that you can demonstrate a strong track record for creating high quality work. Should you be shortlisted, we’ll ask for a reference who can speak to your capabilities and strengths in these areas. We may also ask you to complete a short written exercise.
Deadline: Friday 23 June 2017 at 5pm
(And for an inside look at what it’s like working with the LPB team, read this post from our former intern Hector Dyer about what really happens behind the scenes.)
Image: Aaron Mello
Has no one, promoting this opportunity, noticed that the job specification is overwhelming for only one, unpaid volunteer? Particularly when it lends itself so ideally to job-sharing. A duty of care might suggest that any candidate would be at serious risk of burnout, which challenges the viability of the post. Massive respect for all previous occupants.
Perhaps I missed the notification of it, but what does this site wish to accomplish? Perhaps that is yet to come. Like most people I use the site for information about where and when to submit a script; but I would welcome a more challenging site – particularly one that questioned the conventional method of sourcing new writing, and one that allowed for greater involvement on the part of writers who use it.
Others have also identified problems: recently someone complained here about those venues that still require paper copies of scripts, when email is greener and more cost effective for writers.
At the moment ‘playwright’ is a broad category – from those who have not developed much beyond the joy of writing dialogue and watching the pages whizz by, to those with potent craft skills. Does the current response to emerging writers significantly benefit either, other than to provide still more generic playwriting courses? For some, perhaps.
This would also be a better site IMO if it canvassed writers, challenged the status quo, and provided writers with the opportunity to read and feedback on each others work. Training playwrights as script readers would also immeasurably be to the benefit of their own work.
Since the emergence of ‘fringe’ theatres, more opportunities for playwrights has not resulted in a golden age of great writing for the theatre. The commissions for new work attracted on the back of a breakthrough production by those who have been successful, has arguably been to the disadvantage of others, crowded out of similar opportunities by their peers’ success.
Increasingly competitions require anonymous submissions. When public money funds productions, should not all play selection be ‘blind’ to be more fair to all?
Rather than expending resources on ‘readers’ who, in many instances, have no specific qualifications to give greater authority to their opinions reading and recommending scripts could be done by playwrights who would not only benefit artistically from the experience, but dispel the impression that some local theatres are côteries, promoting only the careers and interests of their favourites.
These issues a new editor, and a remodelled site, hopefully will address. It would make the site more dynamic and relevant to more writers.
Hi Kaijote, Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback. We actually do run the team in a very job-share style, so this person would certainly not be on their own in tackling this work. LPB has actually run entirely on a volunteer basis since its inception. This has placed some limits on what we’ve been able to accomplish, but we appreciate your desire for a more dynamic site and have been working on ways to accomplish this – one of which is bringing an editor on board. Most of the ideas you’re proposing lie beyond our scope, but we’re glad you’ve found the opportunities useful, and hope we have even more to offer you and all our readers in the future. (And as a plug for other folks out there doing brilliant work, if you’re interested in tackling some of that change-making on your own, Lucy Kerbel’s ‘All Change Please’ is a brilliant primer in how to do so, even if gender equality is not your main point of interest.)