USYD Update is news, life, culture, and comedy, by and for students, with new videos online every week during the semester.

We're the first and largest student video outlet in Sydney, with over 200,000 views and an average reach of 10,000-20,000 students per week.

We're also proudly independent, with no editorial control from the university or political groups on campus.

If you're interested in creating great videos that will make our audience laugh, we'd love you to join USYD Update in 2017.

Our Comedy team is looking for writers and performers who enjoy creating great comedy, want to push the boundaries and experiment with what's funny, and are excited about finding new ways to talk to students.

Comedy is brand new in Update, but in our first fortnight, we've already created one of the show's most popular pieces – our 'Welcome to USYD' sketch. And our existing writers, who come from great places like Sydney Law Revue and SUDS, have more on the way. Sydney University is the home of young comedy in Australia, and what better way to nurture that than in weekly video content!

Going into our next season, our focus will be on developing more original comedy series, releasing a new sketch every week, and focusing on topical satire.

Why you should join Update

If you're part of the show, you'll:

– Create something new and exciting: We've already got the equipment and resources you need. We're also an all-student group that wants to try new things, so whatever your weird/crazy ideas are for creating amazing stuff and reaching a broad student audience, you'll get to do it here.
– Build skills and experience: You'll gain useful experience throughout your time with the show. You're also credited for everything that you make and all your work will help build a strong portfolio.
– Get exposure and stand out: students in our team have found great jobs in the media, law, and elsewhere, thanks to their work in Update (e.g. reporting for The Sydney Morning Herald, social media at Channel Nine, legal at 21st Century Fox, writing for the Huffington Post, internships at the European Australian Business Council, and more).

Put it this way: there's (really) never been a more exciting time to be part of student media.

Commitment

We know you're studying and you probably have a job, so we've designed our team structure & production cycle to account for this. Most roles only require one regular meeting in our office on campus per week. We use Slack to discuss and organise most other tasks.

As a writer/performer on the Comedy team, you'll need to come prepared with thorough pitches for stories at a weekly one hour pitch meeting.

If your story is approved (most performers present 1-3 pieces per semester), you will also be required to: 
– Work with your Segment Producer to write and develop the piece,
– Provide creative input and book times with your assigned camera crew,
– Provide creative input and organise meetings with your assigned video editor,
– Provide ideas to Marketing who will promote your piece on social media, and
– Get these tasks done within the production deadlines (~2 weeks from pitch to release).

Update is a commitment for Semester 2, 2017. To tie back in with the calendar year, we will be holding a completely new recruitment session during the Summer Holidays.

Requirements

– You must be a currently enrolled student at The University of Sydney.
– You do not need an ACCESS card or any other student membership.
– You do not need any formal media experience or training, but those with experience are encouraged to mention this in the application form.

Questions?

If you have any questions, write to us on Facebook or Twitter, or send us an email at editorial@usydupdate.com.

Applications close June 9th.