Jeopardy! Opens Writer Positions to the Public for First Time

In July, the long-running quiz show “Jeopardy!” announced an unprecedented public hiring drive for its writing staff. The vacancy arose after veteran writer Jim Rhine retired after three decades, leaving a single opening among the nine-person team. Applications were accepted until July 10, and executive producer Michael Davies said the response could be as high as 1,000 candidates.

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The role, based at Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Culver City lot, offers a salary up to $172,000. Prospects first completed the same online test given to contestants—answering 50 clues—then submitted 12 sample “Jeopardy!”/“Double Jeopardy!” rounds covering topics from history to pop culture, plus three “Final Jeopardy!” clues, a cover letter, and a résumé. Candidates were warned that using the word “trivia” would be a disqualifier. Davies described the writers’ week as working in a secure on-site library, producing an average of eight categories per episode, and collaborating with researchers who verify each of the 61 clues aired.

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Davies emphasized the show’s commitment to high-quality clue writing, noting that writers must deliver “really great writing” for contestants who have spent lifetimes learning. He highlighted the scale of the operation, recalling that “last year, we put 25,687 clues on the air between all the different versions.” The producer expects to invite about a dozen candidates to interview and aims to have the new hire start by the end of August, when filming for the 43rd season begins.

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• “Our ‘Jeopardy!’ writers are not only brilliant, but they also write prolifically, and so we needed to put candidates under that same test of writing quite a lot,” — Michael Davies, executive producer

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• “I don’t think we expected this much of a response, and we’ve got to figure out the process,” — Michael Davies

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• “We don’t regard what we write as trivial. We regard this as the subjects, the facts, the things that an elite, modern American should know.” — Michael Davies

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• “but to really be game-worthy for these amazing contestants who have spent a lifetime of learning to get to be on the program, we owe them some really great writing.” — Michael Davies

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Davies plans to narrow the pool to roughly a dozen interviewees in the coming weeks, with the goal of onboarding the new writer before the start of filming for the upcoming season at the end of August.

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