foo.py

import requests, json, time

#jobs_url = "http://internal-video-pipeline-dev-1193624058.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com/jobs/"
jobs_url = "http://localhost:8080/jobs/"
source_url = 'https://vp.nyt.com/video/2016/05/15/40007_1_retro-lsd_wg_240p.mp4'

job_info = json.loads(requests.post(jobs_url, data=json.dumps({'productionId': '123'})).text)
json_data = {
        'provider': 'elementalconductor',
        'source': source_url,
        'presets': ['hls_1080_3'],
        'outputDestination': '/new/target/',
}
url = jobs_url + job_info['jobId'] + '/start'
response = requests.post(url, data=json.dumps(json_data))

while True:
    print requests.get(jobs_url + job_info['jobId']).text
    time.sleep(3)