Hi There!
Thank you so much for your interest in being a Researcher/Writer’s Assistant for Need To Know (NTK) - a new pop culture show from MTV News. NTK airs twice daily on Twitter (10 episodes a week) and features our host Dometi Pongo breaking down what’s trending in pop culture and politics.
Every morning we do a bit of an AM DEEP DIVE, a 3-4 minute take on one topic. Sometimes we do serious topics like police violence. Sometimes we do less serious topics like the return of girl scout cookies. Throughout it all we try and include a few tweets backing up our points, because this show airs on Twitter. It’s a wide variety all designed to give the MTV News audience what they need to know.
Here are some AM Story examples.
Kanye vs. Drake, Employees Ghosting Employers
Every afternoon we also do a 3ish minute PM STORY breaking down 3 big trending stories of the day. Part of your job will be to find stories for us to feature. Here’s some PM Story examples.
Michael Cohen, Robots & Chocolates, Time POTY, Trump Shutdown & Google on Capitol Hill
Once a week we produce a PANEL breaking down the top stories of the week. These panels usually go 20-30 minutes and feature talent from across entertainment debating pop culture and politics. We feature segments that get into the week’s big stories through either discussions (Pete and Ariana are done, how do we feel?) or games like Stan or Ban: (we name a thing, panelists decide whether they love or hate it.) An example of one our panels can be found HERE.
What the Job Will Entail
+ Providing support to the writing team in maintaining the accuracy of all scripts.
+ Monitoring trending topics in pop culture, music and social impact important to MTV audience.
+ Fact checking by referencing reliable sources.
+ Providing background talent packets for our weekly panel segments.
+ On occasion, you may be asked to pitch topics for stories or outlining scripts
Who We’re Looking For:
- Someone who knows pop culture, is an avid newsreader and cares about music, entertainment and politics.
- Someone who is comfortable researching trending stories and making sure the facts are accurate
- Someone who is equally happy writing about a K-Pop band as a corruption scandal
What You Need To Send In If This Is You
- 1 AM Script on a topic of your choosing
- 2 pitches for panel games
- Resume listing relevant experience.
The AM Script can be written in Google docs and sent as a PDF. A sample AM script is below.
Please put your full name and email address only on page one. Otherwise we want no identifying information anywhere else on the packet.
If you’re interested send an email to productionstaffing1981@gmail.com with the Subject NTK RESEARCHER SUBMISSION. Your submission should be an attached PDF.
Submissions are due Friday January 11th by 9AM.
Thanks for reading!
AM SCRIPT EXAMPLE
I’M DOMETI PONGO AND THIS IS MTV NEWS NEED TO KNOW
HOLD FOR GRAPHIC
AMERICA IT’S TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT GOING DOWN THIS WEEK.
NO, NOT THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN AND THE SWEARING IN OF NEW CONGRESS MEMBERS.
NOT THE FACT THAT CHINA JUST LANDED ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON IN HOPES OF MOVING PAST US IN SPACE EXPLORATION.
NO, NOT THE FACT THAT ARIANA GRANDE WAS JUST ASKED TO HEADLINE COACHELLA WITH DONALD GLOVER, AND TAME IMPALA.
NO, TWITTER, I’M HERE TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT THE RETURN OF THE THING THAT IS PLAGUING AMERICA MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE RIGHT NOW.
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.
LISTEN, THIS PAST WEEK WAS NEW YEARS, AND I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT FOR ME THAT MEANS NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS.
I’M A BIG NEW YEARS RESOLUTION PERSON. SOME YEARS I GO BIG, LIKE IN 2015 WHEN I SAID I WOULDN’T STEAL ANY ZOO ANIMALS. I NEVER HAD BEFORE BUT IN 2015 I SWORE I WOULDN’T, AND I DIDN’T. SO THAT WAS SUCCESSFUL
LAST YEAR, I KEPT IT SIMPLE. I SAID I’D STOP BINGE WATCHING SHOWS ON NETFLIX…. AND THEN I GOT HOOKED ON A CARTOON ABOUT PUBERTY. SO THANKS BIG MOUTH FOR RUINING LAST YEAR’S RESOLUTION. AND MAKING THINGS WEIRD.
BUT THIS YEAR, I’M GOING TO MAKE IT WORK. I’M GOING BACK TO AN OLD CLASSIC, GETTING IN SHAPE.
