Blake Snyder
October 3, 1957
August 4, 2009 (aged 51)
American
1987–2009
Early life[edit]
Snyder's father, Kenneth C. T. Snyder, was an Emmy-winning TV producer of many children's shows in the 1960s and 1970s. Among them were The Funny Company, Hot Wheels, animated segments on Sesame Street, Big Blue Marble and Roger Ramjet.
At the age of eight, Snyder was hired by his father as a voice talent for an animated special starring Sterling Holloway. Snyder continued doing children's voices alongside Gary Owens, June Foray and others until his voice changed and he was fired by his producer father.
Snyder went on to earn a B.A. degree in English from Georgetown University, and returned to Los Angeles where he began his career writing for the Disney TV series Kids Incorporated. Snyder began writing full-time as a screenwriter in 1987. He was a member of the Writers Guild of America for over 20 years.
Snyder's first spec screenplay sale was in 1989 for the script Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, which sold for $500,000 in a bidding war.[5][6] Million dollar script sales include Blank Check, co-written with Colby Carr for Walt Disney Pictures, and Nuclear Family, co-written with James Haggin for Amblin Entertainment.[7][8]
Dedications[edit]
How to Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks, 2010) was dedicated to Snyder.[20] Whispers Under Ground (Gollancz, 2012) by Ben Aaronovitch was dedicated to him as well.[21]