🔎 I became Ali Abdaal’s scriptwriter because of this

Hey Reader,

Thanks for your patience while this newsletter has been on hiatus!

Since I last wrote, 4 weeks ago… the email list has grown from 1300 to almost 1700, so I wanted to drop in and say hello to the new folks!

While I expect my consistency to remain patchy for another month, it’s all in service of getting The YouTube Scriptwriter’s Playbook, across the line.

Your early support, and the fact that you’ve been so patient with me while I finish this thing, is incredible. I emailed you with a progress update earlier in the week, so check your inbox if you missed that!

We’ll be back to normal scheduling soon, I promise 🤝

📚 For now, I wanted to share a story…

It’s something I spoke about on Twitter last week, but with additional details I haven’t talked about anywhere else, including a pretty shocking diary entry written during the period I was applying for my first-ever scriptwriting gig with Ali Abdaal.

A brilliant, terrifying realisation.

I arrived in London 3 years ago to start a job I didn’t care about.

0 direction. 0 long-term plans. Happy enough, but aimless.

But, last week, I left the city with a life that is almost completely unrecognisable…

I want to share this story with you because, across those 3 years, I learned something that’s equal parts liberating and terrifying:

Sometimes the entire direction of your life rests on your willingness to say “f*** it” at just the right time.

A snapshot of my final scriptwriting session in London 🌇

1 year after arriving in the city and plugging away at my “normal job”, Ali Abdaal put out some job applications.

I’d only discovered his channel a few weeks before, but I applied on a whim.

Actually, I applied for 3 different roles.

“F*** it”, I thought. “I like YouTube. I can write. I once had a gaming channel with 1500 subscribers. F*** it.”

Despite having no real experience, I had a sense that “working for a YouTuber” was something that would suit me. I literally didn’t care what role, I just wanted one.

As the application process drew on, I spent more and more time imagining what this “new life” might look like, and the reality of my current employment became increasingly stark.

“What if, rather than doing 12-hour night shifts… I got to write YouTube videos for a living?”

The gradual breakdown of a man who hated his job 😵‍💫

Hilariously, as I started writing the tweet this newsletter is based on, I actually found some old diary entries from the time I was waiting to hear whether my application had been successful.

I was evidently in a melodramatic mood 😂

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What I didn’t share in my original tweet, though, was this pretty shocking extract that detailed just how apathetic I was feeling about my job at the time… 👇

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Granted, the 12-hour night shifts were a little atypical.

But wow. I was honestly shocked to see that I’d written those words.

The scary thing is, “living for the weekend” is a completely ubiquitous concept.

It permeates nearly every social circle I’m a part of and exists cross-generationally, too.

You probably know the feeling all too well, even if you’re fortunate enough to have escaped it by now.

Clearly, I wanted to leave.

2 months later…

The allure of YouTube was becoming more powerful every day.

The problem was, I’d genuinely started to convince myself that a job like “working for a YouTuber” was simply not something I’d ever end up doing.

I had 0 experience.

It sounded too fun.

Life didn’t work like that.

Then, inexplicably, 2 months later…

I got it.

(That ‘thing’ was: “do you want the job?” lol)

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I’ll write another newsletter going in-depth on why my application was successful and how I’ve carved out this space for myself as a “Consulting YouTube Scriptwriter” in the years since.

But it’s not the point of this particular story.

Anyway, I handed in my notice, and my day-to-day life did a complete 180.

• Night-shifts were now “flexible hours”.
• Limited annual leave was now “as much as you want, just don’t take the p***”
• Data entry was now “writing scripts for YouTube”.

I woke up feeling grateful almost every day.

But even that version of me wouldn’t have believed how much would change again after I went freelance.

1 year later…

Things keep getting crazier. Now:

• I have a community of nearly 10,000 people across my platforms, just from “writing about writing”.
• I get to choose my clients based on who I have the most fun working for.
• I drunk-messaged Mr Beast’s manager and got left on “seen” (but then Mr Beast followed me a week later so… swings and roundabouts.)
• I’m building an actual business, wtf.

And, most excitingly, I’m leaving London with my girlfriend (who I met just after moving to London) to go live and work in Europe for a while.

Because f*** it, why not?

So take this as a reminder that a well-placed “f*** it” could be all that stands between you and the start of an even happier life.

Of course, there’s a little bit of luck in every bit of fortune. But you’ve gotta be willing to grab it when it comes.

I’m endlessly thankful to 2021-George for saying “f*** it” at just the right time.

So I want to thank you for coming along for the ride Reader, and I can’t wait to ramp this newsletter back up again in the coming weeks ❤️

Speak soon,

George 👋