The Importance of Rejection
Here is a simple truth about building your screenwriting career: If you’ve never gotten your screenplay rejected, you’re not doing nearly enough to get your screenplay out there.
As a screenwriter trying to go from aspirant to professional, your single most important job is getting your screenplay read by industry professionals, the sort of whom can help move your career along, make meaningful introductions and become advocates should they become fans. Therefore, once your screenplay has been written, re-written, sent out for notes and re-written again, there is little that you can do of as much importance as getting the material into the right hands. While your screenplay is your baby, your project, your masterpiece, the reality is that its reception is going to be almost entirely subjective.
What does this mean? Not everyone responds to material the same. Reception is based on individual sensibilities, affinities, experiences, etc. So not everyone is going to love your script. If everyone says they do, then the only thing you can know for sure is that somebody is lying. At the end of the day, film (and script) appreciation is subjective. For every person who lovedDjango Unchained, there’s someone who hated it. I myself hate, and I do mean Hate with a capital H, Out of Africa. The movie went on to win an Academy Award. Some of my clients swear by it. Me? I’d rather be poked in my eyes with needles than have to sit through that one again.
The point? Different people respond to different work. There is no right or wrong in this game. So it’s all about getting your work out there and into enough hands in order to give your script a real, fighting chance.
Here’s a real life example: A few weeks ago, I sent an action thriller script by one of my clients out to a slew of my colleagues in representation and production. I really liked the script from the first moment I read it. We sent the script to an analyst I often refer my clients to, and even though he ultimately said he didn’t see the script getting more than a Pass W/ Reservation, I ultimately felt that the script was worth getting out there. So… Off it went. Fingers crossed, writer waiting with baited breath for interest. As days went by, a handful of managers and development execs passed, letting me know that, although well written, they didn’t love the work, didn’t connect with it. Until a call came in on Friday afternoon from an up-and-coming NY based producer. His assistant loved the script, he loved the script, and wanted to connect with the writer. Fast forward to Monday – producer and writer are scheduled to have coffee this week. What will become of it no one can yet tell. But it’s much more than the writer had before the week came to an end.
For the record, this is not the only such example I have in my arsenal of industry experience. More often than not, it happened this way. A writing team with a zombie script I introduced through ScriptShark was rejected by everyone I sent the script to until one prominent manager called me and said “who are these guys? I have to meet them!” A writing team with a sci-fi action piece didn’t get traction anywhere until a development executive at an established production company decided that theirs is the sort of script he wants to spend time developing. There are no two ways about it: You have to get through a helluva a lot of No’s to get to that all-important Yes.
I can’t stress this enough, so I’ll say it again: Rejection is part of the game. Thick skin is a necessity, and if you don’t have it yet, you will inevitably learn to develop it with the rejections that you get. Getting someone interested in your work is not just about the story or the world that you present – It’s about their current client roster, and whether you’d be a fit there; it’s about the work a company does, and whether they already have a similar project on their development slate.
Along with getting 2nd opinions and vetting the work before you get it out there, you have to have conviction in your screenplay. If you believe in the work, getting rejected should not be the end of the world. If you give up getting your script out there after just a handful of rejections, it’s your conviction, not the screenplay, that should be questioned. Run with a script for 4 to 6 months before you allow yourself to sit back and ask yourself why it may not have gotten the sort of attention you thought it deserved. Believe in your work enough to have it rejected more than just a few times, and you will give it a fighting chance.
After all, it’s not about the dozens of No’s that you will ultimately get. It’s about that one, all important, course-changing YES.
