红莲社区

Michael Lucker

Michael Lucker

Senior Lecturer

Phone678-717-2266

Office locationFilm & Digital Media Building, 114,

Area(s) of Expertise: Screenwriting

Overview

Michael is a professional screenwriter and professor of screenwriting with thirty years of experience writing for major studios and fifteen years of experience lecturing at major universities. He began his career writing and directing cable commercials while earning his undergraduate degree in broadcasting and film at Boston University’s College of Communication. Soon after he landed in Los Angeles working in production for ABC, NBC, CBS and HBO before taking a job as assistant to Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment on the feature films Always, Arachnophobia, Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade and Jurassic Park.

He went onto serve in creative affairs on feature films Crimson Tide, Terminal Velocity, and Taking Care of Business at Hollywood Pictures before embarking on a career as a screenwriter for Paramount, Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, and Universal on such movies as Vampire in Brooklyn, Home on The Range, Mulan II, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002 as best animated feature. An opportunity to serve as executive producer at Turner Entertainment brought him home to Atlanta in 2007. He went onto work in television creating unscripted docuseries for Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, History, Discovery, NBC, TBS, TNT, TLC, OWN, DIY, A&E, and MSNBC for which he won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. More recently, he served as consultant on the feature films Fear of Rain starring Harry Connick Jr., A Wing and A Prayer starring Denis Quaid, The Curse of La Patasola starring Gillian Fitzgerald, Fight Night starring Kevin Hart, and Signing Day starring Mira Sorvino.

The award-winning short 10-56, which Michael co-wrote and co-produced, is currently in development as a feature film with Riot Proof Entertainment. Over the last year, he was hired to adapt the award-winning children’s book series Freeing Freddie into an animated television series with Free the Mind, write the feature thriller Project 33 for Monument Multimedia, develop the provocative docuseries A Nation on Fire with Shoulderhill Entertainment, and pen the feature film The Diane Crump Story for Three Ring Pictures. A renowned instructor in screenwriting, Michael serves as senior lecturer at the University of North Georgia, mentor in Reinhardt University’s Creative Writing MFA program, and founder of Screenwriter School. In 2018 the Georgia Film Academy hired him to create a high school screenwriting curriculum which has since been taught to more than 15,000 students in the state. His book on screenwriting -- “Crash! Boom! Bang! How to Write Action Movies” - published by ,is available wherever books are sold.

Courses Taught

  • MDST 1110 - Film Appreciation
  • MDST 1500 - Seminar of Film & Digital Media
  • MDST 2100 - Writing for Media
  • MDST 3100 - Screenwriting
  • MDST 3150 - Pre-Production
  • MDST 3750 - Writing for Television
  • MDST 3780 - Adaptation for Film
  • MDST 4101 - Feature Film Writing 1
  • MDST 4102 - Feature Film Writing 2
  • COMM 4900 - Senior Capstone
  • MDST 4953 - Film Production Internships

Education

  • B.S., Broadcasting & Film, Boston University

Research/Special Interests

Michael serves as advisor to the Georgia Film Academy, mentor in the MFA program of creative writing at Reinhardt University, and founder of Screenwriter School. Prior, he served as adjunct lecturer at Emory University.

Publications

Michael has served as screenwriter on more than forty feature screenplays including Vampire In Brooklyn, Home On The Range, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 2002 as best animated feature. He also served as screenwriter on the animated sequels to Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Emperor’s New Groove, and 101 Dalmatians. He has served as creative consultant on such films as Good Intentions, Fear of Rain, and A Wing and A Prayer. He is the author of “Crash! Boom! Bang! How To Write Action Movies” published by Michael Wiesse Productions. His debut crime novel "Rule One" is being released Summer '25 from Wordeee Publishing & Media.

Work Experience

Michael began his career writing commercials for American Cablesystems in college in Boston. Soon after, he landed in Los Angeles working in production for ABC, NBC, CBS and HBO before taking a job as assistant to Steven Spielberg at Amblin Entertainment on the feature films Always, Jurassic Park, and Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade. He went onto serve in creative affairs on feature films Crimson Tide, Terminal Velocity, and Taking Care of Business at Hollywood Pictures. He then became a professional screenwriter for such studios as Paramount, Disney, DreamWorks, Fox, and Universal. Then embarked on a career in television creating series for Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, A&E, TBS, TLC, OWN, DIY, and MSNBC.

Personal Information

Michael enjoys writing books, watching soccer, playing drums, and hiking with his dogs.