I didn't make the shortlist for writerslam UK and that was heartbreaking. I've always held the belief that I can improve and that success and failure aren't necessarily on separate paths. For the next few hours, I'll be upset then optimistic, and tomorrow its back to work and trying to find that next opportunity. How do the rest of you react when things don't quite go to plan?
Screenwriting : Dealing with failure by Julian McLeod
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The outcomes of these competitions always depend on who the first readers (and later judges) of your script are. Screenwriters often talk about how a script that went nowhere in one competition rose to the top of another. So, I'd say, read more produced screenplays in genres you like, polish your screenplay some more and enter it in another competition.
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It's just a comp Julian, you shouldn't feel like a failure or even so heartbroken, it's not that bad. Try entering a few more comps and move on.
Of course I am always disappointed when my scripts don't rate in a contest. Part and parcel.
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Find out where you stand as a storyteller. Post your work on your S32 page - offer to give feedback in return for feedback. Find and fix weak links while stepping up your storycraft. Rinse and repeat until you know your story is the best story it can be… try again…https://www.stage32.com/blog/Bullet-Proof-Pages
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I've faced rejection of my work quite a few times now and I have certainly felt the whole range of emotions each time. It is quite akin to the 7 stages of grief. Anyway, I don't, and you shouldn't, consider yourself a failure, because you have completed and entered a script. The majority of people with an idea haven't.
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I choose the athletic approach to success. I don't cry about the competition. I train harder.
I believe in myself more than they disbelieve, figure they're not wrong, figure I can be more right with persistence and 'Keep On Keeping On" and as Dan says look at the lighter side of life.
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I tend to go with a grandiose and melodramatic mad scientist approach to rejection. "The fools! One day, one day, you will witness the glory of my creation! And on that day, I'll show them, I'll show them all, Ahahahahaha!" In other words, don't let rejection, failure, or even downright insults get you down- you can always come back stronger.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-who-failed-at-first-2014-3
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A quote from Guillermo Del Toro has always resonated with me on failure. "Now, is it a heartache? Oh yeah. It's huge. It's painful. But you learn from it. If all you think about is success rather than fulfillment, that's a dangerous coin you're dealing with. That kind of success has a horrible exchange rate of currency. Horrible. It's never going to be enough to pay the debts you have in your soul as an artist." If you think about it as a process, as a journey to bettering your craft, then you can take your failures and successes in the same breath.
Julian, lots of contests to enter. Examine your work, the emotional core of your characters is always something to develop. Mostly, keep striving for greatness.
Loved the article, Christopher, and today was just the day I needed to read it!
Call me Chris. My mom calls me Christopher.
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Julian you are young man - so dust yourself down, put aside that screenplay - dip into your storyteller bag and kick off with a new idea. Move on and don't revisit until a suitable period has passed - and then get it out, dust it down and see if it warranted your love and angst. If you still find favor with the idea - rewrite it. The rewrite will inevitably be much better, simply because you will have grown. Loglines and treatments are a mighty fine discipline - but only the blood, sweat and tears of writing screenplay after screenplay will allow you to hone your skills and become a better writer and a storyteller. I wish you good fortune.
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Andrew has great advice. While I've written screen and teleplays solidly since 2012 and started in 2010 what I wrote even a year ago was crap in comparison. I've heard many say a writer isn't successful until about his seventh screenplay. I write primarily television and it has taken me five original sitcoms (One is a four episode series), three spec.s on current shows, a bunch of shorts and several outlines I'll probably scrap because they just aren't wanted, original enough or sometimes maybe even too complex to be realistic just to get to what I think is a submittable level this year. I have written a few features working on a fourth and last year I thought I was getting there. Boy was I wrong. Here's the cool thing though when you finally start getting there those one's from a few years back are sure fun to rewrite and man will you laugh at all the dumb mistakes you made, well I did anyway. Keep on keeping on Julian. Another thing is many might tell you to either pick screen or television and they may be right, personally I'm glad I've done both and when I come back to television after a screen project it is quite less stress although they both take a crapload of rewrites. Michael L. Burris "Life is way too short not to look at the lighter side of it." & "I'm trying my damnedest not to fly around like a blind bird."
Joel Osteen is a great life coach! I watch a podcast daily. Keeps me off the emotional rollercoaster, focused on what's most important: me being the best person I can be today. The rest will happen if I stay focused on the plan, and train smarter than the competition.
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Battle scars! Wear them with pride! We all have them.
Amen, Mike!
Thanks for thread and the question Julian. I know I need motivation from time to time. Stopping writing is not an option, it's a lifetime journey. Onward through the fog. :-)