Paddy Galloway's "YouTube Jobs" Board

Asking why YouTube scriptwriters are being vastly undervalued by creators

Hey all,

On Tuesday, Paddy Galloway announced the launch of YTjobs.co, the world’s first centralised hub for YouTubers to find staff.

Creators can find editors, producers, thumbnail designers, scriptwriters (and more) in a single place.

Upon seeing this, I immediately retweeted it to prove that I didn’t feel threatened at all 😂

Because, to be transparent, I had mixed emotions.

On one hand, a lot of what I talk about online is how fun YouTube scriptwriting is and that more people should try and break into it.

Yet here lay a website that could potentially help hundreds of people do exactly that, and for some reason, I was feeling unnerved - primarily because I worried about how low writers would be willing to go to secure projects.

Now don’t get me wrong. This website is potentially something terrific for YouTube and the creator economy as a whole.

But at this early stage, I’ve noticed a clear issue with the expectations some creators seem to have of the scriptwriters they’re looking to hire.

Especially when compared to the other job roles on offer.

Colossal Lowballing

I write this piece not out of some gatekeeping-y bitterness, but out of a genuine desire to speak up about the value of scriptwriters in the YouTube space, in case anyone who hasn’t ever hired or worked with one doubts the value we provide.

Because as things currently stand, those scriptwriters who would consider working for a rate vastly below what they’re worth have a plethora of opportunities on offer.

The seemingly portentous Ame Proietti tweeted this just minutes before I went on the writer jobs page:

Ame Proietti @ameproietti

@GeorgeBlackman_ I sincerely hope this doesn't turn into an Upwork/Fiverr board where people want "well-researched, engaging 10 minutes scripts"...for $5-10.

Unfortunately, upon visiting the website, my findings were a little disappointing.

Creators with millions of subscribers were offering $100 per project.

This Minecraft YouTuber, for example was offering $150 MAX for 30-60 minute video scripts AND expecting 3 years’ experience:

George Blackman @GeorgeBlackman_

Although this is a little concerning. 5.2m Sub YouTuber offering $75-$150 /project, expecting 3 YEARS experience. The highest rate I've found is $200 /project. Hoping this is only a symptom of an early-stage scheme and we'll see creators offering more reasonable rates soon.

George Blackman @GeorgeBlackman_

This is exciting! Intrigued to see how many creators will start hiring writers this way. https://t.co/DHVJto2F0j

It just felt kinda cheeky.

YouTubers of this size will know how low these prices are. And while I can appreciate the urge to try your luck and save a little cash, I feel that offering such low rates is disingenuous for creators of this size.

This is, of course, 100% not the fault of Paddy Galloway or anyone else involved in launching the site!

It’s just interesting to see the psychology of some creators play out in their rate-setting now they have access to this centralised hub.

And it’s especially interesting to contrast this with the rates being offered for other positions.

Airrack, for example, is offering the incredibly fair rate of $80,000 for a full-time editor.

In fact, the YouTuber I screenshotted above is offering up to $72,000 for their channel director.

So why the disparity when it comes to hiring a writer?

Now, I admit, many of the writing jobs currently listed have their pay hidden, so this could be a lot of fuss over nothing.

But for those who are choosing to show their rates, it seems like writers are currently being vastly undervalued.

What next?

For as long as large YouTubers are offering ludicrously low rates to scriptwriters for large projects (while simultaneously expecting high levels of experience)…few writers are likely to take them up.

The only writers who would are likely to be relatively inexperienced, and have the potential to fall short of the creators’ expectations.

This can only go one way.

Creators will either continue to get an influx of inexperienced applications (or no applications at all), OR choose to increase their rate of pay.

I’m not saying a lower limit should be enforced either, because some creators might simply want $75-worth of scriptwriting from a new-ish writer (i.e. an hour of research, or a rough script outline, rather than a full project).

But, currently, the price doesn't reflect the expectation.

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Overall, I’m excited to see where this goes and pleased to finally have access to a list of other YouTube scriptwriters - I’ve often asked my peers to out themselves on Twitter to no avail 😅

Intrigued to see how this develops over the next year but, for now, I’m unlikely to sign up.

Let me know your thoughts by replying to this email!

Speak soon!

George

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🔧 Free YouTube Script Template

You can grab the template I use to write for YouTubers here - it’s free!