Escape Labs

“Escape Labs” is the R&D branch of Escape Industries. Its co-founders, Max and Ethan, are seeking out creative people with leadership potential to execute new projects that expand the scope of our core “escape room” business. We see ourselves as immersive entertainment creators first and foremost, and we are interested in supporting anything that furthers the company’s mission: bringing adventure, excitement, and games to life.

Escape Industries has grown quickly in the past two years, with locations in Sacramento, Providence, and New Haven; but we believe that we’ve only just begun to explore the full potential of immersive entertainment. We have a lot of ideas about how we want to expand, but there is a limit to the number of projects we can personally oversee at once. That’s where you come in.

We need project lead interns – self-starters who can come up with a plan of action for an Escape Labs project, or pitch a new idea of their own, and build it into something great.

After an initial period of training and project planning, you will have relatively little direct supervision — we want to see what you can achieve when you have creative control and the tools to execute your vision for the project. That said, you will have access to the expertise and support of our entire team, as well as a budget appropriate to the scale of the project.

We’re looking for people who are independent, creative, pragmatic, thorough, and both willing and able to work well with others in any role (subordinate, collaborator, supervisor).

Positions start as internships of 3-6 months, with a flexible start date. You will begin with an annualized salary of $32,000 and a budget that will vary according to the project’s needs. However, we don’t want you to be an intern forever; our goal is to make every position permanent.

Whether we’re able to do that will be entirely dependent on results: If, at the 2-month mark, you’ve shown compelling evidence of your project’s success or potential, and you work well with the rest of our team, then we will be able to offer you an extension of your contract and a position as a division leader at Escape Industries. Contingent on achievements, projections, and demonstrated ability, you may have access to a larger budget, a staff, travel/relocation opportunities, and higher compensation tied to the success of your division.

The sky’s the limit here – the more successful your division, the more successful you’ll be.

Here are some examples of the types of projects we’re interested in taking on:

• Modular educational escape games
• Integration of puzzles/gaming and interactive theatre
• Mobile/portable/deployable escape games
• Shippable mystery boxes (one-off or subscription-based)
• Small-scale events and activities (e.g., murder mystery dinners)
• Large-scale events (e.g., citywide scavenger hunts)
• Outdoor, active challenges (laser tag, zombie tag, etc.)
• Extended, high-value experiences (3-hour, whole-house, overnight, etc.)
• Fixed/passive/persistent games (small-group scavenger/puzzle hunts, etc.)
• Partnerships with hospitality, tourism, and non-profit groups
• Site-specific games at unique or historic locations
• Anything you can convince us to support

Round One

Pick a project and tell us how you’d make it happen. You can choose to explore one of our ideas (see “Pick a Project,” above), or one of your own, as long as it falls within the umbrella of immersive entertainment. Prepare a 1- to 10-page presentation on that project. The presentation can be in any format; we want you to determine the best way to communicate the most relevant information. Assume that you have the resources of Escape Industries backing you (capital, connections, tools, and game design/production experience), but that you would be in charge of finding space, materials, and talent.

Here are just a few of the topics that a sample plan might address:

1. Potential locations
2. Budget and revenue projections
3. Market size
4. Competition
5. Staff and materials
6. Engineering and construction challenges
7. Timeline
8. Marketing strategy
9. Deliverables at the 2-month mark
10. Etc.

Write as if we have no background in this area at all, and we’re skeptical about whether it will succeed. Your goal is to pitch it to us in such a well thought out package that we have no choice but to say, “Yes!” (That said, you should be honest and up-front about costs and risks.) Feel free to include graphics, spreadsheets, mock-ups of promotional materials, etc. Take your time, do your research, and be creative.

When you have prepared your plan, you may submit it, along with some basic information about yourself, via our application form.

Round Two

If your initial business plan is compelling, we’ll invite you to an in-person interview, where you’ll be able to pitch your idea to us directly and field our questions. (You can also use this opportunity to ask some questions of your own.) If we loved your application, and in Round 2 you’ve make a really compelling pitch, then we’ll make you an offer for an internship focused on developing and executing that idea, complete with budget, timeline, and deliverables.

We will evaluate applications on a rolling basis — first come, first serve.

Click here to access the application.