Mike Rinaldi
Liger
Joined: 19 Nov 2007
Posts: 1810
Location: California
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 Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:24 am Post subject: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years |
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A few years ago, there was a New York Times best-seller titled Blue Like Jazz. Great read, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Its author, Donald Miller, was approached by some filmmakers to adapt the book into a movie. The problem is the book is sort of a memoir, but basically a collection of essays, so a narrative had to be created to translate the book into a story and screenplay. Although Don is a writer, he had a lot to learn about story.
Don's new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, chronicles what he learned while editing his own life.
The director and cinematographer cowrote the screenplay with Don over the course of several meetings in Portland and Nashville over several months. They sent Don to a Robert McKee seminar and they told him about Save the Cat! This is all in the new book along with Don's discovery that most people's lives are bad stories, including his. Or at least it was. By learning what makes a good story, he learned what makes a good life and he's turning his life into a good story.
It makes sense. You go to a funeral and it's people standing around, remembering incidents in the deceased person's life. Stories.
All of us are in our own story. We also make appearances in other people's stories. And on a grander level, we're all in one story together. Don comes to this realization gradually and the revelation comes to fruition about half way through the book, right about where Blake is referenced. This was a heavy moment for me so I called the director on the phone. Steve had called me to talk about the the film adaptation of Blue Like Jazz while I was at the Screenwriting Expo almost two weeks ago, so I had his number. We talked about where the film is at in the preproduction process and I learned a couple new things about financing, but I eventually brought the conversation back around to Blake.
I was happy that they read Save the Cat! and that they recommend it to other people. It made me more confident that their screenplay is likely solid. But most of all, I had to tell Steve that I'm half way through the book and that Blake had been planning a book very similar to this. What we learn about life and ourselves from what we understand of the principles of story and that ultimately, all stories lead to God.
I actually first heard of Don's book a year ago, before its originally scheduled publishing date. (The date was postponed and A Million Miles in a Thousand Years was just published a few weeks ago.) Blake and I had been talking for about a year and a half about the book he planned to write, so when I heard Don was planning something similar, I tried to get him in touch with Blake because I knew they would have a lot to learn from each other. Unfortunately, they never met.
August 4th, the day Blake passed, I cried a lot. I found out via text message. That wasn't fair. It was less fair that Blake's lifelong best friend, Tracey, found out via Twitter. August 5th I also cried a lot because it was my birthday and I realized why Blake didn't call me. I cried because I miss Blake and it seemed like he left us too soon. But I didn't mourn his death because I knew Blake well enough to know we're going to see each other again. My heart breaks almost every day for Tracey though because I know this is really hard on her and she still cries a lot. And I was disappointed that Blake planned for more books and movies and friendships that won't come to pass.
Most of you know that Blake was positive, funny, enthusiastic, kind, and generous. Some of you know that Blake was a recovered alcoholic and that he literally saved a few people's lives by sponsoring them through AA and commiting to seeing them through, even though for one guy that meant calling him every day for a couple of years. But not enough of you know how much Blake cared about people-- even people he only met once or even only with whom he exchanged a few emails.
Tomorrow I'm going to finish this book, but I can already tell you, you can get a bit of a glimpse into Blake's heart by reading Don's words. This book chronicles what Don learned about life and story, things that Blake discovered and also hoped to write about. Blake said it would be the final Save the Cat book, after a couple more. "The principles of story are universal and stories ultimately lead to God," he would say. The principles of story are consistent across vastly different cultures, enough to provide evidence that story structure works because humans are wired to respond to stories in certain ways. Go back and read through some of Blake's blogs when he talked about creativity and finding that "divine touch." You'll notice he didn't just mean that figuratively, he meant it literally. Blake also believed that when your life seems to be at its worst and you're at your lowest point, you have to proactively hang in there a little longer. "It's always darkest before the dawn." The dark night of the soul is followed by the break into act three. This is why Blake was a champion and why he always championed you.
Tracey, Anne, BJ, and one or two others put together a wonderful memorial service for Blake. There were a lot of stories told. Blake's story was shared. Collectively, we learned a little more about Blake and we learned a lot more about ourselves. In the lobby of the WGA Theater, there were some huge, table-sized sheets of paper for us to decorate and write something to Blake. They were given to Blake's mom after the service. I wrote, "Blake, thank you for always believing in the best in other people." I wrote it because it was the simplest and truest statement that I know of him.
Blake's new book will be out soon, as you know. And I'm sure you'll read it. Consider also picking up A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. There are some great things in it like the contrast between formula and principles of story being analogous to the difference between noise and music. You'll read about screenwriting and the life thus far of a thiry-something writer named Donald Miller... and you'll see a little bit of the heart of Blake Snyder in the pages as well.
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The Slusho's gone? Why is all the Slusho gone?
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Blueberries
Tiger
Joined: 03 Mar 2009
Posts: 119
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| Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:37 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I wrote, "Blake, thank you for always believing in the best in other people." I wrote it because it was the simplest and truest statement that I know of him. |
You once wrote to Blake, "A sincere thank you, my friend, for changing my life and others. I don’t think you fully grasp how you have impacted us." I think that sums it up.
| Quote: | | "The principles of story are universal and stories ultimately lead to God." |
Every machine's built for a purpose, and I guess this is the purpose of the "transformation machine".
There will be no more books, but there were plans for Blake's recorded lectures to be added to the site's store, on a variety of subjects. Any chance of that happening?
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There's no sex in my violence!
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