If you are envious of MasterClass but do not want to pay $ 180 and spend tens of hours watching videos, a new website can help you. A number of MasterClass courses have been discontinued and converted into ugly, short form WikiHow style articles for the MasterWiki website. You can learn Spike Lee’s methods for making an independent film in 12 quick steps or let Anna Wintour teach you how to be a creative leader in a dozen, all illustrated with remarkably bad cartoons.
The site comes from the creative group MSCHF, which has a remarkably good track record of launching apps, websites, and art projects that go viral online. The team is well aware that it is completely ripping MasterClass here. The website states that the lessons are “stolen from MasterClass”, and that it makes “MasterClass content” (normally $ 180) available for free. “MasterClass did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the site.
MSCHF has used piracy as a hook for projects in the past. In March, it launched a pirate streaming service that broadcast shows from Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and more. In May, the group left recreants of episodes of The office inside a Slack channel.
MasterWiki is more of a masterpiece of MasterClass’ aspiring, star-studded streaming service than it’s a pirated alternative (though I’m sure MasterClass won’t be happy in either case). Frank Gehry’s architecture course looks a lot more ridiculous when it’s full of raw drawings and breaking tips like “planting trees [buildings] helps to preserve their humanity, ‘and one has to imagine that RuPaul’s advice about being your true self is far more compelling when you hear the sound.
But if you’ve ever wondered what’s hidden behind MasterClass’ paywall, MasterWiki offers some strange glances inside.
