Rejection Is Not Failure
Feb 25, 2007 07:51AM
Reading the boards the other day in a thread about posting festival rejections I found the following:
"I've just never seen any good come of people advertising their failures..."
I see the poster's point ... except I don't see being rejected by various film festivals as "my failure"; it's part of the process of being involved in a highly competitive industry and just because my film wasn't selected isn't a failure because I didn't do anything wrong. Yes, my film failed to get selected for these particular festivals; could I have done anything different in the process of choosing, directing and finishing the material? Yes, but unless I was a multiple mind reader of film fest programmers, that still doesn't mean the film would have been selected anyway. I did everything I wanted on the film and did the best I could. Did I learn some things that I'll do differently next time? Oh yes! But that's for the next time; each time you can only do the very best you can do at that time.
But that doesn't mean the rejection doesn't sting, and coming in here and sharing the pain and frustration of that sting with others helps alleviate it and lets myself and others see that they are not alone. And that makes the process more fun and makes me feel connected to a larger community.
Then again, I have to be honest and admit to possessing a certain portion of ... shall we say, less than politically astute behavior. Like the time at IFP a few years ago where I stood up and ... well, "berated" is too strong of word, but I certainly didn't make any fast friends by bascially chiding a panel of programmers for admiting they didn't watch every submitted film all the way through. What can I was say; I was more naive than I realized and assumed that, at the very least, a filmmaker could expect the fest programming process to be the _one_ place where their film would be given a full and complete chance.
Oops!
Experience and exposure has taught me that with thousands and thousands of films being submitted to festivals, I can understand not watching a true stinker all the way through. I don't envy the job lots of programmers have to do these days and they have my full respect for sitting through all that they do.
That doesn't mean, however, that I won't come in here and share the pain of rejection ... but I won't feel that I've failed. As Thomas Edison said, "I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work."
Uh, of course, I hope to not find THAT many ways that don't work!
Take care,
Bill
Rejected But Not Dejected.
Feb 21, 2007 09:13AM
Me and \"A RELAXING DAY\" are now up to 9 festival rejections and pretty sure #10 is coming soon. Now that I\'m on this \"roll,\" it\'s getting easier to handle. Still not fun, but the requisite thickening of the skin has begun. For some reason, #6 (MethodFest) was the hardest, probably because I thought we actually had a good shot for that one.
And I think what caught me a bit off guard with all the initial rejections was that I directed a feature film (CHARMING BILLY) a few years ago and the producers of that did all the submitting to festivals and dealing with them and I was somewhat shielded from the process. Aside from two big rejections -- Sundance & Toronto -- I was blissfully unaware of all the others. And once it got into AFI/LA and got a great review in VARIETY, we were picked up by many more. But now that I\'m the producer in charge of this film, I get to wallow in ALL the information.
And I guess I expected that the relative success of CHARMING BILLY also made me -- obviously naively -- think \"A Relaxing Day\" would fair well (especially since I didn\'t write it, but Theresa Rebeck, a highly respected playwright, did). As my ex-wife said as she was walking out the door, in response to me saying I was disappointed because I expected her to at least try working on our issues before leaving: \"That\'s what you get for having expectations.\" D\'oh!
But as another WAB filmmaker posted, I agree that there are DEFINITE parallels to doing the festival dance and to networking, schmoozing, \"marketing\" and \"branding\" yourself. As I plow through the submission and rejection process for this short film, I\'m already planning to shoot my next one later this year and the first thing we will do will create an awareness of the film. I told the writer and fellow producer that we\'re going to put as much effort into publicity and awareness as we are into making the movie. I can\'t see doing all this work and expenditure of time, energy and money without building into the process an effort to make sure people are at least aware of the finished film and interested in seeing it. After that, the film has to do all the work. I just need to make sure I create the best environment for it to do so.
But don\'t worry, I\'m not giving up on \"A Relaxing Day\" yet. We\'re still out to about 20 festivals, with more yet to be submitted to. I\'m convinced the film will find an audience somewhere and I will work to find them.
Batting .1000 ... Rejections, That Is!
Feb 02, 2007 07:46AM
So far my short "A Relaxing Day" is 6 for 6 in terms of rejections (with Cinequest not even bothering to send me an official rejection communication -- I had to go to their website and read the official list of accepted films to find out). While I'm still out to at least 20 other festivals -- and that only covers up to June -- and still have many chances to be selected for others, I have to say, I'm a little bit surprised at how tough the road to a festival is turning out to be. Of course I've applied to major festivals first, figuring I'd swing for a homerun before just trying to get on base, but still ... I didn't realize how fast the pitches were going to be! But I'm in it for the long haul and retain my belief in the film and the idea that it will ultimately find the right home. Dealing with and overcoming rejection is all part of this film game. I just hope I don't get beaned in the head first!
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2 Comments about A Relaxing Day
Feb 20, 2007 11:22AM
William,
Thanks for your kind words about the trailer for my film "Divergence". I'd love to see "A Relaxing Day". We could trade war stories about the perils of shooting films on beaches! Good luck with the film. I'm sure it will soon find its audience.....
Patrick Donnelly
www.divergencethefilm.com
www.patdonnelly.com
Feb 03, 2007 09:08PM
Beaned in the head? That's a bit harsh. Perhaps just a high, inside pitch that's close but you can escape. Slip you the high, hard one. A little chin music.
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