Digital video at Timeline.com

A few years ago, I worked at the now-defunct Timeline.com, a startup dedicated to retelling episodes from history for online audiences. My friend Charlotte brought me on board as a video editor and producer. This was back when people still watched horizontal video on Facebook.

I wrote scripts and edited videos, managed freelancers, wrote a stylebook, copy edited and fact checked, cleared archive material, and pitched stories.

This one about the Port Chicago disaster was my favorite, because it was my own pitch and I got to write the text too:

I remember having a lively discussion with the editor of this piece about testing the Pill in Puerto Rico about whether his first edit was too salacious for this topic. What do you think?

I also enjoyed the lighter, character-driven pieces, because I learned about the lives of Kuldip Rae Singh, Brownie Wise, Gloria Richardson, Sessue Hayakawa, Sophie Scholl, Moms Mabley, Grace Halsell, Phyllis Diller, and Federica Montseny. Sadly, many of these videos were taken down and sold to an educational publisher.

R.I.P. Timeline.com and thanks for the free snacks.