Broken Synapse at 2010-06-05 00:11:54:

This is very sad news. As trivial as it may seem, he was the first person I followed when I signed up for twitter and was thankfully my first follower.
In fact, he and another screenwriting blogger were the reasons I signed up for the thing in the first place.
I hope he went quietly into the night.
Godspeed.
Scott, thank you for sharing this news.

Karel at 2010-06-05 03:02:24:

I must say it didn't come entirely unexpectedly after exactly three months of complete radio silence. That had never happened since he started blogging back in 2006.

Still I was pretty shocked when the email arrived.

Such a generous man. I'm very grateful for all he has shared with us over the years. And he'll continue to do so via his book!

Thank you Scott, for remembering MM this weekend.

screenwritingfromiowa at 2010-06-05 05:12:28:

Mystery Man was one of the first blogs I ever read on screenwriting and was a big inspiration for me to start my own blog. He was a very insightful writer and his persona was full of intrigue. Like the first comment by James, I hope the report of his death—in Mark Twain style— is an elaborate hoax.

One thing that makes me think it isn’t a hoax is I traded emails with Mystery Man back in March and on March 16 he agreed via email to write a guest post for me and then I never heard from him again. He’s just busy I thought. But even more so, he once told me he was going to write a book and give it away. So when you report that his assistant says that his screenwriting book will be available as a free download it seems consistent with his desires.

In a day of $500 screenwriting seminars and even higher paid screenwriting consultants, Mystery Man’s approached to giving his knowledge away seemed unorthodox and generous. But unorthodox and generous sums up my experience with Mystery Man.

Like the passing of Blake Snyder (Save the Cat), this news—if true—is blow to the screenwriting community. But like Snyder, Mystery Man left a wealth of information and inspiration that hopefully will improve the quality of storytelling for years to come.

Scott W. Smith

LisaReadsALot at 2010-06-05 09:44:49:

I don’t remember exactly how I connected with MM. I followed him and he followed me and I don’t know who did what first.

I’m curious why people might think his death is a hoax? I guess because he won’t reveal his identity, we can’t know for sure that he’s passed. Well, I just answered my own question.

However, like he says in Scott’s article here, he was a writing machine. I could barely keep up with his tweets. So I had to wonder what happened when his writing/tweeting came to a complete stop a few months back.
Did he take off on a sudden and much needed vacay? Did he get bored? Does he suffer from hypergrafia?

Maybe he thinks it’s time for us to fly on our own.

I hope it isn’t true. Losing Blake Snyder so abruptly last year, and then this news today about MM on top of losing Hopper, McClanahan, and a dear friend of mine, a talented set dec/propsman, Scott “Scooter Magoo” Smith in the last week underscores that time and life are precious and reminds us that we have no idea how many people we can touch or inspire through our craft.

Keep writing.

Laura Deerfield at 2010-06-05 18:24:28:

He was inspiring. I found his posts always inspired me to think in deep and complex ways about film and screenwriting.

Not to mention he was generous in spirit, kind, funny, and sweet.

Simply one of my all-around favorite people I know - online or otherwise.

I really looked forward to the day we'd meet over martinis.

mernitman at 2010-06-07 15:06:13:

I'm a great fan of MM - he was generous and kind in promoting me as well - but I fall into the camp of, "This sounds like the death of an identity, not a person."

The issue of his identity still not being revealed seems odd to me. Until we know the details of his "passing away" I can't mourn him.

Laura Reyna at 2010-06-07 23:16:00:

This is a shock. I loved his blog. He seemed to really love movies.

Since it was mentioned that he hadn't finished his SWing book-- very unlikely if the man was simply retiring an internet persona-- I'm gonna assume the real person is gone.

Very sad.

Victoria Mixon at 2010-06-08 19:30:49:

Thanks for re-posting that interview, Scott. I also got the tragic letter from Rebekah, asking for the news to be passed. You were a smart blogger to get that interview while you had the chance. I meant to ask him for an interview, too, but never got around to it.

I work with fiction authors, not screenwriters, but I can tell you Mystery Man was the first blogger I ever made a point of directing readers toward. He was my all-time favorite blogger on the craft of writing. I even wrote to him the day I discovered his site, saying he was the only blogger I'd ever found who could make me blow eight hours of my one day off reading his stuff, and he was absolutely charming in his response.

Wherever he is, I hope he's looking down on us now, giving his signature, "hee hee!"

popularculture - Totally PC at 2010-06-12 05:00:28:

A blow and a shock to the system to hear the terrible news.

MMonFilm gave me inspiration and new perspectives about how the process of screen writing is achieved. And! I hope to continue to learn from MMonFilms writings. That is a legacy, if nothing else.

daveed at 2010-06-17 10:58:50:

Just catching up on screenwriting news. Wow, what a sad loss.

My interaction w/ Mystery Man was virtual. Even so, he was always gracious and responsive.

I really hope his blog and website stays up for people to continue to use as a resource.

C128 Cat Grass 125 Grams at 2012-01-19 17:02:55:

[...] Mystery Man news | Go Into The Story SM: Okay, so way back when you started your original MMOF blog, as you cranked up your Commodore 128 computer, what exactly were you hoping to accomplish? MM: If I take the time to seriously consider the craft and write an article about it, I can verbalize those . Like the passing of Blake Snyder (Save the Cat), this news—if true—is blow to the screenwriting community. But like Snyder, Mystery Man left a wealth of information and inspiration that hopefully will . [...]