It’s no surprise Scott County is full of talented individuals, but one man from Georgetown has built his success from scratch – literally.
Jordan Hill, the senior editor at Falcon’s Creative Group in Orlando, Florida, lived in Georgetown up until 2012, when he hit the road in search of where he belonged. After attending college for media production, Hill said he obtained a job as a video editor and motion graphics artist at an ad agency for two years before moving to Ohio in the same line of work.
“While in Ohio, I exercised and flexed my love of themed entertainment by building a tiki bar on my own time, and the online reaction to it steered me to leave my full-time gig to start freelancing, all while searching for a full-time job in the themed entertainment world,” he said.
For now, Hill said the old bar, The Kakau Canteen, is in boxes as his team works to figure out how to build it back in Orlando, Florida. Hill said The Canteen was in a basement, something Florida homes or businesses normally don’t have.
“It will ultimately need to be its own building in the backyard. As to exactly how big or exactly where it’s going is to be decided, but we do have a name, a moodboard, and a whole bunch of ideas for the next one. You can follow along on Instagram at @clubmayday or on Twitter at
@clubmaydaybar,” he said.
During his search for a job in the themed entertainment world, Hill applied for over 100 roles, five of which he interviewed for in a span of approximately six months. Hill said the search was in addition to his usual work, as well as smaller themed entertainment jobs to keep his bills paid. In December 2021, Hill hit a career jackpot when he landed an interview and received a subsequent offer with Falcon’s, he said.
“Our company, in various capacities, puts together immersive experiences from museums to theme parks and everything in between. As the editor, my duty is to put together attraction media, as well as video marketing material for the company itself. I work not only in editing, but also in motion graphics.
“Obviously I find stylistic inspiration for my video work in movies and TV. But alongside those, I pull a ton of inspiration from theme parks. Not only because they are relevant to what I get to do now, but also because I just really, truly, genuinely enjoy visiting them. The world, if you haven’t noticed, is not always the kindest or most comforting place to live. For that reason, I think escapism is extremely important. Themed experiences provide exactly that — an avenue away from the real world, even for just a few hours. Whether that’s at a billion dollar Star Wars land or a shoestring-budget basement tiki bar is beside the point.”
Hill said those interested in getting started in the themed entertainment world should know it’s not an easy feat, but those who want it and are willing to put in the work can have a job of a lifetime.
“My story is pretty unique because I didn’t take this path into themed entertainment straight out of college. In my case, it was a mix of things: having a really strong personal project, staying active in theme park adjacent communities like Twitter and LinkedIn, and a borderline obsession with job searching,” he said. “I joined Slice Creative Network, the Themed Entertainment Association, visited IAAPA and had a truly staggering amount of online job searches going. It was not an easy feat, but I pulled it off because I wanted it badly enough.”