I’M TALKING ABOUT GOING TO THE GYM, EATING HEALTHIER, EVEN BECOMING ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CAN’T SHUT UP ABOUT CROSSFIT.
BUT THAT’S WHY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT THOSE GIRL SCOUTS
WHO ARE BACK AND READY TO PUSH THEIR COOKIES ON ALL OF US.
YESTERDAY MARKED THE RETURN OF FRICKIN’ GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SEASON, YOU KNOW THAT TIME OF THE YEAR WHEN YOUR COWORKERS ADORABLE CHILDREN COME IN AND TRY AND PITCH YOU ON THEIR DELICIOUS, ADDICTIVE, TASTY COOKIES. IT’S TERRIBLE!
MAKING THINGS WORSE, THE GIRLS ARE COMING OUT WITH A NEW FLAVOR THIS YEAR, THIS BOMB-ASS CARAMEL AND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE WHICH IS ALSO GLUTEN FREE! ...AND SLIGHTLY SALTY LIKE ME RIGHT NOW.
THE GIRL SCOUTS ALREADY HAVE SO MANY GREAT FLAVORS LIKE, THIN MINTS, SAMOAS, EVEN DOSI-DOES. I DON’T NEED ANY MORE FLAVORS TO MAKE MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTION HARDER
AS IT IS I’M SITTING IN THE GYM WAITING FOR THE ELLIPTICAL, SNEAKING IN PEANUT BUTTER PATTIES. COME ON GIRL SCOUTS, HELP A BROTHER GET SWOLL.
OF COURSE, INCLUDING THEIR SECOND GLUTEN-FREE COOKIE, IS A GREAT IDEA ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE WITH CELIAC DISEASE. TONS OF AMERICANS EVERY YEAR ARE SAYING THEY’RE GLUTEN INTOLERANT. I MEAN OVER 3 MILLION PEOPLE SWORE OFF GLUTEN BY 2014 ACCORDING TO SCIENCE MAGAZINE.
BUT ME, I CAN’T HANDLE ANY MORE NEW FLAVORS!
PLUS OTHER PEOPLE AGREE WITH ME, LIKE LANCE BURSON WHO TWEETED:
“IT’S ORGANIZED CRIME I MEAN GIRL SCOUT COOKIE SEASON AT OUR HOUSE AND I ORDERED DIET DOS-I-DOS BECAUSE THIN MINTS ARE A LIE. THEY DON’T MAKE YOU THAT.”
[SHOW BELOW TWEET]
HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/LANCEBURSON/STATUS/1080844049597321218
AND 5 NEWS MELISSA WHO SAID:
[SHOW BELOW TWEET]
HTTPS://TWITTER.COM/5NEWSMELISSA/STATUS/1080836002221043712
“I WILL CONFESS, TAGALONGS MAY BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST THREATS TO MY "EATING RIGHT" AGENDA. WE WON'T EVEN MENTION THIN MINTS. :DROOLING_FACE:”
I GET IT, THE GIRL SCOUTS PROVIDE ALL SORTS OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG WOMEN AND IT’S A PRETTY COOL ORGANIZATION. ACCORDING TO NBC THEY RUN A $700 MILLION DOLLAR COOKIE EMPIRE, SELLING OVER 200 MILLION BOXES OF COOKIES A YEAR. AND ALL THAT MONEY GOES TO HELPING GIRLS. LIKE THE ORGANIZATION SAYS:
“WHEN YOU BUY DELICIOUS GIRL SCOUT COOKIES, YOU’RE HELPING TO POWER NEW, UNIQUE, AND AMAZING EXPERIENCES FOR GIRLS—EXPERIENCES THAT BROADEN THEIR WORLDS, HELP THEM GAIN ESSENTIAL LIFE SKILLS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERTISE, AND PREPARE THEM TO PRACTICE A LIFETIME OF LEADERSHIP.”
BUT, TWITTER LET ME ASK YOU:
IS IT REALLY WORTH MAKING IT HARDER FOR ME TO GET IN SHAPE JUST SO A GIRL CAN LEARN SKILLS LIKE MONEY MANAGEMENT, GOAL SETTING AND BUSINESS ETHICS?
[FAKES HEARING SOMETHING ON EARPIECE]
WHAT? IT IS? OH OKAY. FINE. NEW NEW YEARS RESOLUTION. EAT AS MANY GIRL SCOUT COOKIES AS I WANT.
I’M DOMETI PONGO AND THAT’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.