I was devastated to learn just a few minutes ago that screenwriting maven and mentor Blake Snyder passed away suddenly yesterday. He was the author of Save the Cat!, the seminal book on screenwriting structure and dramatic storytelling, and one of the best I’d ever read on the subject (thanks for the recommend, Rob). He was holding one of his seminars in New York in less than two weeks, and I was so looking forward to attending.
What has affected me the most is the loss of someone so inspiring. Someone who pushed screenwriters to continually improve their craft and raise the level of their storytelling. And he did it with such humor and clarity. Unlike some other “screenwriting gurus”, it wasn’t all about him. It was about serving The Story.
His passing has made me reexamine whether I want to serve The Story, too. Or am I just being a dilettante about it, unsure and frightened. Never to know for lack of trying. I’ve come to examine recently the choices I’ve made otherwise—for good or ill—and because death comes to us all, I cannot hide from the question anymore: “Am I living?”
[...] David Augustyn [...]
By: Blake Snyder » Blog Archive » David Augustyn on August 7, 2009
at 9:53 am
Excellent words! You obviously knew enough of Blake to get what he was about. I think the best way to both honor him and, consequently, be the best writer possible is to focus on the story. Blake still helps us even though he has passed. I will miss him tremendously!
By: Stephen Todoro on August 7, 2009
at 1:11 pm
Thanks, Stephen.
By: daveed on August 7, 2009
at 6:12 pm