Ever wonder how some of the biggest creators in the world produce so much content? Part of their prolific output can be credited to the behind-the-scenes team - like editors, graphic designers, and writers.
George Blackman is one of those off-the-camera heroes. He's a freelance content & script writer who's worked with Ali Abdaal (3.7 million subscribers) and Justin Moore to help grow their brands and businesses.
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This week's Money Matters:
When I went freelance, I had the pretty sizable unfair advantage of having Ali Abdaalâs name on my CV. In the educational YouTube circles, thatâs basically the masterkey lol. One retweet from him and I got more clients knocking at the door than I could possibly handle, for which Iâm super fortunate.
But before that role, Iâd never worked as a writer before, and certainly never in the YouTube sphere. He put out some pretty standard job applications and I applied.
At the time, my writing experience came entirely from writing comedy sketches for fun. Iâd been doing this since I was about 17, initially just recording my own radio shows at home. Then I met my comedy partner at university in 2016. We started writing and performing together, and dozens of gigs later, weâre still a duo. All this seemed irrelevant in the context of Aliâs job application, but it was all I had. Thankfully, out of 100+ applicants for the writer role, I was one of four who got the job.
So I think my advice would be to identify your point of difference and lean into it. Try not to underestimate things youâve done in your life which have meaningfully impacted the skills you have.
Reach out to smaller creators who may need help writing all their STUFF, whether thatâs scripts, newsletters, tweets or articles, and demonstrate why you would be able to help them achieve their goals.
FYI, I also told Ali some of his thumbnails were crap, which may or may not have helped.
Honestly, Iâm still figuring this one out. However, Iâve started recognising what I suppose Iâd call âBig Brain Tasksâ, i.e. the kind of work you literally cannot do when youâre fatigued. This includes anything super creative, like writing a first script draft or ideating a monthâs worth of newsletter ideas.
If you havenât slept well, or itâs 4pm and youâve been working hard since 9, literally stop trying. Sincerely, genuinely, stop. You know the headspace Iâm talking about. You canât beat it, and unless youâre about to lose a massive client if you donât finish something NOW, it can wait until tomorrow.
Figure out the tasks that take less brain power, like replying to email, or proofreading, or (for me) working on improving Notion workflow systems. The latter almost feels mathematical, so it doesnât take the same type of creative PUSH that starting a script from scratch does.
The key is to become adaptable and to listen to your brain and body on a given day. Then funnel your energy into the right types of tasks.
Assuming you have your approximate idea, youâve figured out your title and thumbnail, and you generally know what this video isâŚgive yourself three minutes to write the MOST BASIC draft of the script. It should almost be stream-of-consciousness. Donât worry about grammar, punctuation or well-crafted sentences. It might look something like this:
âHook: in this video weâre talking about how to get a job writing for a YouTuber. Part 1: groundwork: if youâve got any sort of regular writing habit youâre ahead of the pack. Ask yourself what skills youâve been developing over the years, maybe without even knowing it, and lean into that. Part 2: sincerity: demonstrate your sincere desire to improve their channel, i.e. be honest about their crappy thumbnails, present your ideas about how to make their hooks better, generally show them youâre bursting with ideas, part 3âŚâ
Thatâs such an ugly paragraph. But itâs less ugly than a blank page. This tactic gives you a combination of both restraint and freedom. The time restraint forces you to write, but you simultaneously have the freedom not to worry about making your sentences perfect. From there, itâs so much easier to carry on because you can literally see the structure of the video in a single, horrible, block of text.
If you looked at my spending as a proportion of income, you might think I absolutely adored spending money on rent (thank you London).
But the answer is probably food. My girlfriend and I usually get dinner out twice at the weekend, and itâs the best time ever. While I still have the metabolism of a 25 year old, I plan to work it hard.
