Cinematic Video Editor — Long-Form YouTube (Per-Video, Ongoing)

The Monarch Effect is a YouTube channel built around transformation, healing, and human potential. The audience is first responders, veterans, and anyone who has walked through real suffering — addiction, trauma, loss, burnout — and is looking for a better way. The host is a Fire Captain with 27 years in the fire service. He has lived what he talks about. The content is educational and documentary in feel, with personal storytelling woven through every episode. This is not a standard talking-head YouTube channel. Every video is built to inform, move, and stay with the viewer. We are looking for one editor. Long-term. Someone who has been waiting for a project where craft actually matters. WHAT YOU'LL EDIT Long-form YouTube videos, approximately 10 to 15 minutes per episode. Each video follows a clear structure: a fast hook, a bumper, and a series of acts with on-screen headers and text. Your job is to bring that structure to life — cutting talking-head footage, integrating stock footage and charts, adding on-screen text, color grading, sound design, music, and delivering a finished video that feels cohesive and intentional. Footage is single-camera talking-head. B-roll, charts, and supplemental visuals are sourced by the editor. Direction is called out in the scripts. Occasionally, licensed third-party clips will be incorporated — news segments, documentary footage, interviews relevant to the topic. Content themes: first responder mental health, addiction recovery, plant medicine, grief, trauma, and healing. Some material is deeply personal. This role requires someone who handles heavy content with care and reverence. THE VISUAL IDENTITY Cinematic but hopeful. This channel is about transformation — finding your highest self, reclaiming your life. The visual treatment should carry that: grounded, warm but not soft, real, cinematic without being heavy. Rich color, intentional pacing, deliberate cuts. We trust the viewer. Watch these before applying: Jocko Willink — deliberate pacing, grounded masculine tone Like Stories of Old — voiceover essay, cinematic storytelling Aubrey Marcus — personal, transformational, cinematic WSJ: "This Mysterious Drug Can Erase Addiction Virtually Overnight" Bloomberg Originals: "Could This Psychedelic Root Solve The Opioid Crisis?" MUSIC Music licensing is provided through our Musicbed or Artlist account. AI-generated music is also welcome and encouraged — tools like Suno or similar are fair game if the result serves the episode. Each episode ends with music that breathes. You choose the tracks, we approve before final delivery. COMPENSATION $1,000 USD per finished video, paid on delivery and approval. Paid trial edit first: $300, paid regardless of outcome. The trial uses real footage and a real script. A strong trial leads directly to the pre-launch buffer of 8 videos, followed by weekly delivery. Music licensing provided. Everything else — stock footage, plugins, editing software — you bring. AI is encouraged across the board: color assist, audio cleanup, captioning, B-roll sourcing, motion graphics. We care about the result, not the process. THIS IS FOR YOU IF You see editing as storytelling, not timeline assembly. You want to build something meaningful from the ground up. You can handle emotionally heavy material with grace. You are detail-obsessed, self-directed, and in this for the long game. THIS IS NOT FOR YOU IF You specialize in fast-cut talking-head YouTube. You need constant direction. You cannot sit with emotionally heavy material. You are looking for a one-off gig with no investment in the mission. HOW TO APPLY Submit 3 to 5 sample edits that demonstrate your craft. Include a short note — 200 words or less — on why this project resonates with you. Every application is reviewed personally. Shortlisted candidates are invited to the paid trial.