Ryder, Rob

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Ryder, Rob

PERSONAL:

Married; children: two. Education: Princeton University, graduated 1972.

CAREER:

Author, screenwriter, and technical consultant. Worked variously as a production assistant, film actor, stuntman, basketball consultant, and Web site columnist.

WRITINGS:

Hollywood Jock: 365 Days, Four Screenplays, Three TV Pitches, Two Kids, and One Wife Who's Ready to Pull the Plug (memoir), HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributed a column titled "Hollywood Jock" for ESPN.com.

SIDELIGHTS:

A former basketball player at Princeton University, Rob Ryder parlayed his technical knowledge of the sport into a career as a consultant for Hollywood films, including White Men Can't Jump, Celtic Pride, and Eddie. He first became involved in the film industry in the 1970s, when he worked as a production assistant and later as a stuntman. Years spent traveling the movie circuit trying to sell screenplays and working on sets as a technical consultant gave Ryder a true insider's view of the movie business, which he chronicled in an ongoing column for the Entertainment and Sports Network (ESPN) Web site. An ultimatum from his wife to either sell a screenplay within one year or leave the industry for good pushed Ryder into high gear, and he tells the story of his struggles and successes in his first book, Hollywood Jock: 365 Days, Four Screenplays, Three TV Pitches, Two Kids, and One Wife Who's Ready to Pull the Plug.

A contributor to Kirkus Reviews remarked that Ryder's "unmitigated enthusiasm for both industries proves contagious, making him an often sympathetic narrator." "Ryder's writing is compelling," noted Library Journal writer Matthew Moyer, "with a dash of streetwise gonzo storytelling." Reviewer Bill Peschel commented on the Planet Peschel Web site: "Ryder is a genial companion, and you can sympathize with his struggles to get his projects off the ground." Variety contributor John Clarke, Jr., described the book as "an honest outsider's account of the travails suffered while trying to score studio meetings."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Ryder, Rob, Hollywood Jock: 365 Days, Four Screenplays, Three TV Pitches, Two Kids, andOne Wife Who's Ready to Pull the Plug, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2006.