Renowned Screenwriter Syd Field Dies

Screenwriting guru, who inspired many of Hollywood's most prolific writers, dies at 77

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Syd Field

Syd Field, often called the original guru of screenwriting, passed away on Sunday of hemolytic anemia. He was 77, according to an announcement from the Raindance Film Festival, which Field was set to participate in last weekend.

Field wrote eight best-selling books on screenwriting over the course of his career, including Screenplay, published in 1979, which is considered the screenwriter’s bible. His work has been cited by the likes of Tina Fey and Judd Apatow as having influenced their writing. He was the first writer to outline the three-act script paradigm followed by many TV and film writers today.

Born Dec. 19, 1935 in Hollywood, Field received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. He spent much of his career writing for the orignal Biography TV Series and worked as a script consultant for 20th Century Fox, Disney, Universal and Tri-Star Pictures. He was inducted into the Final Draft Hall of Fame in 2006 and was the first inductee into the Screenwriting Hall of Fame of the American Screenwriting Association.

[THR]