The Agony of Not Winning
I've always been that guy with the Honorable Mention.
Never quite good enough to place. Never quite sucky enough to not give a shit about not placing.
That was an awkward sentence.
Here are the numbers:
This is arguably one of the top 5 major national competitions.
There were over 2000 scripts submitted.
10 places.
5 honorable mentions.
With an admittedly flawed script that I'm going to start rewriting today, I still managed to be 1 of those honorable mentions.
So I finished in the top 15. Top 1.5%.
For a young nigga who's fresh in the game (and to the craft), I'd say that's quite an achievement. Especially since the real value is not measured in placings, but exposure and whoever might request your script once the information is posted on the website for the industry to see.
Can you tell I'm trying to make myself feel good?
Getting this far and coming up short is kind of like being told, out of nowhere, that the prettiest girl in school has a crush on you. By her best friend.
You go to bed thinking about the girl. You wake up thinking about her. You're not sure what's going to happen, but you feel special. After all, who the fuck are you?
And then, on the day you muster up enough courage to ask her out, her best friend tells you she likes someone else and you get that punch-in-the-gut feeling and then the only thing you've been thinking about for the past two weeks -- the thing that's been driving you crazy and making you excited -- is gone. In a fucking flash.
And you wish you never felt it in the first place.
But do you really?
Nah. :)
Wish me luck on my rewrite. And maybe, hopefully, I'll get a few interested parties dropping me a line.
Never quite good enough to place. Never quite sucky enough to not give a shit about not placing.
That was an awkward sentence.
Here are the numbers:
This is arguably one of the top 5 major national competitions.
There were over 2000 scripts submitted.
10 places.
5 honorable mentions.
With an admittedly flawed script that I'm going to start rewriting today, I still managed to be 1 of those honorable mentions.
So I finished in the top 15. Top 1.5%.
For a young nigga who's fresh in the game (and to the craft), I'd say that's quite an achievement. Especially since the real value is not measured in placings, but exposure and whoever might request your script once the information is posted on the website for the industry to see.
Can you tell I'm trying to make myself feel good?
Getting this far and coming up short is kind of like being told, out of nowhere, that the prettiest girl in school has a crush on you. By her best friend.
You go to bed thinking about the girl. You wake up thinking about her. You're not sure what's going to happen, but you feel special. After all, who the fuck are you?
And then, on the day you muster up enough courage to ask her out, her best friend tells you she likes someone else and you get that punch-in-the-gut feeling and then the only thing you've been thinking about for the past two weeks -- the thing that's been driving you crazy and making you excited -- is gone. In a fucking flash.
And you wish you never felt it in the first place.
But do you really?
Nah. :)
Wish me luck on my rewrite. And maybe, hopefully, I'll get a few interested parties dropping me a line.
posted by Jeff at 9:35 AM
5 Comments:
One man's script is another man's treasure, remember. Art is subjective. You won Honorable Mention. Hello!?!! Don't you think someone in the bottom 1.5 percent would kill for an HM? Think about it. It was your first go. That's no small feat, you know. Also, when you start at the top, where else but you have to go but either over the top or back down? Relish in the fact that you have accomplished more than your nemesis English prof ever will. He has to pay to publish his books of sorry poetry. But there's some little coed out there who thinks his work is art. Conversely, there is some agent, producer, director out there who thinks your screenplay is art. Who's the winner here? Don't give me this "agony of not winning" BS. You are a winner.
Jeff. I've read some of your recent posts at Eileen's suggestion. Win or lose, drivel or not, it's much better than most things I see out of Hollywood, read in newspapers, or overhear when listening to people chattering away on their cell phones.
Complaining about idle Cell phone chatter is practically as old as the horse and buggy. And people of a certain age, who've been to one too many boring cocktail parties can't stand the idle chatter unless they've had a few bloody marys.
But what about a scenario in which idle cell phone chatter, overheard conversation , suddenly became interesting ? Funny ? Witty? Like your website ?
I haven't worked this out in my mind but think you should try a film treatment in which the entire spoken dialogue unfolds by Cell phone.
If you can write a good blog you can write a play with telephone chit chat. Samuel Beckett like. Might grab someone's attention.
Bill Mathews
You're farther ahead in the game than I am, Jeff, if your work merited an honorable mention.
The best my work did for me was getting a ride home outta someone.
This is awesome... the most sincere congratulations dude. we should talk again.
I think you should grow the fuck up and get a life and a real job shit for brains
Post a Comment
<< Home