Looking for the silver lining

I received my generic "we didn't pick you" email on Jan 26. Was that the date everyone was shot down or can I revive my ego by thinking that my work lingered around their office for awhile?

The past is the past. Just wait for the next opportunity... at least that is what I keep telling myself.

It inspired me to start my own sci-fi screenplay based loosely on my pitch, so that was a good thing. I'm more pumped about this new work than any contest or whatever. I hope the fire keeps burning and the pages keep filling up. When in doubt, write you next best screenplay.

Bert

I got the email on 1/26 as well. It's not easy to handle impersonal creative rejection. But letting us down gently is something the decision-makers have zero time for, and any writer should not expect. Every screenwriting book says the same thing: expect rejection, and lots of it. Grow a thick skin. It ain't easy, but the other road leads to failure, which is worse. Perform whatever mental gymnastics you need to get yourself set for the next thing.

Me, I'm trying not to think of it as rejection: being asked for a writing sample was more recognition than I otherwise would have had. And even if I hadn't been ... I'm walking away with a feature-length script. It needs work, but that's work I'm happy to do. Next time I'm asked for a writing sample I won't get caught flat-footed.

And yes, I realize the foregoing was an effort to convince myself as much as anyone else, but hey, it works for me. Hope it works for you too. :)

Yeah, rejection without clear criticism ,constructive or not, leaves you a bit unsettled. At least you got asked for a writing sample. Congratulations are definitely in order. That would have been a hell of a motivator for next time. Just out of curiosity, what kind of sample did they ask for? OS related or personnel?

Not sure. Personal, I think.

Ah, well, rejection for a writer simply means it's time to work on the next project/contest entry. True failure would be to not press on.

I was rejected as well, and yes, I'll confess, I was a bit upset. I really wanted to tell the story I had. (Also, this coupled with the fact that my mom started talking about putting my dog down didn't help....Cried my eyes out petting her for a good half-hour.) However, if it was not meant to be, it wasn't meant to be. Upshot is, I can use what I had planned for this contest in another work (plus the one-of-my-worst-days-ever ordeal gave me an idea for a script).

Ah, I'm blabbing. Sorry. My point is, at the end, I realized something- so you didn't win this contest. Try again. Maybe you'll win the next one. And maybe it'll be a sweeter payoff. You'll have a better chance if you keep trying.

As for the impersonalness and lack of criticism....Writers will always have it rough. We're like a cart horse- we have to walk through mud, we get smacked on our asses and told to move faster, and we're not always given input on where the hell we're going. But we're the ones who move the cart, and sometimes, people will want to pet us and give us sugar cubes.

@lindsey: The writing sample was a feature-length script, and I didn't have one in "submission" shape. So I cranked one out fast as I could -- a Hail Mary move, but the only one I really had.

@Kera: Sorry about your dog. Had to put my dog down years ago, and it was really tough ...

I got mine on the 26th too. Did not have a full screenplay to submit, but submitted the pages I had.
Does anyone know how many were asked to submit a sample? Just curious.
Janet AlJunaidi

@Janet

Estimates range from around twenty, to as many as fifty. We never got an accurate count.

Check out my writing sample "4" that wasn't asked for because my pitch 'sucked'... ;-)

you people know that OS was just an idea. ideas cannot be copyrighted. so if you honestly believe you have a killer movie based on this concept then you can and should go ahead and write it and give it an entirely new name. the only drawback is that AS has already found a producer for this one, but things fall through all the time... and you never know what will happen. i say this to people who still feel this way about their idea after all this time. if your motivation about it has waned then forgetaboutit.

I look on the bright side: Writing the truncated pitchment didn't take more than a 12 hours (which might be why mine was not selected :-D), it made me invent some characters that I liked, a credible technical subtext that fit with the 2035 time-frame, and a beautiful ethical subtext about humans and machines, liberty, and so forth. So for me, it was way worth doing. I can't wait for the next contest like this.

Is this as far as they have gotten with "Original Soldiers?"

Man, this is really sucking up some time, huh?

Daniel M.

Guess no one wants to watch a couple old soldiers save the day. Pretty sure even GI Joe was a flop and he had street cred.