Scripted (company)
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| Founded | San Francisco, California |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 135 Stillman Street, San Francisco, California |
| Industry | Freelance Marketplace, Internet |
| Services | Freelance Writing |
| Subsidiaries | Scripped |
| Slogan(s) | Expert Writers in Every Subject from Traditional to Unexpected |
| Website |
scripted |
| Registration | Required |
| Users | Over 80,000 |
| Available in | English |
| Launched | May 11, 2011 |
| Current status | Active |
Scripted is an online marketplace that connects businesses with freelance writers for blogs, articles, and bulk social media posts. Located in San Francisco, co-founders Sunil Rajaraman and Ryan Buckley launched Scripted as a byproduct of their scriptwriting company Scripped.[1] Scripted pays freelance writers a flat rate to create articles, press releases, website copy, social media posts, blog posts, and copywriting for various clients. According to Techcrunch, Scripted has a pool of more than 80,000 freelancers as of November 2011, with 80% of those writers U.S. based.[2] The company also ranks as one of the top five largest writer communities on the Internet.[3]
History
Scripted is administered by co-founders CEO Sunil Rajaraman and CFO Ryan Buckley. Before officially changing their focus from screenwriting to freelance writing in November 2011, Rajaraman and Buckley founded Scripped in 2008, an online company specializing in screenplay services. On March 29, 2010, Scripped announced a merger with screenwriting competitor Zhura. Rajaraman remained the merged company's Chief Executive Officer.[4] Then, in May 2011, Rajaraman and Buckley launched offshoot site Scripted.com. In November 2011, it started with $700,000 in seed funding from investors Crosslink Capital, Shopzilla CIO Jody Mulkey, and LiveOps founder Douglas Feirstein.[5] In February 2012, a new seed financing round resulted in an additional $150,000 led by former Redpoint Ventures Executive-in-Residence David Wu.[6] The company recently partnered with Dana Brunetti and Kevin Spacey’s company Trigger Street Productions to introduce its new publishing website ShowWatcher.[7]
Features
Scripted attempts to offer freelance writing service to businesses.[8] Writers are grouped by area of expertise and given access to any job listed within that area. Scripted’s standard writing services include Facebook posts, tweets, short, long, and standard blog posts, press releases, video scripts, website pages, copywriting, email newsletters, white papers, and articles.[9] Businesses may generate topics on their own, or have writers on Scripted pitch ideas to them.[10]
Criticism
Scripted has been criticized for offering white papers that are too short and unsuited to the task.[11] In addition, Scripted has been accused of having slow turnaround times and being poorly managed.
See also
References
- ↑ Chmielewski, Dan. "Scripted.com Raises $700k in Seed Financing, Led by Crosslink Capital". Marketwire. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
- ↑ Tsotsis, Alexia. "Freelance Writing Marketplace Scripted Signs for $700k". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
- ↑
- ↑ Wauters, Robin. "Screenwriting Software Company Scripped Merges With Zhura, Raises Funding". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2010-03-29.
- ↑ Kelly, Meghan. "Scripted is a Writer Smorgasbord for Those in Need of Community Outreach, Gets $700K". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
- ↑ Wauters, Robin. "Writing Marketplace Scripted.com Gains An Extra $150K, Two New Advisors". Techcrunch. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ↑ Carr, Paul. "Our Email Sounded Awful... But We're Really Good Guys: Showwatcher CEO Responds to My Criticisms". Pandodaily. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
- ↑ Chmielewski, Dan. "Scripted.com Raises Additional $150k, Adds DJ Patil and Matt Mickiewicz to Advisory Board". Marketwire. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
- ↑ "Job Format Pricing and Descriptions". Scripted.
- ↑ "More Content Means More Business". Scripted.
- ↑ "Getting What You Pay For: Scripted and the Continuing Death of Good Writing". Alex Mouravskiy.