It is my pleasure to announce that Blake Snyder Seminars, LLC has a new partner: Final Draft. I can now officially let you know I will be speaking on behalf of Final Draft, and we will be supporting each other’s software, in addition to my writing a regular column for their online magazine.
And I couldn’t be more excited.
The process of how this came about began in December when, still jetlagged from my trip to London, I was ushered into the offices of Final Draft, along with my terrific business partners Rich Kaplan and B.J. Markel, little knowing what a momentous turn was about to occur.
Anne Lower, who is Final Draft’s Director of Education Sales and Outreach, and Eddie Rehfeldt, Chief Marketing Officer, told us they were impressed with all we were doing in the world of screenwriting. Between my two books and our software program — designed to work with Final Draft — and my constant travels worldwide to bring Cat!-ness to writers everywhere, we had been noticed! In particular, Anne cited anecdotal tales of how quickly I personally respond to emails from writers. (Many of you I know are surprised when you get a reply from me 10 minutes after you send a question). But to me, all of this was simply… what we do!
We really pride ourselves on great customer service, and our tech support from Bob McFarlane is so top notch, we get calls from Writers Store, among other businesses, all the time, asking: How do we do it?
The bottom line: We were asked if we wanted to join forces. And it took everything I had, jetlagged or not, not to jump up and yell: Ye-aaaah!!!
I am particularly proud because I have always used and recommended Final Draft and consider Anne a close friend. From the first time I ever downloaded Final Draft software and got tech support from their reps, I’ve been impressed with Final Draft’s important presence in the screenwriting community; they are the gold standard. Final Draft is a great success story because they too believe in going the extra mile, adding features and templates and information to their products, and supporting writers with educational programs in areas beyond the screenwriting community.
Now the two of us will be moving forward together.
Anne’s role of bringing awareness of all programs Final Draft offers both to colleges and K-12 is such an exciting arena, and one I feel particularly at home in. One of my first appearances for Final Draft will be to give a talk to the students of Camino Nuevo, a charter school here in Los Angeles whose film students, under the direction of writer Peter Cook, have been using Final Draft and Save the Cat! in class — and love it. I am thrilled to be getting involved with these bright young people and look forward to making many appearances at high schools and universities this year to bring these storytelling tools to as many students as we can.
I want to thank Anne and Eddie for their vote of confidence in our company, and for their positive energy and ideas, and look forward to doing great things together. And I want to thank you, our Cat! family, for your support, feedback, and energy that keeps us on our mission!
And on our little Cat! toes.
Blake Snyder
11 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Congrats, Blake! A match made in Screenwriting Heaven. Look forward to your new initiatives with Final Draft.
m.
YAY! Today, an alliance with Final Draft, tomorrow, KING. I’d vote for ya. Or, whatever it is you do to install a king. I guess a sword would be involved. And there would be a brass ensemble, I suppose. And horses. And food – I bet the buffet at a King-ing would have to be pretty good.
Anyway, CONGRATULATIONS, BLAKE!!!
Cheers,
JW
ps: Can I be one of your Knights of the Writing Table?
Even better – The Knights of the Profound Table. (see what I did there? that’s good comedy.)
Wow. Congratulations, Blake. And thanks again for the website and your blog. I can’t get enough of your advice, news, and wisdom on storytelling.
Best,
Victor
Is there anything you can’t do?
Hi Blake,
Many congratulations.
I finished a screenwriting undergraduate degree in 1994 but got sidetracked for many years. Early last year I decided to get back into screenwriting… I read about 25 books on screen & TV writing, watched video training, and listened to hundreds of hours of audio books and podcasts on the subject.
While all of this was very helpful, I didn’t feel confident putting pen to paper because after all of this I knew I still didn’t “get” the structure. It wasn’t until I read your two “Save the Cat” books that I finally had my “Eureka!” moment, and all of the pieces of the puzzle came together.
I finally feel that I can not only understand structure, but how to study and break down movies that I see and scripts that I read, understanding not only what does or doesn’t work, but WHY. Also, your genre types and the genre conventions you’ve identified and explained are far more helpful than any other work I’ve seen on the subject.
Final Draft is wise to pull you in!
Cheers,
Graham.
As if you don’t already have enough on your schedule! But this is very cool and great news. Mucho congratulations, muchacho!
Excellent work! The customer service is top notch, sincere, and personal. Get your annual physical and check out all the pipes!. ;0) That goes for all you CATS!
What fantastic news! You are singlehandedly changing the shape of film writing, and a partnership with the industry gold standard bearer, Final Draft, is the start of something very good indeed!
In talking with Anthony at the Writers Store your books are hard to keep on the shelves and have become the new bible. So if not “King” then, perhaps Abraham as a christening name for your latest, but not yet greatest adventure.
I agree with everyones, but especially Grahams comments. Your insight and willingness to share so generously, magnanimously and with such great humour and style has set a precedent for mentors. You come from the heart. It’s BIG! and it’s true.
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing you speak at the NWSG in Seattle and the Screenwriters Expo in LA last year. You only seem to get bigger and better, more humble and more profoundly learned. You are a guru who has learned the art of transferring teachings with grace and elegance.
(Don’t let this get to your head though!)
I’ll shut up now because it sounds as if I’m pandering. I’m not though. I believe you are a Gifted….angel? No, but kind of. Um, teacher, yes, of course. I think I’d describe you as….a Light in a Land of Luminaries.
OMG I should be a writer! Oh, yeah…….lucky me!
Love,
Your fan.
Congrats, Blake! Such cool news, and a really good fit. After years of working on ScriptThing (well, it was an old machine!), I got the Final Draft Suite for my new laptop. I’m very happy.
I was chatting with a new acquaintence last weekend, and he asked me to recommend some screenwriting books – and I, of course, recommended yours as top of the list! You are such an encourager!
Hi there, UCLA business school student here. I recently developed a free screenwriting software alternative for students/aspiring writers that has all of the basic stuff a first-time writer will need to get started. We are by no means a replacement for Final Draft (which is by the way, a great product). Would love to hear your feedback at some point. Over 40% of our 6,000 users are college or high school students, so it’s a good, free, web-based alternative for a starving artist! Thanks in advance for your feedback – the URL is http://www.scripped.com. Love the blog by the way, please keep up the good work!
Sunil
[email protected]