It is with great sadness and deep shock that I learned today of the loss of Blake Snyder, who died from cardiac arrest on August 4, 2009.
Blake was a screenwriting teacher and author of the brilliant Save the Cat!
I've referred to his work frequently on here* as he so often nailed the concepts I was struggling to formulate. His 10 Story Types (which he formulated in Save the Cat!
My sincere condolences go out to his family and friends, and to every screenwriter that knew him.
You can add your condolences to Blake's site here, but, more importantly, read his works and use them to help you write better screenplays. He was always so amazingly generous with his time when it came to helping screenwriters and his loss will be felt keenly by so many of us.
Rick Drew of MovieScope magazine writes an affectionate tribute here.
* Previous articles here that have referenced Blake Snyder are Life, Man on Wire and Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day.