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1. Assume the rejection is a complete mistake. Several quick phone calls/voicemails, texts, and follow-up emails should clear-up the misunderstanding.
2. A sudden rush of rejection-rage: “The audacity, the empty-headed arrogance.” This feeling inspires several clever revenge plot lines, two of which you jot down for that Misfit Detective TV Pilot you’ve been developing.
3. It’s make-over time. You’re going to surprise that decision-maker at their office with a hip new look and attitude, plus the biggest box of Krispy Cream donuts $14 can buy and a carefully rehearsed new pitch which includes the changes you’re certain they want. Plan B: Sell your soul to Satan in exchange for a do-over… and tighter abs.
4. Chased by a team of security guards on bicycles into Runyon Canyon, you wind-up sharing the donuts with an all-knowing coyote and also that barefoot guy who lives there who talks into his hand like it’s a cellphone and claims to be one of Spielberg’s top producers. Your manager calls and fires you and while you’re on the phone you bump into your ex who’s now dating that actor you despise.
5. You discover that crying while throwing-up in public in the mid-afternoon is a remarkably freeing experience. It’s only one little rejection after all. Someday, when you’re on stage, under the spotlight, receiving your Academy Award for Best Screenplay, you’ll thank that decision-maker, who’s obviously now living in his parents’ basement, for making you even more determined to succeed.
Our guest blogger, Bradford Richardson, specializes in writing coming-of-age comedy — comical stories about everyday, awkward guys who find themselves in larger-than-life situations where achieving the goal requires them to finally grow up, and take charge of their own fates. The Black List just rated his “Out of the Bottle” comedy spec, Walter Crisp’s Almost Perfect Moment, an 8. The average Black List rating is 6.3. He wouldn’t even think of starting a new script without “Beating It Out.”
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on November 9th, 2012 at 7:03 am
I don’t know about you guys, but I love this one!
on November 9th, 2012 at 8:39 am
I love this! Fantastic – funny to the point that I’m laughing so hard I can’t beat out my reaction. Congrats, congrats and congrats again to that “8″ rating for “Walter Crisp’s Almost Perfect Moment”. Way to go Bradford! Thanks for the Blake-Snyder-happy lift by posting this sage advice!
on November 9th, 2012 at 9:01 am
on November 9th, 2012 at 10:51 am
Priceless
on November 9th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Bradford,
It feels good to hear you talk about how you feel. I just sent an entry for the “Kairos Prize”, and I just sent another script to Savannah Grant’s contest. It’s all I can do and I’m not sure my scripts are even read. If you think you got it tough, we don’t even have agents in South Carolina. ANYHOW WE FEEL THE SAME. I loved hearing you so now I think I have a chance of feeling normal. I was glad to hear about the Black List. Ah-Hah, I’ll send um a script.
Perry
on November 10th, 2012 at 6:14 am
Thanks, Perry, (Captain) “Perseverance is omnipotent,” or however that quote goes, is what we’re both counting on. Keep creating. : )
on November 10th, 2012 at 8:30 am
Bradford,
I entered this Industry Insider contest sponsored by Sussannah Grant. I got some of Sussannah’s scripts, learned her style and wrote a kick ass script that utilized Susannah’s exact writing style, even using her favorite expletives. My script looked like it was written by her, and it did not even get noticed. Bradford! They could not have read my script! I found out that I am NOT a finalist today. It sucks! I know what a good script is, and they did not read it.
Perry
on November 10th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Earning an 8 is great. Congratulations. However, we Minnesota friends know you are a 10! Linda
on November 11th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Captain, that’s terribly disappointing! After having a sort-of similar experience, I decided to just write from my heart, for the fun of it. Whatever makes me laugh.
on November 11th, 2012 at 8:40 am
: ) Linda! Ha, thanks. Now if only there was a way to shift the film industry to Minneapolis…
on November 11th, 2012 at 11:07 am
Dude’s referred to as TENS are the luckiest men in the world and evidently well equipped for success?
on November 13th, 2012 at 5:37 pm
Way to go!
on November 23rd, 2012 at 9:34 am
funny. good. yay.
on December 8th, 2012 at 9:37 am
I coined a phrase early on:
“To be a writer is to embrace rejection as a way of life.”
What I said.
on December 8th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Nice one Bradford! I can relate.
on December 8th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
I’ve met that all-knowing coyote. He has some good jokes.