Tuesday, August 04, 2009

R.I.P., Blake Snyder


It is with incredible remorse that we report that our friend and mentor Blake Snyder, the genius behind the "Save the Cat!" book and software series, passed away today. He was 57.

Snyder was well-known in the screenwriting community for his incredible story sense and his generous nature. Thousands of writers around the world have improved their story craft thanks to Blake. His book series was a best-seller and his weekend lectures always sold out around the world. Blake's easy-to-understand breakdown of the studio movie has become the go-to template at screenwriting classes around the world.

Here at Coverage Ink and Writers on the Storm, we became Snyder converts a while back and recommend his book constantly, not because he's a friend (he BECAME a friend because we felt so strongly about his methods) but because his canny wisdom and breezy writing style made learning about screenwriting fun again. Blake has been a Writers on the Storm contest sponsor for several years now, donating books, software and seminars to our winners. Earlier this year, we interviewed Blake for this very blog (COVERAGE, INK/WRITERS ON THE STORM: SAVING MORE CATS THAN THE SPCA) and were once again impressed by this man.

He will be missed.

--Jim Cirile
8/4/09

1 comment:

M. Muse said...

OMG!!!!!! This is a HUGE loss to the craft! My prayers are with him and his family.

Wow... It's hard to believe. :(
Mike Muse