All Michael Tucker wanted was to learn how to be a better writer. Film school had given him a solid background in film theory and plenty of directing experience, but when he moved to Los Angeles a couple of years after graduation, Tucker decided his weakest asset was his screenwriting. "If I want to be serious and get to the next level," he told himself, "I need to have a script that is good."
So in early 2016, Tucker dove into screenwriting—reading screenplays, reading books about screenplays, trying to figure out how the great writers write. He took copious notes, and thought it might be interesting to write a blog post summarizing what he learned from each screenplay. It'd be a good exercise, plus Tucker thought it might get his name out there in Hollywood circles. As he was writing the first post, he had a new thought: Maybe this should be a video. Tucker was an avid fan of YouTube channels[1] like Every Frame a Painting[2], which dissected film form, and other explainer-y folks like VSauce[3] and CGP Gray[4]. He Googled around a bit, looking for a similar channel on screenwriting. Nothing. So Tucker started his own.
Lessons from the Screenplay[5] launched on June 8, 2016, with a video called "Gone Girl—Don't Underestimate the Screenwriter."[6] In it, Tucker explains why screenplays matter more than you think, and dissects the techniques Gillian Flynn used in adapting her novel for the film. As Tucker narrates over clips from the movie, the corresponding lines and notes from the original screenplay appear underneath. The video blew up immediately, climbing the r/movies[7] Subreddit and eventually landing on...