Blake Snyder

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Blake Snyder (born October 3, 1957 in Evanston , Illinois , United States , † August 4, 2009 in Beverly Hills , California , United States) was an American author , screenwriter and film producer . Snyder has led international seminars and workshops for authors from various disciplines and has been a consultant to some of the largest Hollywood studios. Snyder died unexpectedly on August 4, 2009 of pulmonary embolism or cardiac arrest .

Life

Snyder's father, Kenneth CT (Ken) Snyder, was a producer of many children's television shows in the 1960s and 1970s and was awarded an Emmy (Big Blue Marble).

After completing a BA in English at Georgetown University , Snyder returned to Los Angeles , where he began his writing career for Disney television series. From 1987 Snyder was just a pure screenwriter. He was a member of the Writers Guild of America for more than 20 years .

In 1989, Snyder scored Stop! For his first unpublished script ( Spec Script ) . Or my mommy shoots! 500,000 US dollars at an auction. He sold twelve other original scripts and was named "one of Hollywood's most successful spec screenwriters" by [Hollywoodlitsales.com]. His million dollar scripts are Mac Millionaire - Too Smart for a Blank Check (with Colby Carr ) for Walt Disney Pictures and Nuclear Family (with James Haggin ) for Steven Spielberg / Amblin Entertainment .

Save the Cat!

Snyder's nonfiction book Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need (German: Save the Cat! The ultimate book about screenwriting. Authors' House Verlag 2015) was the best-selling book in the category of writing instructions for scripts on Amazon . The book describes in detail the structure of the hero's journey (monomyth).

Origin of the title

The title Save the Cat! is a term coined by Snyder and describes the scene in which the audience meets the hero of a film for the first time. The hero does something beautiful, like saving a cat. The audience likes the hero. His inspiration for this was the movie Alien - The creepy creature from a strange world , where Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver ) saves a cat named Jones.

Snyder also introduced ten genres in his book. According to Snyder, standard genre types like romantic comedy, biography etc don't say much about the story, just something about the type of movie. Snyder's system divides the genre extensively into categories such as "monsters in the house", "golden fleece", "buddy love" and others.

Book series

In 2007, Snyder wrote Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies . The second book lists fifty films worth seeing, identifies specific genres and condenses them into fifteen principles of BS2 (Blake Snyder Beat Sheet).

The third book in Snyder's series, Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into… and Out Of , was released posthumously in November 2009.

software

In parallel with his books, Snyder founded Blake Snyder Enterprises , LLC, and developed story structure software called Save the Cat! The Last Story Structure Software You'll Ever Need . The software places Snyder Beat Sheet and Board on the desktop of the user . In 2008, Snyder and the manufacturer of the software Final Draft specialize in script formatting and data exchange between the two programs. In November 2009, Snyder's company, an iPhone - App version of the software.

Filmography

Works

  • Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need (2005)
    • German translation: Save the cat! The Ultimate Screenwriting Book (2015)
  • Save the Cat! Goes to the Movies: The Screenwriter's Guide to Every Story Ever Told (2007)
  • Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get Into… and Out Of (2009)

literature

  • David Steinitz: Save the Cat! Hollywood blockbusters look more and more alike. No wonder: a script adviser gives minute by minute what has to happen. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 1./2. August 2015, p. 17.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Save the Cat / Blake Snyder Enterprises
  2. ↑ www.writersupercenter.com
personal data
SURNAME Snyder, Blake
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer, screenwriter, and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Evanston , Illinois , United States
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 2009
Place of death Beverly Hills , California , United States