Hi!

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Thank you for visiting my website.
I'm a husband, father, video maker, hobby programmer, hobby musician, absurdist, doctorandus, and neerlandist.
After studying Dutch Language & Literature and Communication Studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, I discovered that my knowledge about Dutch literature, communication sciences, and generative grammar were the perfect items on a curriculum vitae for people who aspire to be jobless.

Luckily, I had the chance to start a career as a web editor for several radio and television shows, and as a text writer for medical e-learnings and software manuals for teachers. After that, I served as the social media manager, content manager, and information specialist at the Veterans Institute, the Dutch equivalent of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this combined role, I had a lot of creative freedom and challenges. I made several videos for the company and I designed the first Christmas card every Dutch veteran (over 125,000) received from the Minister of Defense.

In 2012, I started a satirical retro video channel, Squirrel Monkey. After a few months several videos went viral. I received a lot of reactions and media requests. I appeared in hundreds of (web)magazines and on several television and radio shows. Daily Motion selected one of my videos for a film screening in New York. Warwick Davis (Star Wars, Willow), selected my video as one of the best tech comedy videos during the Youtube Comedy Week. Five times my videos were highlighted on the frontpage of Funny or Die. My Youtube channel won several awards as well.

In 2014, I moved to the USA to get married to my American girlfriend. Because English is my 3rd language I could not continue the work that I did in the Netherlands. I found a job as a video editor/content engineer at Pilgrim Studios (now Lionsgate). Since 2019, I work at Ranker as a producer & editor for Weird History. I also made some videos on a freelance basis for MTV (Viacom) and Skillshare.

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Since I moved to the USA I've been on an existential creative journey. I attended stand-up comedy classes directed by the late David A. Arnold (known for his viral comedy videos and his Netflix special), I've done some voice-work, and I conducted several creative experiments. Currently I'm working on an animated series.
Click on "projects" to see some of my work.

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Love,

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Jo Luijten

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