Okay. This is great.A number of prominent writers are reporting that since the strike ended they received rejection emails for their spec screenplays or pilots. The studio loved the concept and dialogue but it just doesn’t fit their needs. In the case of one rejection from Disney the writer’s characters were not “female friendly” enough and it would be an uphill climb to sell it to ABC.
Fine except for one thing: these writers did not submit scripts.
Apparently studios and production companies are so intent on passing on material written during the strike they’ve even sent out some rejection emails to people who haven't submitted anything.
Gee, I sure hope the novel I haven't written doesn't get shot down. Just the years I've spent not doing research for it has been a major investment.
Hmm... I get that same kind of pre-emptive rejection every time I think about asking a guy out.
ReplyDeleteMe: "Hey, I was..."
Any Number of Potential Suitors: "No way. I'm an Aries and you dress like a hobo."
Me: "Um...I just wondered if you would hand me a fork."
ANoPS: "Here. But still, I'm not interested."
Hey, maybe this is some warped effort by angry AMPTP people to lower the self-esteem of the writers after the strike settlement.
ReplyDeleteThat's funny... I just got a $7,000,000 check for a screenplay I never wrote.
ReplyDeleteBut before I cash it, I think I might have to change my last name to Esterhaus.
Now I feel left out. I didn't submit anything, and no one sent me a rejection slip.
ReplyDeleteWait! Could this mean they WANT the show I haven't thought of?
Ooh my GOD! I must have just sold an unwritten and unconceived show to ABC!!!
PARTY! Drinks are on ME!
Oh come on, we all know those rejection letters mailed to the "I didn't write anything during the strike... honestly, I swear!" people were correctly mailed.
ReplyDeleteWhat they're not telling you is that it was their pen-names that got rejected.
I wouldn't mind getting paid for not writing/being rejected...does the Department of Agriculture own a film studio?
ReplyDeleteSo if you didn't get a rejection letter, does that mean you're not an A-List writer, anymore?
ReplyDeleteAs the proud auithor of two - count 'em! two! - new spec scripts that I have put through my own development process (submitted to good friends who are the kind of development execs writers like, since their comments are actually useful and they have an unerring eye for b.s., at least three drafts of this process), I have told my agent that I'm waiting at least 60 days and maybe 90 before giving them to him to send out.
ReplyDeleteReason? Who wants to get caught in the logjam of crap?
If it is good, it can wait for its time, since as my first good agent told me many times "you only get one good read."